Brennan Webb is in his third season as Tennessee’s head men’s golf coach.
He has led the Vols to five team tournament titles during his first two completed seasons. Tennessee will compete in the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship (March 26-28) and the Shoal Creek Invitational (April 5-7) before the Southeastern Conference Championship takes place April 21-25.
Ahead of the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship, Webb discussed the success of Tennessee’s golf program during his three seasons with Vols Wire.
“I think we are finally getting to where we want it, how we envisioned it being when we got here three years ago,” Webb told Vols Wire. “At the time, I think it was going to be a larger project than it has turned out to be. We are happy with how fast things have turned around, to where we feel now that we are one of the elite teams in the country and certainly have a chance to win the SEC championship.
“Any time you have a chance to win the SEC championship, you have a chance to win the national championship. We have just been working hard and guys are being coachable and listening to us and they are anxious to see what the opportunities lie ahead.”
The premier college golf facility in the nation is right here on Rocky Top.
🍊⛳ pic.twitter.com/SMT2LTqWnf
— Tennessee Golf (@Vol_Golf) July 8, 2020
Part of Tennessee’s success as a program under Webb has been due to having a practice facility and clubhouse that helps his players improve.
The Blackburn-Furrow Golf Clubhouse provides immediate access to the Mack & Jonnie Day Golf Practice Facility, a 28-acre and $4.5 million design.
“We just opened the clubhouse last fall, it’s a fantastic facility,” Webb said. “It is definitely everything that you need to get better at golf. It certainly has helped a lot in recruiting and will continue to help in recruiting.
“We are going to continue to find ways to make it even more efficient for day-to-day use and give the guys everything they need.”
Mack & Jonnie Day Golf Practice Facility
Hole No. 1 –Â Par 4, 450 yards maximum length. Green surrounded by three bunkers with an 11,000 square-foot putting surface. Also doubles as a pitching green from in front of the No. 2 tee, with shots ranging from 60-100 yards.
Hole No. 2 –Â Par 3, 120 yards maximum length. Severely sloped green from back to front has a 10,000 square-foot putting surface. Also guarded by three bunkers.
Hole No. 3 –Â Par 4, 430 yards maximum length. Signature hole along the banks of the Tennessee River. Plays to a narrow fairway that slopes from right to left, with a bunker in play down the right-hand side. Severely sloped green has a 10,000 square-foot putting surface that also doubles as another chipping area with a variety of outstanding bunker shots.
Putting Green –Â 11,000 square feet, designed with a great deal of slope on one side of the green while being relatively flat on the other side.
Chipping/Pitching Green –Â 10,600 square feet, designed with numerous uneven lies in mind. Also includes two practice bunkers.
Practice Tee –Â 100 yards by 50 yards (approximately the size of a regulation football field).
Grass –Â 419 Bermuda fairways and A-1 Bentgrass greens, with three of the newest varieties of A-1 Bentgrass on the market today. The sand used is the same type Augusta National Golf Club uses in its bunkers.
Blackburn-Furrow Golf Clubhouse
The approximately 8,300-square-foot Blackburn-Furrow Golf Clubhouse features a 1,000-square-foot hitting bay equipped with Trackman, swing analysis technology, video capabilities and a Putt View virtual-putting green. The facility houses team locker rooms, meeting areas, a team lounge and coaches’ offices. There is also more than 1,200 square feet of outdoor deck and patio space for recruiting and entertaining.
Each student-athlete has their own designated locker, which features a cushioned, pullout bench and additional storage space for gear and equipment. Inside each locker is a private safe for additional security of individual belongings.
Webb has a history throughout the Volunteer State.
A native of Canada, he played at East Tennessee State and earned a bachelor’s degree in finance in 1997. He helped the Buccaneers to a No. 1 ranking nationally and finished third in the NCAA championship during his junior season.
After college, Webb played professionally before becoming a coach.
He was fully-exempt on the PGA Web.com Tour in 2009, recording three top-25 finishes. Webb competed in the Zurich Classic on the PGA Tour in 2010. His professional wins took place in the 2010 Coors Light Open, along with victories on the Hooters Tour and in Canada.
Webb became an assistant coach at South Florida in Sept. 2011 before joining Georgia Tech’s program in the same capacity during Dec. 2012.
He would leave Georgia Tech for his first head coaching position at Middle Tennessee State in Aug. 2015. In three seasons with the Blue Raiders, Middle Tennessee State recorded 14 top-five finishes, four first-place decisions and won the 2018 Conference USA championship.
Webb currently has a roster of all Tennesseans except for two student-athletes who are from England.
“The Tennessee Golf Foundation and the Tennessee Golf Association does a phenomenal job giving young Tennesseans an opportunity to start competing in golf right away,” Webb said of recruiting within Tennessee. “I think that translated into guys that are ready to play at the highest level of college golf. You can certainly build a great team with people from Tennessee and we will continue to recruit the ones that can play at the elite level that is required to play here, and continue to recruit nationally with the highest level of players.
“We now offer them everything they need and have proven over the last couple of years that we can compete with some of these teams that maybe Tennessee was not recruiting against before. We are going to keep doing it that way, and we may dip our toes in the water internationally here and there, but right now we are going to concentrate on Tennessee and surrounding states, trying to become the best program we can.”
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