A new era for Fort Lewis golf will get underway, as the college announced that Sean Griswold and Shea Sena are the new coaches for the men’s and women’s golf teams, respectively.
Sena will also be the Director of Operations for the women’s team.
Sena and Griswold are taking over for Jim Foltz, who led both programs since 2019.
“Both programs were very open in hoping for two coaches,” Skyhawks Director of Athletics Travis Whipple said via text message. “We are thrilled to make this a reality as we look to continue soaring To The Top! The way that most collegiate golf competitions work it’s ideal to have this two-coach model. I want to give our programs the best chance to compete for championships, serve the community and leave FLC with a degree fully equipped to be successful in life.”
Sena is the owner and director of Elevated Golf Academy at Dalton Ranch Golf Club. He also was an assistant golf professional at Hillcrest Golf Club and the Glacier Club.
Sena will continue to direct Elevated Golf Academy while coaching the women’s program. He says the two mesh together very well, as the academy’s busy season is during the summer when the team will not be competing.
“I'm very familiar with the program and have been for a lot of years,” Sena said. “I've been in this area for a good while teaching golf and going to continue to do that as well. Being familiar with the program, I have always loved the idea of helping out these young women and it kind of just came to fruition through a series of events. There’s a lot of excitement just to be able to help them improve and have a whole lot of fun doing it.”
Sena says he first wants to instill confidence in the women on the roster because competition comes down to self-belief and competence, which helps with belief coming from the coach.
Griswold has a wrestling background competing at NCAA Division I Arizona State University. He’s played golf all around the country in amateur events and owns a company called Sierra Chemicals, which cleans natural gas plants with eight offices around the country.
At Arizona State, Griswold was around All-American athletes. That taught him how to compete properly and practice with focus.
“My job is if you do need help to be smart enough to get them in touch with the right people that can help them,” Griswold said. “Most of them come with a strong background in fundamentals and it's building off of those. How can we get better is going to be our course management, our mental psychology or mental competitiveness, our good golf fitness. These kids, they're not going to go out and shoot 100 and you're trying to help them get to 90. They’re going to shoot par and you're just going to try to help them get two shots better.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
