The hiring of a new GHS girls golf coach invited the writer in me to come up with a catchy headline that just screamed “alliteration,” something like “Lady linksters look to Lundon Lensing for leadership in 2022.” Thank goodness I resisted that temptation. But the truth is that Mrs. Lensing’s promotion is something of a turning point for the Lady Bulldogs, assuming the role once held by her dad, the now retired but legendary Ronnie Williams.
Gone are seniors Hallie Jones and Grace Woody who carried the Lady Bulldogs for much of the last three years and have now moved on to the college links, Jones to Arkansas Tech and Woody to Williams Baptist. The pair helped lead the GHS girls to three consecutive state runner-up trophies. Gone also is former head coach Ronnie Sockey, who succeeded the elder Williams. Sockey returned to his native Oklahoma as the head varsity boys basketball coach at Poteau.
El Dorado has won the last two girls’ 5A state titles, but have now graduated their best players. Still, it may be a while before Greenwood’s girls are ready to compete at that level again. According to Lensing and boys head coach Tyler Woods, both GHS programs are retooling with lots of new players, but few with any meaningful experience.
Lensing, who doubles as an assistant junior high girls basketball coach, is also due to give birth to a daughter, her first child, in about a month, so she has her hands full with both career and family obligations. (Welcome to the real world, coach.) She hopes to complete most of the 2022 golf season before becoming a mother. Should the GHS girls qualify, the state tournament will be held the last week of September.
Lensing was also a star two-sport athlete while in high school, winning state titles in both golf and basketball. At the time of her graduation, she was the all-time leading scorer in Lady Bulldogs’ basketball history. That record has since been eclipsed by Kinley Fisher. So Lensing has a long and successful career in GHS athletics and is more than happy to follow in her father’s footsteps as both a golf and basketball coach in addition to her teaching duties. “He’s always just a phone call away,” said the younger Lensing of her dad.
As for the makeup of this year’s squad, the new coach has three seniors, two juniors, one sophomore, and four freshmen on her roster. It’s a big group, but one still lacking in much experience. Maggie Leonard is the only returning player with significant varsity time under her belt. She was #3 last season behind Jones and Woody, and played in the state tournament, sinking a long birdie putt to force a tie and a playoff won by Greenwood. She is now tasked with providing leadership for her peers and carrying the load of being the team’s #1 player.
Leonard is also joined by fellow seniors Jessica Williams and Maleigha Carney. The team’s two juniors are Laci Cox and Aliana Garcia and the lone sophomore is Lauren Oler. The four ninth graders include Jordin Jackson, Ella Wooten, Cambree Shrum, and Journey Clements. Lensing hopes to keep all those girls interested and involved in golf for the remainder of their high school careers.
Regarding Leonard, her new coach said, “This is her third year and she’s looking for her experience to help her shoot lower scores. She’s seen a lot of these courses now and hopes to keep her scores in the lower 90s or the high 80s. She does a great job making decisions. That’s her strong point. But she needs to work on [her short game] around the green, chipping and putting.”
Lensing emphasized the need to improve her team’s short game across the board as the fastest way to lower scores. She was also big on her players making good decisions regarding club use and how to play certain shots, most of which comes with experience and experience only comes by practicing and playing.
“Maleigha Carney is a senior who’s been playing for a few years now,” said Lensing, “and one of her strengths is her experience. Her weakness is her chipping and putting. Jessica [Williams] is similar to Maggie and Maleigha in her experience, but her weakness is her short game, like most everyone else.
“[Junior] Aliana Garcia is still new to golf,” continued Lensing. “She’s only been playing for about a year, but she’s come a long way. She’s got a great swing. She’s able to make great contact with the ball. The thing she’s working on right now is her decision-making. Laci Cox is another junior who’s played for a few years, so she knows what decisions to make. It’s just a matter of making good contact with the ball and putting it where she wants it. She’s trying to get better at her chipping and putting. They [both] just need experience that comes with time.
“Lauren Oler is a sophomore and she’s been right there the whole time. Based on averages, she’s about half-a-point from making the top five. She’s become more consistent and she’s making good contact with the ball. She just needs to get better around the green,” said her coach.
“Cambree [Shrum] is really new,” said Lensing as she moved on to her freshmen. “She just started playing a few months ago, so she is just trying to figure everything out all at once. But she’s already made it into the top five after only playing for a little bit. She makes great contact with the ball and can keep the ball in the fairway and on the greens. She hits it straight and keeps herself out of trouble. Her weakness right now is just knowledge of the game and making the right decisions.”
