Tyler Woods is entering his fourth season as the GHS boys golf coach, taking all three previous teams to the state tournament. But 2022 may be the most challenging season of his short tenure at Greenwood, with only one varsity player (Harrison Adams) returning from last year. But there is potential for vast improvement this season, says the coach.

“This will be my fourth year, and I’ve been really lucky to have some pretty solid teams in the past,” said Woods, who is also the Bulldogs’ head soccer coach. Woods attributes much of his past success to many of his players taking up golf at a young age, something he’s constantly stressing to parents who want their children to play golf in high school.

“If you want your kid to be really good in high school, they have to be playing as young kids,” said the coach. “That’s what it’s all about, teaching and having fun. It will make a difference. There are plenty of other schools getting a lot more kids involved in youth golf, so it’s going to be a battle in a couple years. Golf is just going to get better in the state of Arkansas.

“I’ve started junior Vache nights and put out a lot of opportunities for kids to get involved, like the Junior PGA, the Junior League, the Drive, Chip, and Putt, and I think it’s really catching on. There’s a large group of middle school and junior high kids that are coming, so the future is bright. I’m encouraged by that,” added Woods.

Asked if 2022 was a rebuilding season for his team, he quickly agreed. “For sure. With the boys, no doubt. Even next year we’ll be rebuilding.” But Woods remains encouraged by what he’s seen so far this summer after a couple of early tournaments at Mountain Home, where the Bulldogs struggled, and Springdale, where they showed marked improvement.

Earlier this week the Greenwood’s girls and boys competed in the first of three matches against Fort Smith Southside for the annual Ryder Cup, dropping the first round to the Mavericks. Greenwood has won the trophy both years of the competition and will have two more chances in September to retain the trophy.

“It’s not been a cakewalk, but it’s not been super close either, because Southside hasn’t been that strong,” said Woods. “But this year we saw Southside at Springdale, and they had three scores in the 70s, which I could not believe. They’ve improved a lot, so we’re going to have to be on our game.

“It’s one combined cup, three boys teams and two girls teams. Six boys and four girls get to play. We play nine holes the first two times and the last one we play 18. That beautiful trophy is sitting in our lobby at the high school, and we’d love to keep it there this year. But we’ve got to play well,” said the GHS coach.

While it’s not that unusual to have siblings playing together in high school golf, Woods and the Bulldogs have three such pairings in 2022, and two of those three sets of brothers are twins. Returning senior Harrison Adams is joined this season by his younger brother, Everson, a talented sophomore who is pushing big brother for the top spot on the team. The twins include Eli and Austin Sharum and the Hogeland brothers, Dean and Cooper. The Sharums are seniors while the Hogelands are both freshmen.

“We only have one returner (Harrison Adams) that started as a varsity player last year, and two of our seniors are first year players,” said Woods. “They are twins, Eli and Austin Sharum. They’re solid players, but if they had played for three or four years, they would be really good players. They’re having to learn a lot really quick, but they’re doing a good job of it. They’re getting better every day and they’re going to be a big part of whether we are successful or not.

“We’ve got a lot of new players and we’re really young,” admitted the coach. “We’ve got one freshman in our top five, and we’ve got seven freshmen, which is awesome. I’m hoping these guys will stick with it and by the time they are juniors and seniors they will be really good.

“[Freshman] Dean Hogeland is already playing varsity for us. We’ve got three sets of brothers on our team, and he is part of one set of twins. His brother is Cooper Hogeland, and they are both homeschooled. Their dad is an art teacher at the high school, and they are a big golf family. They play at Vache Grasse all the time. Dean is still working on his game. He was our five-bag, but he’s moved up to #4. He’s shooting in the low 90s, but I know he’s going to be able to break 80 by the end of the year. He loves the game and he’s not afraid of hard work.

“Our other freshmen will be junior varsity players this year, but I’m real encouraged by their work ethic,” said Woods. “Dace Drennan is the younger brother of one of our seniors from last year. Then we have Tanner Miller and Hayes Ciesla, our superintendent’s son. He’s been playing some Junior PGA, along with Dace. We also have Jakson Overton and Blake Christiansen. “I’m [excited about] them,” said the coach of his pool of ninth graders.

“We’ve only got one sophomore, Everson Adams, but he might possibly be our best player. He’s the younger brother of Harrison, our only returning senior. They are members at Hardscrabble [in Fort Smith] and their dad, Ty, holds the nine-hole record there with a 27. He’s been helping us with our team. He’s taken us to the range at Hardscrabble a couple times and he’ll come out to watch us. He’s been an awesome resource. He’s helped us so much. But Harrison and Everson have grown up around golf and they love playing. They’ve been great leaders on our team so far and a lot of fun.”

Woods then talked about his two juniors, Ben Bryan and Railn Jordan. “Ben is our seven-bag right now, but he’s competing to get onto our varsity squad. His scores have improved a lot since last year. Railn has worked really hard. He’s got a swing coach and he’s been hitting his driver and all his irons so much farther than in the past.”

Among the 2022 seniors are Harrison Adams, Jack Golding, and the Sharum twins. “Harrison is our one-bag and Jack is our eight-bag,” said Woods. “[Jack is] right there between JV and varsity. Eli and Austin Sharum are our three and four bags right now and this is their first year. They’ve got a lot of potential, but they just need more experience. I’ve already seen them grow quite a bit.”

