SMU dedicates Payne Stewart SMU Golf Training Center
The new facility at Trinity Forest Golf Club is named in honor of the former PGA Championship and 1979 alumnus.
The center is named in honor of Payne Stewart '79, 1989 PGA Champion, two-time U.S. Open Champion and member of five U.S. Ryder Cup teams.
The 6,700-square foot facility features team locker rooms, coaches' offices, a conference room, a workout center and kitchen. The center also houses a hitting bay featuring premier equipment, including the Swing Catalyst, which tracks weight shift throughout the swing as well as four video motion-capture cameras and monitors to show swings. A TrackMan system uses dual radar technology to track both club movement and the ball at the moment of impact. This equipment provides the perfect foundation for analysis, enabling the Mustang golfers to use real-time data to improve their games.
The Payne Stewart SMU Golf Training Center also includes 70,000 square feet of teeing ground, a 45,000 square-foot putting and chipping green and a challenging nine-hole short course.
“Facilities like the Payne Stewart SMU Golf Training Center, the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center, the new SMU Tennis Center, the renovated Moody Coliseum and the planned Indoor Performance Center are examples of the University’s commitment to compete at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner.
“Our commitment to competing for championships and enhancing the student experience requires continued investment in our infrastructure," said SMU Director of Athletics Rick Hart. "This great facility is just another sign of that commitment by our donors and our university. SMU, its donors and fans have made significant investments in athletics in recent years, and we thank them for their support.”
Designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the championship course at Trinity Forest Golf Club adheres to their design philosophy that traditional, strategic golf is the most rewarding. Built in the Great Trinity Forest and surrounded on its edges by thousands of majestic hardwood trees, the classic links-style course artistically meanders through an open meadow of rolling, rumpled sand, recalling the windswept land of Great Britain or the Northeastern United States. The club is located less than 10 minutes from downtown Dallas on Great Trinity Forest Way, and the facilities include an 18-hole championship golf course, a world-class practice academy, and a short course, all designed by Coore and Crenshaw. A partnership with the City of Dallas, AT&T, SMU, Salesmanship Club of Dallas and First Tee of Dallas, Trinity Forest will become the home of the PGA TOUR’s AT&T Byron Nelson in 2018 and will annually host NCAA invitational tournaments and additional high-profile professional and amateur events.
“The Payne Stewart SMU Golf Training Center is possibly the finest golf practice and performance area in the U.S.,” said Women’s Head Coach Jeanne Sutherland. “It will allow us to recruit players who want to work to improve daily and play at the highest level of competition. Players can challenge themselves from any distance or condition. It's truly a game-changer.”
“Trinity Forest and the Payne Stewart SMU Golf Training Center make for an amazing golf facility,” said Men’s Head Coach Jason Enloe. “The course, the clubhouse, the training center and the practice areas embody the modern game of golf, while still respecting the history of the game. Having a PGA TOUR course at our disposal, our own practice area, and a state-of-the-art golf house will provide advantages to the SMU golf programs that are unmatched in college golf. We are so very grateful for the opportunity to call this our new home.”
Photos of the new facility can be seen here.
SMU men’s and women’s golf are two of the premier programs in collegiate golf. Each team has won a national championship and the two programs have combined for 15 top-10 national finishes and 11 conference titles. Individually, SMU golfers have claimed three national championships and 21 have been named All-Americans.
This project continues the athletics facilities building boom for SMU.
Next month, SMU will open the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center, a new 42,000-square-foot facility that features an Olympic-sized, eight-lane indoor pool with a platform diving area, five springboards, a 10-meter tower, coaches' offices, locker rooms and a classroom and meeting area.
From 1995 to 2015, SMU directed approximately $1.2 billion campus-wide toward facility construction and renovation, furnishings and equipment. New construction in support of athletics included Gerald J. Ford Stadium, the Loyd All-Sports Center, the Crum Basketball Center, the SMU Tennis Complex, the Miller Events Center and short-game course and indoor hitting bays at the Dallas Athletic Club.
Numerous facilities and spaces have been renovated recently as well, including Moody Coliseum and the football offices, locker room, team meeting rooms and player lounge. In addition, the men's and women’s basketball locker rooms and team lounges have renovated, the football field turf has been replaced and the Morrison-Bell Track has been resurfaced. Additional projects are on the horizon as well.
Those interested in giving to this or other SMU Athletics projects are invited to contact Matt Peters at 214-768-7009 or mjpeters@smu.edu.
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