The Bismarck High Girls Golf team has their own coach for the first time in at least five years. Dr. John Tufte took over in July and know he is trying to build the Demons into champions.
“It’s everything I wanted it to be,” Tufte said. “The girls are fantastic. Their parents are fantastic.”
Before Dr. Tufte took over the program, Bismarck High competed as their own team, but Century’s Lindsey Reede coached both schools.
“A lot of stress,” junior Gracie Werner said. “We had two amazing coaches, but there were so many girls that they didn’t have time to get to all of us in time.”
Dr. Tufte arrives with seven years of experience from Fergus Falls, Minn. and three years as an assistant at Century.
“I like him a lot, Grace Stroh said. “He’s really nice and funny. He’s always there for us when we need him.”
Another huge boost to Dr. Tufte was the size of the program, which jumped from four to 12 players in one year.
“We promoted golf more than we have the past couple of years,” Werner said. “A lot of the girls from the middle school moved up and played high school golf.”
Bismarck is extremely young. This season, the varsity roster has no seniors, three juniors, three freshman and a seventh grader.
So the new coach is preaching patience.
“You’re not going to get good fast,” Tufte said. “It takes time and repetition. Not only that, but time and repetition of doing it right.”
This year, Bismarck is not even thinking about a state title, but a state tournament berth is theirs for the taking.
“Some of the girls have seen some big improvement already and that’s encouraging,” Tufte said.
This coming Monday, Bismarck High will look to post a top-six score as a team to qualify for the state tournament.
