ASU men's golf placed in the top five in all but one of its tournaments this fall season under first-year head coach Matt Thurmond.
"The fall season is about setting a tone and getting to know the team you have," Thurmond said. "It's a time to start building an identity. I think we made lots of progress and that the spring will be really good."
ASU is currently ranked No. 33 in the nation, and the Sun Devils look to improve on that ranking come spring.
"We can take a lot of positives away from the fall season," senior Jared du Toit said. "Overall we learned a lot about what it takes to be successful, and I think this offseason will be big for us when it comes to preparation for success in the spring season."
One area where ASU gained experience to better themselves come February is through the development of their freshmen.
Alex Del Rey Gonzalez and Blake Wagoner both began their golf careers with the maroon and gold back in September for the first tournament of the year in Chicago, and they haven't looked back since.
"We had two freshman come in and really show they can contribute consistently," du Toit said. "I think everyone learned a lot about what it's going to take to make themselves, and ultimately us contenders come May."
The Sun Devils experienced many forms of accomplishment this past fall, but none may have come greater than the first place finish at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational.
The Alister MacKenzie is also the only tournament of the fall that ASU had a golfer at the individual champions podium. Senior Ki Taek Lee earned co-honors in the 80-man field.
"Now that I have proven to myself that I can compete with the other top college players," Taek Lee said. "I can compete out there with the confidence that I need in order to achieve what we want to accomplish as a team and as an individual."
Du Toit is not unfamiliar with success when it comes to individual play — take his performance at the RBC Canadian Open this past summer — but even he will tell you that Taek Lee's presence early in the year and throughout the entire fall was needed greatly.
"Ki was huge for us this fall," du Toit said. "Not only did he have a win, but he played very well in a few events when we really needed him."
With du Toit and Taek Lee both being seniors and shouldering the load when it comes to leading the team, the two credit their first-year coaching staff and the job they have done to see results on the course as a key for their success.
Congrats on a Great Fall Season @ASUmensGolf & @SunDevilGolf !! Go #ASU
— JOX Sports (@JOXSports) November 9, 2016
*Follow All #SunDevil #Golf OnJOX pic.twitter.com/DBuRaqnRTT
"There is no doubt in my mind that the two new coaches, Thurmond and assistant coach Van Williams, were the biggest influence on our team," Taek Lee said. "Coach Thurmond is incredibly knowledgeable on and off the course. Coach Williams is a true players' coach. They are caring and encouraging and teach us not only on how to score, but walk the correct path off the course as well."
ASU will have an extended break from competition for about three months until they participate in the first tournament of the spring in the Amer Ari Intercollegiate, which will take place Feb. 2-4 in Hawaii.
This very well may be a completely different team come then, and one of those changes will be the implementation of an incoming freshman golfer Chun An Yu of Taiwan.
"Picking up Chun An Yu will be massive for the team this spring," du Toit said. "Adding such a strong player like Chun An, to an already pretty strong team, will take us to a new level. I'm very optimistic about the future of ASU golf and our potential in this post season."
Every top golf program in the country wants to be in Sugar Grove, Illinois for the NCAA Championships at the Rich Harvest Golf Club May 25-30.
Thurmond, du Toit, Taek Lee and the rest of the ASU golf roster is gunning for the No. 1 ranking at the end of college golf season, along with every other university in the nation.
The team understands that it may not be where it needs to be quite yet, but it is taking the necessary steps to do so.
"No matter if you are an underdog or a power house, there are always things to improve on," Taek Lee said. "From small things like the freshman learning how not to carry any beverages in the security checks in airports to bigger things like preparing ourselves weeks and months before an event."
Reach the reporter at thandlan@asu.edu or follow @Tyler_Handlan on Twitter.
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