Golf is as individual as a sport can get — scored one player at a time. In collegiate golf, though, those individual rounds add up to a collective team score. At the same time, the players beside you are also the ones trying to beat you for a place in the lineup.
For Will Hartman, a sophomore on the Vanderbilt Men’s Golf team, that tension has been a big part of his first year-and-a-quarter as a Commodore. He chose to play for Vanderbilt because of the team’s depth and spent much of his freshman year trying to crack the starting five — ultimately emerging from that internal competition as one of the team’s strongest players.
“The coolest thing about team golf is that it’s way more fun to win as a team than individually because of the feeling y’all get,” Hartman told The Hustler.
For Hartman, a Marvin, North Carolina, native, Vanderbilt’s team culture mattered most before he started winning tournaments. The relationships around him helped him work through a difficult start to his collegiate career, earn his place on the team and become a leader of one of the best squads in the country.
Prior to coming to Vanderbilt, he was one of the best junior golfers in the country — a three-time Rolex AJGA All-American, member of the U.S. Junior Ryder and Presidents Cup teams and the No. 10-rated player in the Class of 2025. And while he could have played at almost any college of his choosing, Hartman came to Nashville, Tennessee — not because he was chasing individual success, but because of Vanderbilt’s team.
“One of the reasons I chose Vanderbilt is because the team is so deep,” Hartman said. “All nine guys on our roster are really good. That is a good thing overall, and it’ll make you a better golfer.”
Hartman credits head coach Scott Limbaugh as one of the main reasons for his belief in Vanderbilt’s culture during recruitment. The four-time SEC Coach of the Year consistently brings his squad to the highest levels of collegiate golf — qualifying for 11 straight NCAA Championships — and the energy he brings to his players is a big part of that feat.
“Coach Limbaugh was definitely one of the main reasons I chose to come to Vanderbilt,” Hartman said. “He cares so much about everybody on the team, with him its 100% genuine. He wants the best for every one of us and he’s gonna do what he can to help us reach our goals.”
And Hartman certainly came to the West End last fall with lofty aspirations for what he and his team could do.
Unfortunately for Hartman, though, his game was not quite where it needed to be to be competitive. He spent the bulk of his freshman year outside the lineup and did not crack Limbaugh’s starting five until March.
“I had kind of been struggling a little bit first coming into college,” Hartman said. “It was just a lot of hard work with the coaches getting my golf game to the place it needed to get to [in order] to get into the lineup. It just took a little longer than I would have liked to get there, but hard work and continuous support from our coaches was the reason I made it in there in March.”
Like most college golf programs, Vanderbilt’s lineups are determined by qualifying tournaments — where the Commodore golfers compete against each other for five starting spots. While these events can create hostility between teammates, Hartman and the ’Dores find ways to stay a friendly unit — helping create better team chemistry overall.
“I don’t think that there’s any hard feelings after [qualifying] golf,” Hartman said. “When we’re out there we all want to beat each other, but off the golf course we’re all really good friends and we don’t carry the grudge around.”
And, even in his first few starts, Hartman was just okay; his highest placement was 13th overall at the Mossy Oak Collegiate in early April. After a harsh T-41 finish at the SEC Championship a week later, with the team placing 15th out of 16 squads, there was a lot of golf to reflect on.
Hartman, though, didn’t try to change much, as he wants to keep his golf game as consistent as possible.
“I always try to play the same and not change too much, and hopefully that’ll take care of the rest in the end,” Hartman said.
Keeping his head high paid off, as Hartman came out the gate firing at the NCAA Athens Regional in late May. The first-year shot 14-under over 3 days, which included a spectacular bogey-free round of 63 in the second round, en route to his first collegiate tournament title.
Two weeks later on the biggest stage of college golf — the NCAA Championship — Hartman kept up his astounding play. He finished in a tie for fourth-place overall, being the top freshman in the field and only four shots away from an NCAA individual title. The next day, Hartman dominated now-Korn Ferry Tour member Filip Jakubcik of the Arizona Wildcats with a 6&5 victory.
The run changed Hartman’s place within the team. He entered the spring season as a reserve player, and by the NCAA Championship, he was the No. 1 performer on the roster. Now, on the 2026-27 squad that has just two upperclassmen in its rotation, that postseason play gives Hartman credibility as an emerging leader.
“Obviously, playing well gives me more confidence, but I just try to take it day by day,” Hartman said. “I think each day is an opportunity to try to get better. And, when the tournaments come around I try to do the best I can.”
Hartman’s leadership is rooted in his relationships rather than any seniority — he competed with many of his teammates during junior golf, which made it easier for him to step into a larger role as a sophomore.
“I feel like its pretty easy [to be a leader],” Hartman said. “I’ve known pretty much everybody on this team for at least three or four years just going back to junior golf. And, I’m pretty comfortable to be around each and every one of them, which I think makes leadership a lot easier. Good golf is a product of that.”
New freshman Tyler Mawhinney is the clearest example of what that leadership looks like. Hartman and Mawhinney have known each other for nearly a decade, and they won the 2025 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship as teammates before coming together on the West End.
“That [2025 Four-Ball] was unbelievable,” Hartman said. “I’ve known [Tyler Mawhinney] for almost seven or eight years. And, it’s cool to see how far we’ve both come since we first met, and how much we’ve matured and grown up and how far our golf games have come. It’s pretty cool to see him every day, and we like to push each other to the limits so it’s been fun to have him around.”
Their relationship reflects Vanderbilt’s broader team dynamic. Hartman and Mawhinney may push each other in practice and qualifiers, but that competition sits on the shoulders of years of trust. This is the same balance Hartman encountered when he first arrived at Vanderbilt — teammates fighting for five lineup spots while still helping one another improve.
Hartman has finished inside the top 25 in each of Vanderbilt’s first three tournaments this fall, including two top-10 finishes. He sees those results as evidence that both his game and the Commodore team are moving in the right direction.
“I’m feeling really good,” Hartman said about his game right now. “Obviously, individually I’ve been playing pretty well, but I’m more excited about how our team is trending right now. I feel like we’re getting better each and every day.”
Hartman’s next goal is one that drew him towards Limbaugh’s program to begin with, and that of a true team-first golfer — winning alongside his teammates.
“I would like to get at least a few team wins [this year],” Hartman said. “And, I think that here on out, every tournament we tee-up, we are going to try to win. And hopefully end up with a national championship at the end of the year.”
Vanderbilt Men’s Golf next tees off at the Williams Cup at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, N.C., Oct. 18-20.