Asked about pre-season practice, Woods said, “In the summer we encourage all our kids to join the Junior PGA tour. They offer five tournaments in Northwest Arkansas, and it’s really cheap too – about $80 for those five tournaments. They’re also able to practice at Vache Grasse [in Greenwood] as much as they want. But we started July 18th and practiced Monday through Thursday for two weeks to qualify for [the] Mountain Home [tournament]. Since then, we’ve been going out to Ben Geren [in Fort Smith], the Ben Geren Youth Academy (the old First Tee), and Vache Grasse and working on our game.

Woods and his players were disappointed by how they performed at Mountain Home to open the month of August and their season, shooting a combined team score of 386 and 370 over the two days of competition. “We finished at the bottom of the barrel,” admitted Woods. “We played terrible. We did not play well at all. We had three scores in the 100s on the first day and one on the second day there. But we were [still] only 11 and 13 strokes away from being right there in the mix with Harrison, Russellville, and Mountain Home.

“[That course] is very tough (6,740 yards), but our conference tournament is there this year,” said the coach. “It’s an invitational we always go to at the start of the season. We’re used to playing about 6,200 yards, so our kids were struggling to get [on the green] in two [shots] on a par 4, because that course is so long. But we’ve got to get prepared, and I think we’ll go back to Mountain Home as a different team than the first time.”

Things improved in the team’s next outing a week later at Springdale on August 8th. The Bulldogs shot a combined score of 350, led by the Adams brothers, Everson (85) and Harrison (87), and Eli Sharum (85). Dean Hogeland carded a 93, as did Austin Sharum. Woods expects those scores to improve over the next several weeks.

“The best teacher is experience,” he said. “Just playing a lot, and not just with your buddies, but playing in tournaments where the pressure is high, where every shot matters. The more they do that the better they will be. It’s going to help them more and more. I’m super competitive and some of these boys are too, and we’re not satisfied being at the bottom of the conference. We want to keep building some confidence and keep growing throughout the season.

“One thing that affects some kids is the weather,” he added. “Some kids don’t play as well in the heat. Some kids play better when it’s cooler. I don’t know. We’ll see. Hopefully we’ll be one of the cool-weather teams, and hopefully by that time it will be cooler weather.” July and early August were extremely hot this year, with many days over 100 degrees, but temperatures seem to be moderating with the start of the school year.

As for the schedule and conference competition this season, Woods said, “We’re in another two-day tournament hosted by the First Tee program of Northwest Arkansas. We’re really excited to be in that. It’s a two-day 18-hole match each day. There will be a lot of schools there. I hope we’re playing our best golf at that time.” The tournament is set for Bella Vista on September 12-13.

As for the competition this season, Woods said, “Van Buren got second place in state last year and they return almost everybody. Greenbrier was a team I didn’t really have on my radar, but they’ve got two kids that apparently didn’t play last year but are now shooting in the 70s, which is unheard of. They are very much in the running to make the top three and get to state. Mountain Home has some freshmen who have gotten a lot better, and they are pretty salty. Russellville has some young kids and one really good player, maybe the best player in conference. [But] we’re not far off,” he added.

The conference tournament will be played at Mountain Home on September 19th, with girls state at Russellville and boys state at Benton. Dates for the state tournaments are yet to be set. The Bulldogs just completed a busy week playing three matches in four days at Russellville, Benton, and Bentonville-West. They will host Elkins at Vache Grasse on Monday the 29th. They close out the month of August at Rogers-Heritage next Wednesday. The second leg of the Ryder Cup with Fort Smith Southside is set for next Thursday at Vache Grasse starting at 3:30 p.m.

Recent matches

Last Monday at Russellville Country Club the Bulldogs narrowly slipped past the Cyclones by one stroke, shooting a combined score of 172 to 173 for the home team. For Greenwood, Eli Sharum had a great day, firing a nine-hole total of 39 strokes to lead the squad. The Adams brothers were next in line with Harrison carding a 41 and Everson a 45. Dean Hogeland and Austin Sharum both shot 47 for the day. Among Greenwood’s junior varsity players, Jack Golding carded a very respectable 42, followed by Ben Bryan (46), Railn Jordan (51), and Dace Drennan (58).

Then last Tuesday the GHS boys traveled to Central Arkansas to play in the Benton Invitational Tournament, won by the host Panthers with a team best score of 290 over 18 holes. Playing on their home course at Hurricane Country Club, the Benton boys were the only team to crack the 300 barrier. Benton’s Paxton Lane fired an incredible 67 for the day.

Hot Springs Lakeside came in second at 307 strokes, followed by Van Buren (324) and Bryant (325). Mountain Home finished fifth at 356 and Greenwood came in last at 359 strokes. The Bulldogs’ Harrison Adams led the team with an 18-hole total of 81 strokes, followed by Eli Sharum’s 88. Austin Sharum carded a 94, Everson Adams a 96, and Dean Hogeland a 108. Only the top four scores are counted in boys high school golf.

To cap off the week of links action, the Bulldogs hit the road again, this time to face Bentonville-West at Highlands Country Club last Thursday. The match was close, but ultimately the home team pulled out the win, 365 to 371, six fewer strokes than Greenwood. Once again it was Harrison Adams, Greenwood’s only returning golfer from last season, who led the pack with a team best 86. Eli Sharum was next at 90 with Dean Hogeland third at 92. Everson Adams carded a 103 and Austin Sharum scored 109 as the fifth player.