Some weeks, like this upcoming one, Duke goes on short road trips to scenic locations like Dalton, Ga. When the players are lucky, they travel to Puerto Rico, which they will do later this year.
And then there are times, when the golf gods are truly smiling, that the Blue Devils take an all-expenses-paid trip to Japan.
"It was very different over there-a different culture," junior Clark Klaasen said. "I've never been to a place where almost every single person you meet is so excited to meet you."
The main purpose of the 26-hour voyage across the Pacific Ocean was golf, and the team hardly disappointed-the Blue Devils finished fourth in the TOPY Cup U.S.-Japan Intercollegiate Golf Championship, which featured some of the best teams from both Japan and the United States. But the week abroad also served as a bonding experience for the players and their new head coach, O.D. Vincent.
"We had a week together, quite a long trip, and I was really impressed with how hungry this team is for success," Vincent said. "Overall it was a lot of fun to get to know the players."
The most interesting things to come from the trip, though, had little to do with actually hitting a ball.
The Blue Devils learned that the traditional Japanese culture of respect and honor extends all the way to the course. The tournament paired one American golfer with two Japanese players each day, leading to a one-of-a-kind cultural exchange.
"One of the unique things is, when you tee off with the Japanese players every day, you exchange gifts with them," Klaasen said. "I got a towel, some Japanese green tea and some black and gold chopsticks. We gave them Duke keychains and I personally gave them pens from my home state [Michigan], so that was kind of cool."
The language barrier was naturally an issue. Although Japanese is offered at Duke, none of the golfers speak the language.
"I couldn't understand anything they were saying, so at least they could understand a little bit of what I was saying," senior Michael Schachner said. "They know what 'good shot' is, and they can kind of get the gist of what you are trying to say just from playing golf."
The players were struck by the differences in the amateur sports structures between the two cultures. Golfers in Japan seem to give a new meaning to the term "student-athlete."
"Golf is so expensive there," Vincent said. "So a lot of these players go to school all day long, go to a short practice at one of these triple-decker city ranges, and then after that, they only play about once every couple of weekends."
Nothing sums up the team's Japanese experience better than Kur Haus, a multipurpose spa decorated in a traditional setting. According to both Schachner and Klaasen, visits to the Kur Haus at all hours of the day were a must.
"They have these steam things that you sit in and just hold your head out, so our team got a kick of going to those," Klaasen said.
In addition to being treated like kings in Fukushima, the site of the tournament, the team also visited Tokyo once the three-day event finished. After traveling to the capital via bullet train, the Blue Devils went to Japanese restaurants, met locals and soaked in the sights.
"We stayed in a nice hotel there and saw an Eiffel Tower of sorts, went to a Buddhist temple and pretty much just explored Tokyo for a day and a half," Schachner said.
Now back in Durham, Schachner, Klaasen and Co. have readjusted to the time change, the heat and most notably, classes.
"It was a great week, and then we kind of came back to reality," Klaasen said.
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