Every summer in Arkansas one prep sport gets a head start on all others, and that’s high school golf. The Greenwood Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs competed in their first tournament of the 2023 season on July 31st at Mountain Home, two full weeks before the start of classes. Since then, they have played several other tournaments and matches, doing their best to dodge the extreme heat of the past couple weeks, playing all their matches away from their home course since the greens and tee boxes at Vache Grasse Country Club are undergoing renovations.
Lundon (Williams) Lensing returns for her second season as the Lady Bulldogs’ head coach, while the Bulldogs have a new head coach in Ryan Casalman who returned to Greenwood after an absence of 13 years. Both teams have several returning players, fueling hopes that both squads can make some noise this season in conference play and perhaps at state.
The scores for the Ultimate Auto Tournament at Mountain Home were good enough for a third-place finish by the GHS ladies and eighth place for the GHS men. The Lady Bulldogs shot a two-day total of 637, finishing third out of eight teams. The Bulldogs were eighth out of 14 teams with a two-day total of 756.
On day one the top three GHS girls combined for a score of 325. Aliana Garcia shot 102, Cambree Shrum carded a 105, and Laci Cox finished at 118. Jordin Jackson (122) and Lauren Oler (132) also competed but their scores did not count in the team total. On day two the same three girls finished 1-2-3, though in a slightly different order. Cox fired an even 100 while Shrum had a 103 and Garcia a 109 for a better round of 312. Oler carded a 122 and Jackson a 129.
On the boys’ side, junior Everson Adams led the team with an 87 on day one, sophomore Dace Drennan was one stroke behind at 88, senior Ben Bryan carded a 98, and Dean Hogeland shot a 99 for a total of 372. Cooper Hogeland also carded a 109. On day two Adams improved with a round of 81, Dean Hogeland shot a 96, Ben Bryan came in at 101, and Dace Drennan rounded out the top four at 106 for a total of 384. Cooper Hogeland shot a 113.
Next, the GHS boys traveled to Springdale on August 7th. They finished 10th out of 13 teams, but did improve their scores from Mountain Home with a four-man total of 348. Dean Hogeland had a personal best 79, Everson Adams fired an even 80, Dace Drennan came in at 96, Ben Bryan carded a 93, and junior Jayden Garnes had a 115 in a backup role.
Then came the first round of the annual Ryder Cup competition between Greenwood and Fort Smith Southside on August 15th at Ben Geren Park in Fort Smith. Five points were up for grabs and Southside took three of those points, all in boys play, while Greenwood earned two points, all in girls play. Two more rounds remain in the competition this season between the two rival schools. The Ryder Cup is modeled after the biennial tournament pitting professionals from the U.S. against the best golfers in Europe.
On August 17th the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs headed to Northwest Arkansas to play nine holes at a tournament in Springdale at the Links. The GHS girls had a team score of 142 with Ali Garcia shooting a 44, Cambree Shrum a 48, Lauren Oler a 50, and Laci Cox a 51. The GHS boys had a combined score of 166 with Everson Adams carding a 41, Dean Hogeland a 41, Ben Bryan a 42, Jackson Overton a 42, and Dace Drennan a 48.
After taking a few days off due to the excessive heat last week, both teams were back on the course this past Monday competing against teams from Providence Academy in Rogers, Lake Hamilton, Alma, Van Buren, and Harrison at Ben Geren.
The Lady Bulldogs had two rounds under 100 with Ali Garcia at 93 and Laci Cox at 99. Cambree Shrum shot a 103, freshman Izzy Thomas a 122, and Jordin Jackson a 137, finishing second among four teams. The Bulldogs were led by Everson Adams with a team-best 79, with Dean Hogeland (92), Ben Bryan (97), Cooper Hogeland (98), and Dace Drennan (101) following. Team standings for the boys were not immediately available.
Both GHS teams are slated to play 18 holes against Bentonville-West on Thursday at Highlands Country Club in Bella Vista. Next Tuesday they will resume Ryder Cup play against the Southside Mavericks and Lady Mavs, this time at Vache Grasse in Greenwood. The third and final Ryder Cup round will be played at Ben Geren on September 7th.
Coach Lensing
What a difference a year makes. That’s certainly true of the Lady Bulldogs’ head coach. She took over the ladies golf program while pregnant with her first child, a baby girl born in the middle of the links season last year. Mother and child are both doing fine, and Coach Lensing is excited about her team’s potential this season, led by seniors Laci Cox and Aliana Garcia.
Junior Lauren Oler and sophomore Cambree Shrum also return to give the Lady Bulldogs a solid foundation, backed up by three more sophomores and one freshman, competing this season but also building for the future. The other tenth graders include Jordin Jackson, Ella Wooten, and Remington Bice. The lone ninth grader is Isabella Thomas.
Lensing talked about the renovations at Vache Grasse and how that has affected her team’s play in the early going this season, limiting their ability to practice locally and making the transition to other courses more difficult. “Not being able to practice a whole bunch because Vache Grasse was under construction. Obviously, that’s not the only contributing factor, but it’s tough to go from a course where we’re playing on temporary greens to playing other courses that are completely different. So we have to adjust a little bit when we go other places. That’s not an excuse by any means, they just have to adjust very quickly when we go to other courses.”
