In Focus: Huskies Take Once-In-A-Lifetime Trip
October 01, 2015 | General, Men's Golf
By Mason Kelley
GoHuskies.com
It was a trip several years in the making.
After getting the opportunity to spend a week playing golf in Ireland eight years ago, Matt Thurmond knew he wanted to find another opportunity to take the Washington men's golf team abroad.
University athletic programs are able to play abroad every four years, so when presented with another chance to travel, Thurmond and his staff started to plan.
The Huskies decided to visit the Scottish Highlands.
“We chose to do it in our season, to treat it like practice,” Thurmond said. “We always take a retreat to start the year and we thought it would be kind of cool to go to Scotland. We have a group of donors that's been wanting to do it for a long time.”
But this journey was about more than a team retreat. For this particular trip, the Huskies invited a group of “walk-ons.” These golfers weren't members of the program in the traditional sense. They were donors who joined the program on their Scottish tour.
“The idea of walk-ons was in part to give respect to all the great walk-ons we've had in our program over the years, but also the idea that you can come and be on the team, but you've got to pay your own way,” Thurmond said.
The donors who signed up for the trip were given uniforms and a Washington golf bag. They dressed like members of the team as they played alongside the Huskies' golfers during rounds at Royal Aberdeen, Castle Stuart, Royal Dornoch, Brora and Nairn.
“We planned the trip,” Thurmond said. “We handled everything. They sign up, say they're going and pay the money and we arrange everything so they can just show up, enjoy and play golf.”
The “walk-ons” were invited to team meetings. They spent long bus rides between courses talking to players. They sat down for every team meal. But, while they were treated to a behind-the-scenes experience, they proved to be valuable members of the team during that week, imparting wisdom acquired through years of experience.
Each night a different “walk-on” would speak to the team, like former Washington football player Rick Redman.
“There was an element of education there as well, kind of a really unique connection between the donor and student you just can't get in another sport,” Thurmond said. “That's a part of the whole thing that shouldn't be lost, because it's such a unique environment for the student athletes to connect with these guys and for the donors that have been successful in their lives to pass along some of those things to the kids.”
And then there was the golf. Thurmond thought about taking the team to St. Andrews, but he wanted to come up with a more unique experience both for his players and the “walk-ons.” 
“There are a few different places in Scotland you can go and we chose to go there, because it's kind of off the beaten path,” Thurmond said. “It's a place people don't go very often. I just thought a lot of people probably get to St. Andrews at some point in their life, but they may not get up to the highlands, these great links courses up in the north."
“To do it with a college team, and to play with a university's golf team in a place like Scotland on those courses is a pretty unique deal. And it's unique for our guys, since we're only allowed to do it every four years.”
There was a worry that spending a week playing in the Scotland would have an initial negative impact on Washington's players when they returned to Seattle for the Husky Invitational at Tumble Creek Club. The type of golf played in Scotland is “totally different” and the Huskies were competing with the “walk-ons” instead of other collegiate golfers.
But, instead of picking up techniques, or bad habits, that only worked on Scottish courses, Washington's players took advantage of the opportunity to add new shots that are now helping them back home.
“The shots that you develop over there are really good,” Thurmond said. “Corey Pereira doesn't win the Husky Invitational if he didn't go to Scotland. Some of the little knockdown shots he was hitting in the wind, they were Scottish shots.”
There were moments on the course in Suncadia when Thurmond and Pereira agreed a shot looked primed for a “little Scottish 8-iron.”
“He hit so many of those shots, he was glad to practice them for a whole week,” Thurmond said. “Kevin Kwon said the same thing.”
In Scotland, Kwon was trying to keep his drives under the wind. Now playing under pressure in a tournament, he was able to use that as a go-to shot.
“In the end, I think it actually made them much better, well-rounded players,” Thurmond said.
The trip proved to be so valuable for the Huskies, Thurmond wants to make sure it becomes part of the program. Every four years, he wants to take his team, and his “walk-ons,” abroad. That way, Thurmond said, “every person who comes through our program gets to make a fun international trip like that.”
