Having a team with no seniors could be something that easily rattles a young team, but having a coach with 30 years of experience behind him can only help.

Coach Jim Brown will lead the Ohio State men’s golf team into its spring season, and will have to mold together a youthful squad which begins its season this weekend in Florida at the Gator Invitational.

Despite losing Justin Collins, the only senior, to a redshirt, the Buckeyes are full of confidence heading into the second and most important half of their season.

Brown said the Buckeyes had a good fall season to lead into winter conditioning and to spring season.

However, OSU did make one slight change this winter.

“We probably hit twice as many balls as we usually do in the winter,” Brown said. “We’ve been practicing for four hours a day, including going out to the dome in Gahanna.”

The weather has not been cooperating with the team, and the Buckeyes have been forced to deal with inside practices. But Brown does not see that as a bad thing.

“I think it is an advantage to only be hitting inside, because they do not worry about where the ball is going,” he said. “You can really focus on the fundamentals — swing, setup and routine.”

The one disadvantage of practicing inside is not being able to work on putting and chipping, but Brown has made it mandatory that short game practice be done outside at the OSU golf course, no matter what the weather conditions are.

Without a senior on the squad, the Buckeyes will look to a talented group of juniors to lead the way, most notably Kevin Hall.

“I have been working on my swing all winter and as a result I feel I should be able to hit the ball more consistently,” he said.

Another junior Brown hopes can lead the way is Zach Doran.

“I think every guy on this team is capable of playing well and knowing what it takes to win,” Doran said. “You just hope some of the young guys got enough experience in the fall.”

As a team, OSU hopes to improve on a fall campaign where it failed to finish in the top six in its region and also missed the NCAA tournament.

That disappointment is still fresh in the mind of junior Scott Anderson.

“It was a complete let down at the end of the season last year,” Anderson said. “When you don’t make the tournament, you have no closure to your season.”

The Buckeyes hope they can begin their season on a good note this weekend in Florida.

“It’s going to be some tough competition down there,” Brown said. “My goal is for us to shoot under par every day.”