Photo by Jake McNeill: Lakeview's Carson Boe watches his tee shot on the 18th hole of the Marshall Golf Club during Monday's Camden Conference Championship. Boe carded a 69 to finish first as an individual and help the Lakers to a first-place team finish.

Carson Boe is quietly confident.

His confidence doesn’t come without backing it up on the golf course, though. He placed 22nd in the Minnesota Class A golf tournament in 2021 and 11th in 2022. After three straight individual first-place finishes in a four-day span from May 1-4 this year, Boe seems poised to make a run at a state title. Oh, and he’s also still just a sophomore.

“I’m really confident with my game right now. Our team is playing well. We have a few new golfers [Jordan Fischer, Owen Louwagie and Kyle Kurowski] and that went out this year and they’re really solid, so we hope to get back there as a team because it was really fun,” Carson said. 

His success in golf comes from years around the game. Growing up next to a golf course with a father who has golfed since high school, Carson said he’s been playing the game for as long as he can remember. Even at 3-years-old he was swinging plastic golf clubs. 

“He watched a lot of golf when he was young and it was like just one year, he kind of made a jump over the winter,” Carson’s father, Kyle Boe, said. “All of a sudden, his swing just kind of clicked.”

In 2017, Boe began to play in junior tournaments. He excelled from the jump: he placed top 10 in both of his events in his first season and got his first win a year later, shooting a 34 at the Braemar par-3 course to get his second of six straight top-five event finishes on the Minnesota Junior Golf series. 

In the winter, Carson was a member of the Lakeview varsity basketball team. The Lakers set a program record for wins in the 2022-23 season. While Carson likes basketball, golf remains his primary passion. He plays it, he trains and he watches it whenever he can. 

“Before kindergarten, [Carson would] watch ESPN before going to school and always have to catch up on it. When we get up for the British open… since he’s been in kindergarten we’d get up at 4 o’clock in the morning to watch that… We do it on the Thursday night, then Friday night I don’t always get him up and he usually chews me out if I don’t get that second morning,” Kyle said of the tournament with a laugh.

Carson said he particularly admires Jordan Speith and Rory McIlroy. Both because of their game on the course and because they’re regarded as good people off the course as well.

In his three seasons with the varsity team, Carson has shown a consistent ability to make an impact. Still, his growth over the last few years shows through his improved consistency, Lakeview head coach Sarah Wahlstrom said. While he’s always had the high points, his ability to consistently shoot in the 30s at nine-hole meets has been what’s really elevated him to the next level.

“His drives are usually always straight down the fairway,” Wahlstrom, in her first year as head coach after two as the Lakeview assistant coach, said. “He’s got that first shot in play. It just builds confidence for each hole for him to finish. He’s got such a strong short game as well, so I think all of that combined together just makes for a solid round.”

The short game is something Carson prides himself in. He goes to the greens nearly every day to practice different types of chip shots before working on his putting stroke by putting tees around his putter.

Monday afternoon, Carson won the conference tournament for the second year in a row, coming in at a 3-under 69 to beat the next closest finisher by four strokes. Still, he’s got bigger goals in mind.

“My goals last year as a freshman were to medal. Unfortunately, I came up a little short, but we hope to get back there as a team this year. It was fun going with my buddies,” Carson said.