Charlevoix Golf Playing to Add Championship to Awe-Inspiring Comeback
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
June 3, 2026
The final chapter in Bryce Boss’ high school golf career will be written this weekend at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West.
Boss will be playing in his third Final after leading Charlevoix to a Regional title last week. Now a senior, he will tee off with hopes of winning an individual and team championship.
“Bryce has a great chance this spring,” said coach Doug Drenth. “He's such a great leader for us and is doing such a great job. He's such a great example for Charlevoix. It’s pretty cool to see how far he's come.”
With Boss in the lineup, Charlevoix finished fourth at the 2023 Final. The Rayders finished sixth in 2024 current teammates Joe Gaffney, now a senior, and Maxwell Drenth, a junior, joining Boss in the lineup.
Charlevoix didn’t qualify for last season’s championship rounds, finishing eighth at the Regional. Gaffney and Drenth were unable to golf that day and missed the majority of last season after the team was part of a horrific car crash that April 27. The team was on its way to spend the night at Crystal Mountain, returning from the first day of a two-day tournament at Arcadia Bluffs. Coach Drenth was driving the team van.
Boss and now-junior Landen Whistler were able to come back from the crash and play in the Regional, along with seniors Jackson Crouse and Emmett Bergmann and now-senior Keane Helstrom.
“It’s more about the guys who really missed out last year, their recovery and their comeback,” Boss noted about this weekend’s opportunity. “Especially for guys like Coach, and for Joe, and for Maxwell, who really missed out last year on everything because of the accident, and now we're making a comeback as a team.”
And what a comeback it has been.
Boss endured scrapes, a concussion and bruised ribs in the crash. He and Whistler were able to return to school a few days after, but others, especially Coach Drenth and Gaffney, were not as they suffered near-fatal injuries.
So far, the comeback on the golf course has included Northern Shores Conference and Regional championships for the Rayders with Boss, Gaffney, Whistler and Max Drenth scoring in both. Boss was crowned conference and Regional champion while leading the Rayders back to the Final.
The team shot the lowest round in school history at the conference meet.
“Sometimes when you talk about hard things, you can gain some therapy,” acknowledged Drenth, now in his ninth season at the helm of the Rayders. “But I would say that we're all looking forward to moving on in life. I'm grateful that we're here, and we're looking forward to just being back to ‘normalish.’ I feel like we are looking at hope and what we can achieve. So I'm looking forward to moving on.”
Part of the moving on for the Rayders included adding Helstrom and freshman Blake Boss to the regular lineup.
As his final chapter is revealed this weekend, Boss believes even better Charlevoix golf teams will materialize after he graduates. Max Drenth, who was hospitalized more than a week after the crash, and Whistler will be among those back next year to carry on the program’s success.
“Maxwell and Landon are going to do awesome,” Boss said. “Blake just realized this year that golf is really a sport that he wants to do, so hopefully that'll lead him to practicing more and getting better. And then we have two or three incoming freshmen. I don't know if they'll be great their freshman year … (but) they'll end up being some of the better players Charlevoix has ever had.”
More than a year after the crash, Drenth – who also coaches the girls and boys cross country teams – continues to battle the physical side of recovery. He was hospitalized during the immediate aftermath for two months, undergoing multiple surgeries and physical therapy. He also journeyed to Florida for specialized physical therapy, with funds provided by the Charlevoix community through a GoFundMe effort that was part of a tremendous amount of support the program received.
“The biggest part of his recovery is the fact that he's always so positive and happy and hopeful about everything,” Boss said. “There was a lot of fear from everybody for him, but he truly believed he would recover and be back to almost normal, again. I think that optimism is what led him to recover so well.”
Still facing occasional hospital stays, Drenth was able to return to coaching both sports, missing only one meet this year. Matt Peterson and Emily Edwards, his assistant cross country coaches, and Bruce Beaudoin, his assistant golf coach, have played even bigger roles during Drenth’s recovery.
“I'm grateful for Matt and Emily, my two coaches that were there every day,” Drenth said. “And Bruce has such amazing knowledge of golf, which is so important. But more important than that, he's just so good with me and the boys.”
His cross country team made a major splash this past fall, winning the Lower Peninsula Division 3 championship. Hunter Eaton, a junior, won the individual title. Junior Ryder Hopkins and senior Matthew Solomon joined Eaton on the all-state team. Max Drenth wrapped up the team scoring recording his best career time at the Final.
“I truly believe that the success that we have had, both in golf and cross country, is directly related to the help of others,” said Drenth, whose golf and cross coaching career goes back to 1989. “Nothing great is ever accomplished alone!”
As such, Charlevoix knows success this weekend will be the result of success throughout the lineup.
“It's going to be really up in the air because it's kind of been all year for us,” Bryce Boss predicted. “If our (number) three and our four play good, we tend to shoot amazingly well.”
Drenth believes it will come down to the team performing up to its potential.
“I just hope and pray that they play to their ability,” Drenth said. “I know, if we do that, like the cross country team — they just ran to their abilities — we can play golf with anybody.”
While Drenth is coaching the Final, he’ll also be filled with gratitude and hope for the future.
