Everyone knows that the weather in State College isn't exactly warm, but perhaps no one bears the brunt of Happy Valley winters more so than the Penn State men's golf team.

The team faces incredible challenges during the winter months, as the snow and cold do not allow them to practice outdoors. When the Nittany Lions travel to Huntington, W. Va., for the Marshall Invitational on April 9, it will be the first time in over five months that the whole team has played together outside.

According to junior Andrew Price, it is noticeable at the beginning of the spring season as to which teams play in warmer climates and which teams play in cooler ones.

"The cold puts us at a disadvantage to southern teams or teams out west," he said. "At the beginning of a tournament, it takes a couple rounds to get used to things; you hit shots that you can't make."

Freshman John Aubrey agrees.

"Other schools definitely have an advantage," he said. "We're always in assimilation mode."

For Aubrey, it has also been tough making the transition from high school golf, which is played only in the fall or in the winter, to Div. I golf, which is year-round.

"It put more of a strain on me," he said. "Colleges try to make golf a year-round thing.

You used to have five or six months off. Here, you lose feel and finesse over the winter from being indoors. I just have to work a little bit harder."

Junior Greg Pieczynski had the opportunity to shake off some wintertime rust before most did, as he traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands with a few teammates in early March to participate in the St. Croix Collegiate Classic.

"It felt great to finally be outside, to be honest," Pieczynski said, but he did also say that the many months practicing indoors did slightly affect the team's performance at the tournament.

"As for getting the ball in the hole and around the greens, which requires practice and feel, every shot is different, and that's the game that suffers most," he said.

"We threw away some shots that we normally wouldn't have."

The team doesn't seem too worried about the upcoming season, though, as renovations to its Holuba Hall practice green has helped the team to make more progress than usual during the winter months.

A new synthetic field turf replaced the AstroTurf formerly on the ground.

This has made for a much better hitting surface.

"The field turf is nice to hit off of, as opposed to the AstroTurf," Pieczynski said. "It makes a difference. You can see the ball react - it stops, more like real courses. With Astroturf, it just kept on rolling."

Possibly even more beneficial to the team than the new turf is the new net that was put up.

The net runs around the top of Holuba Hall, and allows the team to hit fuller shots with longer irons that were not able to be hit in the past.

It also allows them to use real golf balls, rather than limited flight balls known as Cayman balls.

"It's great, because we are able to see a shot's full flight," Aubrey said.

No matter how nice its new practice facilities are, the team agrees that they can't wait to get outside and play and the game gmae of golf the way it is meant to be played.

"By the time February or March rolls around, everyone is ready to go outside," Price said.

Aubrey is excited about the opportunity to finally practice and play outside.

"I can't wait to get out there," he said.