TMB SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW: GOLF
Last year was a memorable one for the TMB golf team — the Munson family in particular.
The coach Michael Munson had the pleasure of traveling to Becker for the state meet with two Panther golfers. But what made it even more special? Those two golfers were his children, Alex and Taylor.
“I was very happy for both of them,” coach Munson said. “Watching both of them compete through the year and both making it to state was great. Doing the practice round was really cool, because it was just those two and me. My highlight of my coaching career was walking Alex up 18.”
Munson said his daughter has a goal of getting back to state — not just to compete, but because if she does, she will be the first Munson to compete in a state tournament three times.
“It’s a family goal,” her dad said. “She’s got to be able to do it this year to get that opportunity as a senior. She learned a lot going last year, and I think she’s going to be better off for it.”
Munson is one of two juniors on the varsity team; the other is Trenton Johnson, who coach Munson said made tremendous strides in 2025.
“He finished great last year, he improved a lot,” said Munson. “He usually starts out slow at the beginning of the year, but by the middle of last year, he was really golfing well.”
There were two seventh-graders on last year’s team: Gavin Fischer and Charles Xiong.
“(Gavin) is hitting the ball far right now,” Munson said. “His game has come a long way. I knew once we got him on varsity last year — that sparked him. He loves golf. He’s just going to keep learning, keep getting better.”
Xiong, Munson said, has a love for the game, so much so that his family has a golf simulator in their basement.
“He’s got a great swing and great potential,” Munson said.
The other girl on the team is freshman Madelyn Elsen, who Munson said has a natural swing; confidence, he said, is the big thing with this youngster.
“We just try to keep pumping up her confidence,” said Munson. “She did a lot of JV last year and kept winning those meets. She just wasn’t confident coming to varsity. She’s going to be a very good player going forward.”
Numbers for the golf program over the years have seen more lows than highs. Despite some good coaches leading the way, it’s often difficult to field more than a half dozen student-athletes to commit to and stick with the sport. The possibly of losing golf didn’t sit well with Munson, which is why the former multisport coach decided to take over.
“We’ve seen soccer go bye-bye, we’ve seen dance go bye-bye; I did not want to see golf go away,” Munson said. “The first year when I took over, we only had five kids … it was on the verge because we only had two golfers at the time that were half-way serious about it.”
This year, there are far more kids in grades 7-12 on the team, but only two girls: Munson and Elsen.
“Girls programs overall in all sports have been struggling,” Munson said. “We have a lot of girls out for sports in the seventh grade — they have a lot of girls out for softball. There’s pockets of sports that don’t have a lot of girls in them.”
While the numbers have perked up, this year’s team is very young, with no seniors and just two juniors, along with two sophomores.
“It’s exciting to see all of them grow and enjoy the game — that’s the number one thing you want them to do,” said Munson.
As per usual, TMB golfers had been mostly kept indoors this spring as they hone different aspects of the game. But unlike the past, today’s group has at their disposal some pretty neat equipment to help them improve and simulate the game as much as technologically possible.
One of the pieces of equipment is designed to help with putting. And it’s not your father’s putting green. This is one that players can customize to give a more accurate reflection of breaks in a green.
“It has pumps on both sides so you can make it slope,” Munson said. “We had it set up (last Tuesday) to make a rightto- left slope, so you have to judge where the ball is going to go. And if it goes in, it pops it back at you. You can deflate it and pump it up from the other side.”
The other piece of new equipment this year is a launch monitor, which Munson thanks the sports boosters for helping pay for it. A player hits the ball into a net and the computer shows the distance the ball traveled, how far it will carry and if it goes right or left.
“We set an iPad next to them so they can see all these things after they swing,” Munson said. “It’s a nice thing when we’re indoors.”
2026 TMB GOLF ROSTER Girls Juniors: Taylor Munson Freshmen: Madelyn Elsen
Boys Juniors: Trenton Johnson Sophomores: Trevor DeSChepper, Tyson Petersen
Freshmen: Levi Duscher, Christian Fransen, Levi Hauger, Tovin Kainz Eighth-graders: Gavin Fischer, Charles Xiong Seventh-graders: Kurtis Nyquist, Tanner Olson, Carter Staufacker