But the coach also lauded the efforts made by Vache Grasse to rebuild and refurbish their course. “They are doing a fantastic job,” said Lensing. “A ton of courses in Arkansas lost their greens,” she added, largely due to extreme weather conditions. As a result, both GHS teams will play their home matches at Ben Geren in Fort Smith and at Deer Trails at Chaffee Crossing.
“They are all right there,” she said of her top three or four players, using 100 strokes as a benchmark over 18 holes or 50 strokes over nine holes. The coach wants her girls to shave as many strokes off their game as possible as the season goes on heading into post-season competition. She would like to have two or three players consistently shooting in the 90s. “In a perfect world,” she said.
“This is Aliana’s third year, and she has come a long way in her knowledge of the game, and being more consistent is her goal this year,” said Lensing of Garcia. “Cambree is just a sophomore, but she was in the top four for most of last season,” said the coach of Shrum. “She’s already better than she was last year, so she’s just right on the cusp of being able to break into the 90s. We’ve just got to work on golf knowledge and making the right decisions. Laci [Cox] is in her fourth year and she makes great contact with the ball almost every shot. But if she can [improve] her short game she would be in the 90s as well. Lauren is a junior and her biggest thing is consistently,” said the coach.
“Last year we finished third in our conference and went to state,” recalled Lensing. “So we’re in a good position for the same thing to happen this year. Russellville has a couple girls back that are shooting in the low 80s, but we finished third overall and second in our conference at Mountain Home.” The league tournament will be played at Mountain Home at the end of the regular season. “I’m excited for the group that we have. I think we have a chance to compete at a high level. We just need to keep working hard and learn from our mistakes.”
Coach Casalman
Ryan Casalman returned to Greenwood this offseason after spending several years at his alma mater at County Line High School, where he coached girls basketball, baseball, and golf. He was at Greenwood from 2000 to 2010 and now returns to coach junior high boys basketball and boys golf. He’s a close friend with new GHS varsity boys basketball Coach B.J. Ross and was recruited by Ross to come back to Greenwood to help with the boys basketball program. Ross was formerly the head coach at Charleston.
Like Lensing, Coach Casalman also believes his Bulldogs have a chance to be good this season with several returning players from last year, though the GHS roster is still young with nine sophomores and freshmen, along with one senior and two juniors. But among those sophomores are three players who are already making their mark on this season – twin brothers Dean and Cooper Hogeland and fellow tenth grader Dace Drennan.
Senior Ben Bryan and junior Everson Adams have consistently scored among the top four GHS players this season, usually joined by Drennan or the Hogeland brothers. The remaining players on the team include junior Jayden Garnes, sophomores Tanner Miller, Blake Christainsen, Jackson Overton, and freshmen Wyatt Frye, Carson Wade, and Jake Gigerich.
Asked about his roster, Casalman was pleased with the number of players (12) and the overall youth of his team. “It’s really good numbers, and I only have one senior,” said the coach of Ben Bryan. “Ben is very stoic. He’s very focused on his game. But he’s also got a little fire in his belly. He’s got a bloodline [too]. His cousin is Evan Griffith who played here three or four years ago. Ben is around 45 or 46 strokes per nine holes.” Griffith was Greenwood’s last elite golfer on the boys side.
“Our first bag is Everson Adams,” continued the coach. “I think his brother was also on the team last year. His stroke average is about 41 per nine holes. He’s hitting the ball well right now. If we could just figure out his work around the green and putting, that would help his scoring. Our two bag is Dean Hogeland, and his average is right around 42. He’s an intense player. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. He’s hard on himself, and he’s got to tempter that to take the next step.
“Then we have a sophomore named Dace Drennan that is right there. He and Ben are really close [in ability]. Dace just needs consistency in his game. Then our five, six, and seven bags are really close. So after our top two, they kind of bunch up a little, so we’ve still got competition going on. We’re trying to get to those best five by the time we get to the conference tournament and see if we can’t shake things up a little bit.”
Cooper Hogeland is in the mix for the fourth of fifth spot, said his coach, who also likes what he’s seen from sophomore Jackson Overton, who was injured early in the summer but has really come on in recent weeks. “He was our five bag yesterday at Springdale. He actually shot the same score as our #3 player, so he’s really showing a lot of promise,” said his coach.
“The other five guys are young, and they’ve not played a lot of golf, but they’ve really worked hard trying to improve over the summer. If those guys keep coming back, then that’s a good foundation to build on. I’m excited for what these kids are going to do in the future. I would love for this team to qualify for state,” said Casalman.
“If we do, then we’ve got four of our top five players coming back [next year] with experience in state matches, and it just starts building from there.” Teams must finish in the top three in the conference tournament to get to state, plus each conference can send several of their top individual players as well.
Greenwood, Harrison, and Alma are close in ability, the coach believes, when asked about the conference competition in the 5A West. Mountain Home and Russellville finished 1-2 at the Mountain Home tournament and figure to be among the top teams in league play. But Coach Casalman is thrilled with the opportunity to compete and the potential of his team both this season and in years to come.
“I’m glad to be back in Greenwood and everything I’m doing with golf and basketball,” he said. “Very rarely do you get to leave home [County Line] to go home [Greenwood]. I’m just so happy to be able to do it. I’ve always known this is a great place to be and a great place to work, and I’m just happy to be back.”