Golf is a sport like few others. The legendary golfer Arnold Palmer once said, “Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated.”
Collegiate golf is played individually, with each golfer’s score combined with their teammates’ scores to determine the team’s score. A bad day by one golfer can bring the entire team down.
“I think golf is just so different,” said Ty Anderson, Weber State University’s lone senior on the men’s golf team. “It’s a very individual sport, but I think it’s just about getting everybody on the same page and playing well at the same time because we need all five guys to contribute in order to succeed.”
This sentiment was echoed by the Wildcats’ Head Coach Scott Erling, who’s been with the team since 2013.
“It’s obviously an individual sport, but we wrap it in a team concept,” Erling said. “We’re doing everything we can to improve our depth.”
College golf is also unique in that it splits its season into two parts. “We play a wraparound season where both the fall and the spring count the same, and there’s a break in the middle.”
In the fall, the Wildcats saw some success, as sophomore Matthew Wilson won the Dolenc Invitational on Sept. 30 and won the Big Sky Conference Co-Golfer of the Week for his efforts.
This season also marks the return of men’s golf in the Big Sky Conference after a year-long hiatus, as Weber State and the University of Northern Colorado were the only two schools to have a men’s golf team, and thus played one season in the Summit League.
Now, Eastern Washington University, the University of Idaho and California State University, Sacramento, have brought back their men’s golf teams, along with usual Division II school Francis Marion University joining as a men’s golf-only school, the Big Sky now has enough teams to support men’s golf. However, whatever conference Weber State is in doesn’t matter to them.
“One of our number one goals at the start of every year is to try and win our conference, regardless of what it is,” Erling said. “We know that no matter what conference you play in, you’re going to have to play really well to give yourself a chance to be successful.”
The Wildcats have a young team with Anderson as the only senior, and he has taken on the responsibility of helping the younger players.
“I feel like my knowledge on how to get better … can help players,” Anderson said. “We do have some guys on the team who are obviously great players, and they know how to practice. I think it’s more just being there for everybody, trying to be a vocal leader and get opinions from the team across to our coach, and then just trying to hold people accountable.”
The Wildcats were picked fourth in the 2025-26 Men’s Golf Preseason Coaches’ Poll and will begin their spring season on Feb. 2 at the Bill Cullum Invitational at the Saticoy Country Club in Somis, California.
