Golf team plays four tournaments

by Keith Slattery, GCHS Head Golf Coach | May 10, 2023

The Greeley County High School Golf Team played three varsity tournaments and one JV tournament this past week. 

On Tuesday, May 2, the varsity played at Oakley. Aaron Vestal played up on varsity and led the team in scoring with a 46-43-89 and placed 13th overall at the tournament. Aaron played so well and hit the ball so solidly all day. He has so much potential to be an outstanding golfer. Kasen Felty wasn’t far behind, shooting a 49-44-93. Kasen is getting more consistent every meet and is one of the best putters around. That helps him stay away from big numbers. Lincoln Shafer was next for the Jackrabbits with a 48-47-95. Lincoln really struggled on their faster greens and couldn’t get his putter going. He is already putting in extra work to get that figured out so we can turn it into a strength for him. Jaxson Brandl shot a 46-53-99. Jaxson has gotten better at every tournament he’s played so far and I hope he continues to do so. Logan Harris played up and shot a 51-49-100. You always know what you’re going to get out of Logan. He doesn’t have any great weaknesses to his game, he’s just very consistent. Brodey Grubb was the final golfer, shooting a 51-61-112. Brodey just really got worn down towards the end and it cost him. I think he will get it back and be ready to play some of his best golf in the next week or two.

On Friday, May 5, a thin varsity team played at Johnson. This is a tournament that features some of the very best 2A and 3A teams in the state. It is a great tournament for us to gain some experience on a nice course, as well as see some players who are much better than us and try to learn from them. Titus Sherer played the best for the Jackrabbits with a 43-50-93. Kasen Felty was right behind with a 50-47-97. Jaxson Brandl and Elias Sherer struggled at Johnson, shooting a 58-57-115 and a 61-58-119, respectively. This gave us our worst team score of the year at 424, but I’m not too concerned. I know we will get it figured it out.

On Saturday, May 6, varsity and JV both traveled to St. Francis. Lincoln Shafer led the Jackrabbits with a 50-42-92. He was a little slow to get it going, but when he did, he played really well. It was just a little too late as he finished in 11th, one shot out of a medal. Titus Sherer kept up his consistent play with a 46-49-95. Brodey Grubb was right behind with a 50-47-97. Elias Sherer and Logan Harris were not far behind with a 48-52-100 and a 50-52-102, respectively. Those top 5 played pretty close together and were all bunched in the 11th-20th place range, giving us a team score of 384, good for 4th place at the tournament. Jaxson Brandl was the 6th varsity golfer. Jaxson struggled again, shooting a 57-61-118.

The JV players saw some success at St. Francis. Kyler Wilcox shot a 46 on his nine holes. This was a personal best for Kyler and he has continued to improve all season long. Aaron Vestal was just two strokes behind with a 48. They did not medal the JV golfers, but if they had, Kyler and Aaron would have finished 1st and 2nd. James Marquardt kept up his better play, shooting a 65. Josh Votruba was two behind him with a 67. Maggie Votruba finished two strokes behind her brother with a 69, followed closely by Reagan Crotinger with a 70.

It was a long and busy week of golf tournaments, and it doesn’t slow down as we will have had one more varsity and JV on Monday, May 8. 

The NWKL Tournament will take place at Atwood on Friday, May 12th. The seniors will graduate on Saturday, and then we will host regionals on Monday, May 15th. The end of the season has come quicker than I had hoped, but I think we will be ready for regionals and hopefully hosting it will bring us a little bit of a home course advantage. 

We have a stacked regional with six of the top 13 teams in the entire state at our regional. If you’re a fan of watching some good golf, Prairie Ridge Golf Course on Monday, May 15th will be the spot to be!