After watching the Washington University women’s golf team succeed in its transition from the club to the varsity level, junior Zack Cupkovic and freshman Kyle Bank have begun working with the Athletic Department in an effort to transform the men’s club golf team into a varsity program.

If Cupkovic and Bank succeed, Wash. U. will field an intercollegiate men’s golf team for the first time since 1992, when the sport fell victim to budget cuts.

The process to regenerate the program began this past summer when Bank emailed Cupkovic, president of club golf since 2009, to discuss the program. Although they had never met, both Cupkovic and Bank had been captains of top-notch high school programs in the Chicago area and missed the competitive nature of interscholastic matches.

“What I adopted was ‘golf club,’ not really ‘club golf,’” Cupkovic said, referring to the program as a way to find playing partners for leisurely rounds at the Forest Park Gold Course. There had never been a match against any similar program from another university.

Cupkovic said that he entertained the idea of increasing the program’s competitiveness in the past and had spoken with Sean Curtis, head coach of the women’s team and director of intramurals and club sports, a few times about forming a team, but nothing had ever come of it.

“[Bank] kind of lit a fire under [me] to get it going,” Cupkovic stated.

Especially for Cupkovic, who would likely graduate by the time a varsity golf program began, personal motivation was not the reason for starting the initiative. Rather, Cupkovic and Bank hope that a varsity golf program would fill a void in campus athletics.

Both students had considered attending other universities with varsity golf programs but spurned those opportunities because of their personal preference for Wash. U. on the whole. They sensed there were likely others who felt the same way and are working to rectify what they described as a “missed opportunity.”

Thus far, club golf has engaged in discussions with both Curtis and Athletic Director John Schael and has drawn the interest of 15 students. Bank and Cupkovic have also secured over $2,800 from Student Union and have acquired the necessary equipment to participate in tournaments as a team.

More importantly, the Athletic Department secured entry for club golf into the Webster University Gorlock Invitational on March 27 and 28 at Forest Park Golf Course and Sunset Country Club, which is also in St. Louis.

According to both the students and Schael, consistent participation is the primary concern in the future of the program’s development.

“They have no competitive history at this point, so there’s got to be a commitment,” Schael said. “There’s an interest right now, and I understand that, but golf is pretty demanding with the practice, the competitions and the travel . . .so before we’re going to go any further, I’m looking for their commitment to the schedule that is put together.”

Bank shared a similar sentiment.

“If you don’t have a group of guys who really want to put in the commitment then it really doesn’t matter if there’s money or support for it,” Bank said.

“More than anything, [we’re looking for] good players who are committed to the hard work that is going to go into starting a team and all the roadblocks that may be ahead of us,” Cupkovic added.

Despite hesitance about pushing the project forward too hastily, the Athletic Department has been “high[ly] receptive about helping us out,” Cupkovic said, and its assistance with getting into the Webster tournament has helped the students establish what is certain to be a critical building block.

Schael was also hopeful that the initiative would come together because he was uncomfortable with the University’s decision to cut the original men’s golf program in 1992.

The decision to first form a women’s varsity golf team was not a swipe at the men; rather, it was based more on local competition for the women’s side, Title IX mandates and demonstrated interest at that time.

Athletic Department criteria stipulate that “a club team be in continued existence for a minimum of three consecutive years” before it can be considered for varsity status. Bank and Cupkovic have expressed their interest to expedite that process but realize that they need to get on the course first.

“There is no set time period,” Bank said. “I can tell you we want to be a varsity team this semester, but obviously that would be unrealistic. I think it will come down [to] just participating for a semester and seeing how it goes. And then maybe another two or three [semesters] and seeing how that goes and just continuing to play and re-evaluate as we go along.”

Although the program has taken a serious step up by adding some tournament play, it still has many steps left before a move can be made to the varsity level. Still, as Schael said, “they were very well organized…they had some lofty goals and they are on the fast track to try to achieve those goals.”