Yep. Golf season is officially here.

As the dogwoods bloom at Augusta National, the world of golf descends upon its first major, The Masters, today...

No, wait. Not that golf season.

Today brings the startup of the Harvard men's golf mean which travels south to Duxbury for the traditional spring season opener against Yale and Princeton. None of the Crimson players has Augusta in his long-term career plans. Or do they?

"The timing is actually just a ploy to keep us away from Augusta, "Senior Will Curry cracks.

Humor is never in short supply among team members--given such a short season within which to work (the Ivy League championships start exactly 10 days from now), a little bit of self-deprecating team laughter helps take the edge off of what can be an extraordinarily frustrating day-to-day experience.

Especially given the constraints of Northeastern golf. When Harvard stepped into the sunshine of Naples, Florida to begin its annual spring trip, it was the first time that many of the team members had hit a golf ball outdoors since October -- not an unformidable obstacle to good play.

Sophomore Captain Jack Wylie doesn't exaggerate when he says that over the course of the trip, "Dozens of golf balls were lost in the Florida waters." And almost one team member. During the course of a round at Mayacoo Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, sophomore David Choi backed up a little too far while lining up a putt. And in the words of Coach Bob Leonard, he proceeded to fall "ass over tea-kettle" into a lurking pond.

Everyone got a good-natured kick out of that episode, but when it comes to this year's outlook, the tone of conversation turns serious. What seems on paper to be a rebuilding year may yet blossom into an Ivy League championship -- or even a long-sought-after NCAA berth.

"We lost five of our top seven players last year," Wylie says. "But there's a lot of young talent here, talent enough to bring us the Ivies, even though much of it is untested.

Include freshman Joel Radtke on that list -- his three straight 75's in recent practice rounds (and remember, it is still early into the season) give Wylie's claim a lot of credence.

Throw junior Lou Body into the mix -- this hockey defenseman by winter, John Daly-impersonator by fall and spring can hit the ball about three miles off the tee (weighing in at 328 yards on one crushed drive in Florida). And add streaky senior Hugh O'Donnell, and the claiming influence of Wylie...all of the ingredient are there. But golf is unpredictable at best. Curry sums it up well: "We're all capable of shooting well enough to win every match in which we participate."

The predicament, of course is marshalling the Crimson's talent on a match-to-match basis. Harvard's fall golf reason was marked by inconsistent play and rounds soaring well into the 80s, numbers that won't bring any trophies home in the next few weeks.

And golf in the New England spring is hardly conductive to low scoring. Wet fairways and windy, rainy, sub-40 degree conditions that traditionally mar April in Massachusetts are adversaries that bother everyone, but the golfing truism that bad conditions bring the best to the fore underscores another Crimson challenge.

Yet all of the elements of a winning team are there. "I expect that we will compete with the best in every contest this season," Curry says.

A definite possibility--but don't look for any of the Crimson to be strolling through the Augusta pines anytime soon.

At least not in Masters.