Oskaloosa, Iowa--Earlier this fall, members of the William Penn University men’s golf team volunteered their time planting trees at their home course as a part of the school’s commitment to the NAIA’s Champions of Character initiative.

Several members worked on two separate afternoons in mid-October to complete the project with guidance from Edmundson Golf Course Superintendent Doug Ruffridge. The team dug up over 60 2-4-foot evergreen trees from around Oskaloosa’s Edmundson Park and then strategically replanted them throughout Edmundson Golf Course. Oskaloosa’s Earl May Nursery & Garden Center also donated several deciduous trees that the team also put into the earth.

"This was a great project for our team to be a part of," Co-Head Coach Steve Tucker said. "We put trees in places where they were really needed as well as places that will make the course a little more difficult."

"We wanted the guys to be able to come back to William Penn 10, 15, 20 years from now and see all of the changes that they made to the golf course," Tucker added. "We really think it will make a difference in how the course looks and plays, which is really exciting."