Regarding her remaining freshmen, Ella Wooten, Jordin Jackson, and Journey Clements, Coach Lensing said, “They are getting into it at the right time, with four years to work on their game and grow and develop. They’ve all got a chance to be in the [varsity] mix in the coming years, if they keep at it and keep working hard. They’re all just soaking things in right now, as much as they can, and I hope they can figure things out and start shooting lower scores.
“They all have good attitudes, and they understand that they’re just not there yet. They’re trying to learn as much as they can and they’re buying into the process.” The coach also revealed that there are three matches on the schedule in which junior varsity players will get a chance to compete and show what they can do.
Asked if this was a rebuilding year for the Lady Bulldogs, Lensing said without hesitation, “Definitely it’s a rebuilding year. I’ve got 10 girls on my roster, including four freshmen and a sophomore. The time we’ve spent so far has been spent breaking down their games individually and what each of them needs to work on. At practice we spend two straight hours just on chipping and putting. That’s where you can really save a lot of strokes and that’s where we’re focused this year on the rebuild.”
The new coach certainly knows what it takes to build a winning program, having been a part of two great teams during her playing days at Greenwood. “We were state [golf] champs in 2012 and runners-up another year. I loved golf when I got to play. I didn’t start playing until I was a sophomore and I fell in love with it. It’s just really cool for everything to come full circle, to be a player in the program and now I get to lead it. I want to make the most of it.”
As for her pregnancy, Lensing says it hasn’t really been an issue up to now. “There’s no hiding it,” she said. “I’m due in about a month. It really hasn’t affected my up to this point. I’m still doing what I would normally do, the only difference is I’m not playing with them. I’m still putting in the time and I’m going to keep working up until [the baby] comes or my doctor tells me I can’t [work]. It hasn’t affected or hindered anything. Really, it makes it a little more interesting.”
Lensing said that boys coach Tyler Woods worked with her Lady Bulldogs before she was hired and is prepared to resume those duties when the time comes. “Coach Woods and I work hand-in-hand with each other every day, and we work really well together. He’s ready to step in [when needed] and he’s built a good relationship with the girls. He’s seen them practice and play every day and he is ready to step in.”
Lensing was hired in mid-July, less than two weeks before her team was to compete in a tournament at Mountain Home, one of the longest and toughest courses in the state. “We played in Mountain Home on the first and second of August,” she said. “Maggie Leonard shot a 92 the first day and 98 the second day,” and was the only Lady Bulldog with a round under 100 for the two days, she added.
“Because I was hired so late, I really just used Mountain Home as a baseline to see where my top [players] were at,” said the young coach. “Obviously, we’d like to have everyone [shooting] under 100, but we only had a week-and-a-half together prior to that tournament. I just wanted to get an idea of where everybody was and what our strengths and weaknesses are.
“Golf is one of those sports where they’ve got to put in a lot of work and time on their own if they want to compete on a high level. You’ve got to be out there playing if you want to be at the top,” said Lensing, who is less than 10 years older than many of her players. But the new coach is also a proven winner and is descended from coaching royalty, so parents and fans should be at peace knowing that the program is in good hands for many years to come.
Last week’s action
The Lady Bulldogs split their two matches with Fort Smith Southside in the first phase of the Ryder Cup competition at Ben Geren Park in Fort Smith on August 17th. Two more phases remain with the last one covering 18 holes at Greenwood’s Vache Grasse Country Club on September 15th. They return to Ben Geren next Thursday for the second part of the annual competition.
At Russellville Country club last Monday afternoon, the Lady Bulldogs played nine holes against the Lady Cyclones, who won the competition by 41 strokes, 120 for the home team to 161 for Greenwood. Maggie Leonard led the way for the Lady Bulldogs with a team-best 49, followed by Maleigha Carney (54), Cambree Shrum (58), and Aliana Garcia (60). Only the top three scores are tallied for the team total. Junior varisty players Lauren Oler (56) and Jessica Williams (61) also competed.
The next day the GHS ladies traveled to Benton and Hurricane Country club for an 18-hole event, scoring a combined total of 439. Leonard carded a 93 for the day, the only Lady Bulldog to shot below the century mark. Carney and Garcia both fired identical 115s for the day, while Oler finished right behind at 116.
Then last Thursday the team traveled to Northwest Arkansas to take on Bentonville-West at Highlands Country Club. The Lady Wolverines won the match, 276 to 324 for Greenwood. Leonard carded a 104 over 18 holes, followed by Shrum (107), Garcia (113), Carney (121), and Oler (123). The higher two scores did not figure in the team total.
“It was a long week,” said Coach Lensing. “We traveled a lot and played one 9-hole match and two rounds of 18. The courses we played were all tough and had challenges of their own, but [the players must] learn how to adjust from one course to the next. The girls are working hard to fix the parts of their game that they struggle with. I believe in them, and I know we will keep working hard every day until we figure it out.”