Bulldogs Overhaul

Senior Brown In Zone For Springdale High

Cade Brown of Springdale High eyes his putt on the No. 2 hole Aug. 1, 2012, during the Springdale Invitational at Springdale Country Club.
Cade Brown of Springdale High eyes his putt on the No. 2 hole Aug. 1, 2012, during the Springdale Invitational at Springdale Country Club.

SPRINGDALE — Cade Brown feels more comfortable now that he has overhauled his golf game.

The Springdale High senior worked on his swing, changed his putting style and focused on his accuracy while attending the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy in mid-June.

At first, Brown admitted he didn’t see the results of his time in South Carolina. That changed after he spent some time practicing at the range and on the course.

“This is the most comfortable I’ve ever been with my game,” said Brown, who’s hoping to earn some college interest with his play this season.

Brown is expected to again be in the No. 1 spot for Springdale’s golf team as it opens the season Wednesday by hosting the Bulldog Invitational at Springdale Country Club.

Springdale coach Roger Voss said Brown’s return and the addition of three new golfers should help the Bulldogs improve on the ninth-place finish at last year’s state tournament.

Junior Jack Jones will likely be the team’s No. 2 golfer behind Brown, and senior Ian Shirley has shown promise since moving to Springdale from Mountain Home.

“I think we’ll be a little better than that this year,” Voss said of finishing ninth in the state a year ago. “I think the competition last year was really tough.

“But I think we’ve stepped up a little bit, and I don’t think there’s as many good golfers throughout the state as there was last year.”

Despite having only six golfers, Voss sounded optimistic about his team’s chances of being competitive in Class 7A. The Bulldogs have shown they can hit long off the tee, but their short game isn’t as consistent.

“Cade Brown is probably one of the best putters around. He’s also pretty long off the tee,” Voss said. “The rest of the guys, we’re above average on distance off the tee box.

“We still have a lot of work on the short game. That’s where your scoring comes from, the short game.”

Brown said he and Springdale’s other golfers have spent much of the offseason trying to improve their chipping and putting.

They want to do a better job of saving pars, so they’ve made it a point to spend at least the first hour of every practice working on their short game.

“We’re practicing a lot harder. We’re not just going out and playing,” Brown said. “We’re actually focusing on short game, long game, anything that each individual players needs to work on so that we can make the team better as a whole.”

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