The start of a season can be difficult to navigate: new challenges, new opponents, new chances.

But for boys golf, there’s comfort in knowing some things have stayed the same.

More than half of last year’s varsity players have returned for the 2023 school year, a result of last season’s underclassman-heavy team.

And with familiar faces leading it, the team is ready to compound on last year’s success.

“We are a very close team,” junior Bennett Babington said. “We are very competitive with each other, and we’re working hard to ensure we go far this year.”

That competitiveness comes out in practices, according to junior Carter Crow, but it ultimately helps the team be supportive when pressure is high.

“When it comes to a tournament, we all need to build each other up and hope for them to do the best they can,” he said.

Following last season’s advance to sectionals, the team has been working to keep up the consistency that brought them low scores and championship wins. For some, that performance begins with a clear head on the green. “Playing your own game,” as Crow describes it, has been a main focus in the team’s practice this season.

“I think about good things,” sophomore Bryce Pryor said, “like, ‘after I birdie this I’m gonna birdie or par again.’”

That positive mindset is helped by support from teammates — being able to “hang with the boys,” according to Pryor, is one of the benefits of being on a team. With most of last year’s team still competing, there’s an extra level of support while playing.

“I think we work well with each other and we all get along and are all friends…” Crow said. “It makes everything comfortable and easy to start it off.”