photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

From left to right: Kristen Manbech, Addy Scraper and Carson Chambers clear the area for chipping practice on Friday, September 27, 2024 at Baldwin Golf Course in Baldwin City.

Baldwin girls golf coach Eric Toot wasn’t sure what he had in his team.

Toot had just stepped away from coaching the girls basketball team and was approaching retirement when the girls on the golf team approached him about being their coach. Knowing the quality of the character of the girls on the team, he stepped in, despite having never coached golf before.

The 2024 season is only the second year of the program’s existence, and it is the first year the team has enough to compete as an entire team rather than multiple individuals. Current sophomore Peyton Wright lobbied the school board to add the sport to the school before her freshman year and started as the lone player. Junior Kristen Manbech and sophomore Carson Chambers eventually joined in that inaugural season, but it was an awkward year with a lack of teammates.

“It was like it was summer ball,” Wright said. “I would just go to tournaments with my mom. Now we have a full team and we can listen to music in the van and do team bonding stuff.”

Typically, golf is played as an individual sport. That’s how Wright experienced it last year until Manbech and Chambers joined in. Even though she had a good freshman year, it felt too serious when she was alone — the typical team dynamic was sorely lacking.

High school golf requires at least five golfers to compete for a team score, so while the Bulldogs competed in tournaments in 2023, the scores only counted for individuals. Now that a few more girls joined the team, the Bulldogs can finally compete, and so far, the results have been impressive.

The Bulldogs have won four of their first five tournaments, while Wright has shown to be one of the best golfers in the state. The team doesn’t just rely on her, however. At the Spring Hill Invitational, which was one that Toot had circled as a significant test as to how good the team was, the Bulldogs had five golfers in the top 23 individually and three in the top 10, including Wright winning the invitational and Chambers placing second. The team wins because of the talent on its roster and the bond they’ve been able to create.

“The success we’ve had right away has made the season special,” Wright said. “It’s very different from last year.”

The team is almost always together. Every weekday, the team practices together at the Baldwin golf course. On weekends, a few girls are members at golf courses around the area, so they often branch out and play one of the other courses. In school, they’re all around the same age which means similar classes and more interaction with each other during the day. This has created a tight-knit bond among the six, which they believe is what makes them special.

These relationships are among the most significant benefits of having a small team. Since there are only six girls, they all know each other well. Each knows what a teammate might need for encouragement in a particular moment. They know how to push each other to be their best, all while still being close friends when the team leaves the course every evening. The Bulldogs can have that while also having five dominant golfers, which is something that most small teams sacrifice.

“We want a bigger team, we want more people to come out and play, but it’s nice to have the connection that we have,” Chambers said.

Freshman Addy Scraper learned the basics of golf from her dad when she was younger, but this is her first year playing and on a team. While she already knew how to hit and many of the basics, the team has helped her in a lot of other ways. If she has a bad day, they’re there for her.

Despite having some of the top golfers in the state, the Bulldogs are a young group. Of the six girls on the team, none are seniors, and only one, Manbech, is a junior. Three are sophomores, and two are freshmen. Given the size and age of the group, the team has a lot of potential for this year and the future, which is an exciting prospect for them. That also means that everyone has had to grow into a leadership role.

“Being the only junior, I do feel like I have that role of being a leader, but all of us are leaders in our own way,” Manbech said. “We’re a small team. Everybody has to be a leader at something.”

The team is still taking things one at a time. As a group composed primarily of sophomores and freshmen in its first year of competing as a full team, the Bulldogs are just as worried about advancing to state as any other team.

But the Bulldogs also know how talented they are and what that means for the rest of the year. Placing or winning the team title in the state is a lofty goal for a team only in its first year of team competition, but it’s one that the Bulldogs have set and are on pace to accomplish.

So far recruiting efforts have gone well for the Bulldogs. They landed newcomers like Chambers and Scraper to the team, which has helped their performance numbers and ability to compete at the state tournament as a full team. Toot, who is retiring and won’t be the coach after this year, is also looking to see who can join the team as a coach. In both instances, the best thing for the team is to keep winning.

“The biggest thing we can do is keep having the success we’re having,” Toot said. “People are shocked because we didn’t have a team last year. People want to be a part of success, and I think you’ll see people apply for the job next year. I think coaches want to be involved with good kids who have a chance to win. This group will give you that for at least the next two years.”

The team is making the expectations as they go, setting the example for what the team’s future can look like. The goal is to build something that lasts at Baldwin so that future girls who want to break the stigma of what a golfer looks like can join a team and compete at a high level. It only took a couple of weeks for Toot to realize what he had on this team, and what he has is a state contender for the foreseeable future.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Baldwin girls golf coach Eric Toot, right, and sophomore Chambers have a conversation during a practice on Friday, September 27, 2024 at the Baldwin Golf Course in Baldwin City.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Baldwin sophomore Peyton Wright practices her chipping at a golf practice on Friday, September 27, 2024 at Baldwin Golf Course in Baldwin City.