“For my wife, Tricia, and our two boys, Oliver and Maxwell, this has changed their lives and I wouldn't be here without my family who came to the hospital every day … my brothers and their wives and families … and then the teams that came all the time,” Drenth said. “Whether it be my cross kids that have graduated or golfers that are still here, or whether they were in the hospital with me, and then the greater Charlevoix community – I mean, it's just unbelievable how much good has come out of something so bad.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Charlevoix’s Bryce Boss eyes a putt during last week’s Regional at Birchwood in Harbor Springs. (2) The Charlevoix golf team poses for a photo during a gathering July 17. (3) Drenth confers with one of his golfers during the Regional. (4) Drenth, back seat, rides in the Charlevoix Homecoming parade this past fall with wife Tricia in a vehicle driven by assistant cross country coach Matt Peterson. (Regional photos by Drew Kochanny/Petoskey News-Review. Family photos courtesy of Tricia Drenth.)
Frankfort's Newbold Cool, Calm, Contender
June 6, 2019
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special for Second Half
FRANKFORT — On the golf course, Frankfort senior Will Newbold appears to be calm, cool and collected.
It’s an outward impression that mirrors the way Newbold is feeling on the inside too.
Newbold’s easy-going demeanor has served him quite well on the links as he’s helped lead the Panthers to their fifth straight Lower Peninsula Division 4 Golf Finals appearance and sixth in the past eight years.
In a sport that can seem to break even the most stoic of players at times, Newbold doesn’t let his emotions get the best of him, taking the good with the bad in the same even-keeled fashion.
“I just feel like being able to keep your head and stay composed is a really good attribute to have,” said Newbold. “If I do mess up, I feel like I can shrug it off and get back on track. Maybe make a couple birdies and get back on track to shooting a good score.”
Good scores have been the norm for Newbold, who enters the Finals at Grand Valley State’s Meadows course as the medalist in the Northwest Conference — at 3-under in league play he was the only player under par for the year — and at the Regional he shot a 74 to win by one stroke. In fact, only two times this season has someone topped Newbold on the leaderboard.
The four-year letterwinner generally has been the Panthers’ top performer the past two years and was Frankfort’s low man in its last two trips to the Finals. He fired a 162 as a sophomore as Frankfort finished 12th. His score of 150 last year put him in a tie for eighth overall and the Panthers rose to ninth in the team standings.
The aspirations this season are for a top-five team finish, which would mark the best the Panthers’ boys golf program has ever placed.
“I always look at the state tournament as that’s the real season,” said Frankfort coach Tom Thorr. “That’s when you want to be playing your best. Our goal has always been to be in the top 10 in the state. This year you can’t help but look at the other scores in Division 4. I’m certainly hoping we have a good showing. I think it would be great if my team could finish in the top five.”
The Panthers have some good experience with seniors Jack Reznich and Riley Thorr, along with junior Luke Hammon. Sophomore Daniel Newbold, Will’s younger brother, rounds out Frankfort’s top five, but what the younger Newbold lacks in experience he makes up for with ability. He and Hammon both turned in top-10 performances at the Regional with a pair of rounds at 82.
With Will Newbold at the top of that lineup, the Panthers have a squad capable of meeting their high expectations.
“I’ve always told my kids they don’t have to shoot 70,” said Thorr. “If we can have four guys shoot 80 or 82, we’re going to make a lot of noise. But having somebody who can go out and shoot a 70-72 (like Will), it kind of gives you that latitude where you can afford a 90 or a 94 and still be really solid.”
Thorr believes his top player could be in the hunt for medalist honors as well when all is said and done.
“He’s got a chance,” Thorr said. “He’s going to have to play well. There are some good players out there, no doubt. When we get down there, we’ll see them all. He’ll have to rely on that mental game.”
It’s that mental game that has been Will Newbold’s strength and allows him to perform at such a high and consistent level, says his coach.
“Everybody’s going to have a bad shot or a bad hole, or a stretch of holes,” said Tom Thorr. “You have to have the right mentality to get through that. Like Will, if he has a bad shot or a bad hole he’s just got this uncanny ability to just kind of brush it off. ‘Oh well, I’ll get it back.’ It may not be the next hole, but he’s pretty focused. He doesn’t let a whole lot of things rattle him. His mental game is pretty solid. He hits the ball straight. He’s not super long, but he’s real consistent.”
As a collection, the Panthers are a product of their environment. Each of Frankfort’s top five players caddies at nearby Crystal Downs Country Club — a course that is consistently ranked among the best nationally and worldwide by pundits — and they frequently take advantage of the chance to play, taking on the challenging course as they’ve built up their games.
“I try to go out there every night in the summer,” said Will Newbold. “It’s fast, unforgiving. You’ve got to hit spots, or you’re going to be in trouble. The greens are really tough and really hilly. I would say it’s one of the harder (courses) in the state.”
Those daily tests, along with instruction from the likes of local PGA pros Scott Wilson and Ed Laprade, have helped a player like Newbold make huge strides in a relatively short time. Newbold started playing the game only four years ago, but now finds himself in the discussion of the best players in Division 4, with a chance to prove it on the course in his final match of his high school career.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in the summers just grinding at the range and playing golf every day,” he said. “I progressed pretty quickly. I worked so hard in the summer and in the offseason to get better. It’s good to see my hard work being rewarded.”
Chris Dobrowolski has covered northern Lower Peninsula sports since 1999 at the Ogemaw County Herald, Alpena News, Traverse City Record-Eagle and currently as sports editor at the Antrim Kalkaska Review since 2016. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTO: Frankfort's Will Newbold, second from right, will lead a talented and experienced lineup to the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final this weekend. (Photo courtesy of the Frankfort golf program.)