The Women’s Golf team is running out of time, and players. With only one tournament remaining this season, the roster has dwindled to just three athletes, leaving the Bears unable to compete as a full team, and raising serious questions about whether the program will continue at all.
“We’ve played three tournaments so far… and one of our girls quit after our second tournament,” said Lucy Bamford ‘26. “You need a minimum of four girls to record a team score. So since that girl quit, we now only have three players.”
As a result, the team was forced to drop out of conference competition entirely. Players will only be allowed to compete individually.
The situation highlights a deeper issue facing not just Ursinus, but small-college women’s golf programs more broadly: a shrinking pool of golfers. Bamford explained that recruiting has been an ongoing struggle.
“We haven’t been able to get anyone these past couple of years… our junior (McKenzi Thompson ‘27) was the last girl who was recruited to play golf here,” she said.
While there is one confirmed recruit for next season and possibly another (according to Bamford), the future of the program remains unclear. Even with a coach actively trying to bring in new players, interest has been limited. According to Bamford, the issue starts with the sport itself.
“There’s not a lot of women golfers to begin with,” she said. “If you shoot well, you can go D1, so not a lot of girls come to D3 schools just to play golf.”
In many cases, players aren’t recruited at all and instead they discover the sport after arriving on campus. Bamford herself is proof of this.
“I didn’t play golf before coming to college, I walked on the team my freshman year.”
Instability within the program has only made things harder. Over Bamford’s four years, the team has seen multiple coaching changes and even came close to being cut altogether.
“We had two different coaches and we didn’t have a coach for one year,” she said.
“They were gonna cut the program our sophomore year… they said it was because of funding, but then they never really explained why they added it back.”
While the team’s roster struggles have kept Ursinus College out of full competition, individual performances still show signs of progress and potential.
At the recent Spring Quad #3 at Turtle Creek Golf Club, two Bears posted season-low rounds, with McKenzi Thompson ‘27 leading the way at 101 and Payton Fritz ‘26 close behind at 107. Bamford finished with a 118, noting that even as the team’s situation declines, personal improvement remains a focus.
“It’s not like we’re not still trying, we still wanna do our best, ” she said.
The results underscore the contradiction at the heart of the program’s current state: despite visible development on the course, the lack of players continues to overshadow those gains, leaving a team that is improving individually but struggling to survive collectively.
Despite the situation, Lucy doesn’t place blame on the coaching staff.
“I think Coach Kane genuinely cares about both teams,” she said, referring to the shared men’s and women’s golf coach. “There’s a small pool to pull from.”
Bamford noted that other schools in the conference face similar challenges, with many women’s teams relying on walk-ons rather than recruited athletes.
Still, the imbalance is noticeable. While the women’s team struggles to f ield enough players, the men’s roster is significantly larger. There are 10 members of the men’s team, compared to the 3 women.
The senior believes part of the solution lies in making the sport more appealing, especially to beginners. She suggested that a coach focused specifically on the women’s team could make a difference.
“A lot of the walk-on golfers you’re gonna get now are probably gonna be at a lesser skill level and they are going to need more attention and technical help, ” she said.
For Bamford, the situation is bittersweet. She joined the team to try something new and help keep the program alive. Now, as she prepares to graduate, she worries about what comes next, especially for the lone returning player.
“It sucks to leave [Thompson] on her own next year,” she said.
As the season winds down, the future of Ursinus women’s golf remains uncertain. But Bamford hopes this conversation sparks change, before the program disappears entirely.
“I’ve played free golf for four years… went on some really nice courses and met some really great people,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun.”