May 26—BEMIDJI — A year ago, the Bemidji High School boys golf team, comprised of a seventh grader, two eighth graders, a freshman, a sophomore and a senior, finished 35 strokes back of Alexandria in the Section 8-3A Tournament.
Standing alone in seventh place individually was Beckett Grand, the freshman. He climbed into an individual state-qualifying position after being outside of the top 10 after Day 1, finishing the two-round meet with a score of 147.
What followed is what he recalls as the greatest week of his life.
“It was the coolest experience ever,” said Grand, now a sophomore, of playing at the 2025 Class 3A state tournament at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids. “The pressure was there. There were so many people watching. I’d do anything to go back.”
In his first round, Grand carded an 84. He rebounded on Day 2 with a 78 to finish with a two-day score of 12, good for 77th individually.
“The first time there, it didn’t go very well, but I learned a ton,” Grand said. “I learned how to deal with that pressure and I know what it’s like to play there. It’s a new level down there. The best kids in the state are playing at Bunker. If I go back, I’ll go in with a different mindset than I did the first time because I know how to handle it better.”
That’s what the past year has been about for Grand — booking a return trip to the state tournament. He’d rather not make the trek solo.
Bemidji will head into the two-day Section 8-3A Tournament on Wednesday at Headwaters Golf Club in Park Rapids. The top team and the top six individuals not on the top team will qualify for state. It’ll be loaded with the same familiar foes this young core of varsity golfers has battled against time and time again.
But there’s a different feeling around the course this spring.
“We seriously could win it this year,” said Grand, intently. “Other years, you dream about it. You know you can do it, but it’s still a dream. This year, we actually have a chance. It’s a really tough section. Brainerd is really good. Alex and Sartell are really good. Buffalo has a few really good kids. It’s one of the best sections in the state. It’s stupid good.”
BHS is a year older, but is still young. The Jacks likely won’t have a senior on the varsity roster for the section tournament. Four of the top-six players in their last meet were freshmen or younger.
At times, Bemidji has looked like a youthful team this spring.
“We have grit, but we have to show it,” Grand said. “We’ve all started tournaments this season where we were just terrible. We have to stay level because we’ve done that this year. We have to avoid the big numbers. That’s something we struggle with, making some big ones. If we stay away from that and keep level, we seriously have a chance.”
Despite only being a sophomore, Grand is looked up to as a leader by his younger teammates.
“So much advice can come from him,” freshman Logan Brink said. “We want to do the same stuff. He tells you to make sure to play smart and play your game. He’s easy to talk to and he cares about this team.”
Brink and Drew Valley, another freshman, were not regulars on the varsity roster a year ago. Even though Brink was in the lineup for the 2025 8-3A Tournament in Sauk Center, he didn’t have his breakout until this year.
“I think I started feeling comfortable from the start of the season,” he said. “We all played a lot before the season started in the simulators. We took a trip down to Florida. Getting down there and being able to hit the range a bunch helped.”
Brink’s best finish came on April 25 at The Vintage in Staples. He won the medalist with a round of 75
“That was a great feeling,” Brink said. “Being able to go out there and shoot a low score and feel that sense of accomplishment was really fun. It gave me a lot of confidence.”
Valley didn’t enter the spring season with experience at the varsity level. However, like Brink, it didn’t take long for him to shake the nerves on the first tee box at the Monticello Country Club on April 13 in his debut tournament.
“I’d never been there before, but I just told myself I was playing a round of golf,” Valley said. “I think in that first (varsity) round, after about seven holes, it felt normal again. It just felt like I was playing golf.”
While the Lumberjacks lost only one senior from a year ago and returned veterans like Grand, Jackson Fogelson, Axel Burlingame and Graham Fish, their spots in the lineup weren’t guaranteed. BHS head coach Seth Knudson routinely holds qualifying rounds in practices.
“Everyone is competitive,” Valley said. “Everyone is always competing for those top-six spots. You have to keep grinding to keep up. That’s fun. Everyone’s trying to win. It’s definitely always a competition, even on the practice facilities.”
Brink added: “Even going out and playing nine holes with your buddies is always competitive on this team.”
The constant competition keeps a player like Grand on his toes. He admitted his sophomore season didn’t get off to the best start. The shift from hockey to golf — and the transition from the simulator and gym sessions to the course — is a challenge.
“It’s the short game,” Grand said. “It’s so hard right away. You have to really find your touch around the greens because you just lose it going into the winter. That’s where I started to find it again. It’s easier to keep your swing all winter, but the short game goes away when you live in Minnesota.”
Whether the Lumberjacks return to state as a team this year or not will be decided when the section tournament concludes on Thursday at Headwaters. But players like Grand can see that Bemidji has the guns to restore its identity as a state power.
“All of us just grind. It shows how deep we are,” Grand said. “We’re really deep this year, which means it’ll be great for years to come. It’s not like we put our clubs away when the high school season ends. We have five or six guys we all know can break 75. It’s probably more than that, but we all know we can go out and shoot a score. We haven’t really had our day yet, but we play Headwaters all the time in the summer. Hopefully, we can find that day at sections.”