Students on Pepperdine University’s campus may notice a lot of construction. While the Mountain is set to be completed by late 2026 according to the University, a new project is underway.
Firestone Fieldhouse is another area of Pepperdine’s campus that is under construction. The main lobby is closed and fenced off, but what is the construction for?
New Additions
The Fieldhouse is adding brand new facilities for the Men’s and Women’s golf teams. Andrew Clark, director of Administration for Planning, Operations and Construction, said the new facilities include a clubhouse on an added second level with a practice area, lounge, locker rooms, coaches offices and a small conference room. Some of the practice area will have a golf and putting simulator.
“To be able to have a place on campus where the men’s and women’s team can just have a home and train and improve with all the latest technology and all that, and then still have a place to practice on campus outside was just an awesome combo,” said Men’s Golf Head Coach Michael Beard.
Pepperdine golf teams have been very successful in past seasons. The men’s team captured a national championship in 2021 and the women’s team is ranked No. 17 this year in the Golfweek national rankings, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Despite this success, the teams have to travel off campus to train. Alumni Park has some practice holes but the teams would still have to drive around an hour daily just to reach courses suitable for practice.
This project will help alleviate some of this travel, giving the golfers another place to practice on campus aside from Alumni Park.
“The facility at Alumni Park is already pretty good and coming with a whole clubhouse dedicated just for the golf teams, I think that will really elevate everyone’s game on the team to a next level,” Freshman golfer Nishna Patel said.
Junior golfer Mahanth Chirravuri echoed Patel, saying it was exciting to see the project get underway.
“It’s huge for the program. It’s huge for recruiting,” Chirravuri said. “I think it really adds to the amount of value that we have as a player here at Pepperdine. We have so many great facilities, and just to have another facility on campus that we could use is huge for us.”
Looking Toward the Future
Recruiting is one of the areas that will benefit from these new facilities, Beard said. Most, if not all, of the top 30 or top 40 programs have facilities of the sort, and this will put Pepperdine in the game with the others, he said.
“I anticipate us continuing to get better and better and better the next wave of five or six years, and I think this is going to have a lot to do with it,” Beard said. “I can see it in my mind now that [recruits may think] if I go to Pepperdine, I’m gonna have everything I need to play the tour.”
These new facilities can also make the stress of balancing travel, academics and athletics at a Division I school easier.
“This will allow them to have more flexibility in classes and more flexibility in studies, because they won’t have to go off campus as much,” Director of Athletics Tanner Gardner said. “So, I think it just improves the student-athlete experience.”
Continuing the Tanner Gardner Era
This project is another one added to the Tanner Gardner Era that is focused on improving Pepperdine Athletics one step at a time. Gardner said this new facility will not only benefit the teams and student-athletes but the student body as well, for example, through rec sports.
“When you match elite facilities with elite programs, you can much more easily perpetuate your success,” Gardner said. “More space creates more opportunities to serve more people.”
Chirravuri said Gardner’s hunger for success is displayed through facility improvements like these, which benefit him as a student-athlete. He said once the project is completed, he will feel like he has every resource needed to succeed at a higher level.
“He has a great vision for the program and just all sports,” Chirravuri said. “I think he’s doing everything he can to help Pepperdine either take that next step and just compete for whatever championships every year.”
Honoring the Past
Beard said he is excited for his team to have a place to practice and relax, but he is more excited to have a place that tells the program’s story. Gardner agreed with Beard and said the golf teams deserve a place to showcase their success and alumni who have become professionals.
“If you want to go to a tremendous school of great Christian values, academic excellence and a history of success, both in winning national championships and putting players on the tour, you can have it all here,” Gardner said. “We can demonstrate and showcase that through this facility.”
This facility can also help inspire future Pepperdine golfers by displaying the success of those that have come before them. Gardner said he is excited to honor the program’s history of success and work that has been put in to build the program into what it is today.
“Just being able to show these players a vision for their future is very powerful,” Gardner said.
While the project broke ground in July, Clark said there is no set end date nor projected cost for these facilities.
“We’re in the middle of some really exciting planning and conversations,” Clark said. “Nothing that we’re ready to report on yet, but I think just knowing that we are a growing community having the additional square foot for the myriad of things that our campus needs will be exciting.”
If students and athletes are entering Firestone Fieldhouse while the construction is ongoing, they can use the poolside entrance. The main lobby is closed but the foyer remains open.
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