Teeing up 2026
Area golf preview: HVA, Farragut, Bearden reload
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The 2026 Farragut High School Admirals golf team is eager to hit the links for this year’s campaign. - Photos submitted
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A few members of the 2026 Hardin Valley Academy girls golf program: Hadley Fox, Kendall Ownby and Rylee Taylor. - Photos submitted
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Hardin Valley Academy Hawks golf team boys: Jimmy Lutrell, Hunter Mousa, Arjun Patel, Collin Schemmel, Mike Huff and Sam Stiles. - Photos submitted
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The 2026 Farragut Lady Admirals golf team. - Photos submitted
The 2026 golf season opened earlier this week for Hardin Valley Academy, Farragut and Bearden.
The schools each had players competing in the 5Star Preps Masters at Three Ridges Golf Course in Northeast Knox County. The annual two-day, 36-hole event, which features some of the top teams and individuals in East Tennessee, opened Tuesday morning and will conclude today (July 29).
The Hawks entered the new season coming off a Class AA state championship but they’ll have a new coach as Greg Boling takes over both the boys team and the Lady Hawks, who were state runners-up last season.
Boling, who previously coached at Lenoir City High School before becoming coach at Point University in Georgia and later at Wallace State University in Alabama, is looking to develop relationships with his players.
“My expectation is to build relationships. It’s all about building relationships,” Boling said. “I also expect our players to become good people and contributors in society. I want them to be good moms and good dads.
“At all my previous stops, I was able to build deep and meaningful relationships.”
Top returners for the Hardin Valley boys include: Hunter Mousa (junior); Arjun Patel (junior); Sam Stiles (senior) and Cash Doane (senior).
The veteran cast will be joined by newcomers Jimmy Luttrell (junior), Mike Huff (senior) and Collin Schemel (junior).
The Lady Hawks, meanwhile, return five players, including one senior, Rylee Taylor, and four juniors. The junior class includes Addisyn Newman, Kendall Ownby, Hadley Fox and Emma Dolynchuk.
HVA also has an incoming freshman as Berkleigh Foss enters the fray for the Lady Hawks.
At Farragut, coach Ryan Mahoney begins his fifth season at the helm for the Admirals and Lady Ads.
Both teams have a wealth of experience and the coach has high hopes for both squads but they’ll have to play some of the area’s top teams in District 4-AA.
“Our (boys) district is one of the toughest around,” Mahoney said. “We’ve got Bearden and Maryville and Hardin Valley and they won the state last year.”
But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have lofty expectations for both teams.
“I’m expecting some big things from both of our teams,” Mahoney said. “We have kids who have played in the districts and the regions.
“We have great senior leadership but we also have a lot of underclassmen. We have 16 boys on our team and they’re all getting better year by year.”
Top returners for the Admirals include Quinn Beck (a senior and four-year player at Farragut); Will Feehan (a senior who has played for three years, who was a region qualifier in 2025); Bryce Coulter (a junior in his third year on the team; he was also a region qualifier
last season); Brady Beaver (sophomore and Oliver Gerwin (senior).
The Lady Admirals have three returners who had deep postseason runs last season. Senior Harper Holmes has been a state qualifier for the last two seasons and junior Sophie Williams made a trip to the state championships last season.
Sophomore Lauren Hedinger returns after qualifying for the region in her rookie campaign last season.
At Bearden, coach Billie Davis begins his third year.
His key returners for the boys are seniors Aiden Morgan and juniors Dane Helzer and Will Ibbotson.
Davis has lofty goals for his boys squad but the team must answer a few questions.
“Our goal is always the same and that’s to win the region,” he said. “But I really don’t know what my lineup is going to be.”
Top returners for the Lady Bulldogs include junior Caroline Sellers and senior Josie White. Bearden will also have four newcomers, including a pair of freshmen.
“Our goal for the girls is just to go out and represent Bearden,” Davis said.
