Jared Baszler (pronounced BAYZ-ler) enters his tenth season as head coach of both the men’s and women’s golf teams at South Dakota State University.  After coaching on a part-time basis for five years, Baszler was promoted to a full-time position on Aug. 5, 2008.

Baszler has taken the Jackrabbit golf program to new heights in recent years with the addition of two home tournaments to the schedule and a brand new, $67,000 indoor golfing room.

The Jackrabbit Invitational started in 2010 at the Primm Valley Golf Club in Primm, Nev. Comprised of two courses, the venue has been perfect for the Jacks and other schools in the northern part of the U.S. looking for an early spring tournament.

A new addition to the schedule in 2012 was the Jackrabbit Fall Invitational, which became the first Division I golf event ever held in South Dakota. The field consisted of state and regional schools who don’t get many opportunities to golf in the places many of them grew up.

During winter break of the 2012-13 school year, the putting and chipping area of the new indoor golf room was completed. Installed by SynLawn, the green is 48x20 feet and takes up most of the new golfing room.

The other phase of the indoor facility came much sooner than expected as the Foresight Sports golf simulator was installed in early March 2013. The system features a launch monitor, a portable black box which can be used indoors or out on the course. The monitor tracks club head speed, carry distance, angle of attack, ball spin, etc. It keeps data for every swing for every golfer and used for later analysis -- pretty much like watching game film for golfers.

The updates to the indoor facilities usher in a new era for SDSU golf. Instead of being shut down during the cold winter months, golfers now have access to a variety of courses and a driving range even while the snow piles up outside.

Baszler earned Midwest Conference medalist honors two times (1999 and 2002) during his collegiate playing career at Grinnell College (Iowa). He also earned team most valuable player honors three times (1999, 2000 and 2002), before earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2002.  During his prep career at De Smet High School, Baszler qualified for the state Class B tournament five times, earning runner-up honors as a freshman. Baszler helped lead De Smet to the Class B state team title his junior year, while also competing on three state runner-up team.

Baszler and his wife Ashley  have one son, Jack, who was born in 2011.