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Little Wound's Lance Christensen adjusts to life as golfer, student at New Mexico State
Little Wound's Lance Christensen poses for a photo during the New Mexico State University photo day.
(New Mexico State University Athletics Photo)
Jun 11, 2022
 

By Ryan Deal 

605 Sports

In 2019, Lance Christensen burst onto the scene and won the Class A boys state golf championship, a feat never before accomplished by a Pine Ridge Indian Reservation golfer. In the following months, Christensen garnered regional and national media attention, highlighted by a 3,200-word Golf Digest feature story in 2020.

Christensen’s story was indeed worth chronicling: he lived an hour from the nearest golf course, regularly drove long distances to play and grew up in one of the nation’s poorest counties. He drew more attention when he played in the High School Golf National Invitational in North Carolina in 2020 and ‘21. 

But for Christensen, then a high schooler at Little Wound High School, the attention briefly took away his joy for the game. 

“There was a lot of pressure in golf,” Christensen said. “There was a small moment in time there, where I wouldn’t say I lost my love, but golf felt more of like a chore than it did like something I just wanted to play. With all the pressure, and all the media I was getting, and not knowing if I am going to be good enough to back it all up.”

In 2020, his senior golf season was in limbo due to COVID-19 restrictions on the reservation. But was later lifted and he claimed a sixth-place finish at the state tournament. 

The pandemic, however, continued to impact his last year of high school and battled with bouts of anxiety and depression at times in 2021.

Little Wound's Lance Christensen celebrates winning the 2019 Class A state golf championship. (South Dakota Public Broadcasting Photo)
 

“I think that all just kind of built up on top of me,” Christensen added. “So going into my freshman year of college, I didn’t really have the development I was supposed to. So it was even that much harder. The anxiety of moving onto the next step and then it kind of puts you in a hole.”

The next step was moving nearly 1,000 miles away to golf at Division I New Mexico State University of the Western Athletic Conference. The pandemic, however, impacted Christensen again. 

A host of Aggies retained another year of eligibility with a COVID-19 waiver, which limited the number of spots available during the 2021-22 season. So New Mexico State coach Mike Dirks suggested a redshirt year, a move Christensen was totally on board with. 

“Going into college I had to take a step back and tell myself, this year it’s just to get better and let’s just enjoy the game again and that’s what I did,” Christensen said. “This past year, I just enjoyed the game as much as I could and I learned as much as I could. I just did it like I was a kid again.”

The kid from Kyle (population around 950) was in a whole new world though. New Mexico State (enrollment around 14,000) is located in Las Cruces, which has a population of more than 111,000. It sits 225 miles south of Albuquerque, 40 miles northwest of El Paso, Texas and 40 miles north of the Mexican border. 

“It was a lot different coming from — I guess you could say the middle of nowhere — to kind of adjusting to the small city life, and the long winters that we have here, and then you go to the middle of the desert,” Christensen said. “It was different for sure, but there wasn’t a time where it was too overwhelming. I enjoyed every moment of it and I am really excited to go back. Las Cruces is definitely a good home for me.”

Christensen’s new home exposed him to a number of scenic golf courses and top-notch golfers, too. Las Cruces has four golf courses, including the New Mexico State University Golf Course on the NMSU main campus.

“It’s something I’ve never experienced before,” Christensen said. “You go from having a golf course 45 miles away, and I get on campus the first day, and you have a golf course where you can see from campus. It was awesome to be able to experience that and continue to experience that.”

Christensen admits it was hard not competing this past season. But he used the redshirt year to soak up as much knowledge from those around him. 

In addition to players from New Mexico and the region, NMSU has golfers from England and Spain on the roster. Among the golfers was Aidan Thomas, an NCAA Regional qualifier and member of the Laguna Pueblo reservation in New Mexico.  

“I got really close with the best player (Thomas) on our team,” Christensen said. “Every question I could think of I would ask him or the coach or whoever on the team. I think learning that way and just being a sponge was very important to broaden my knowledge of the game.”

Little Wound's Lance Christensen watches a tee shot at the 2020 Class A state golf tournament. (South Dakota Public Broadcasting Photo)

That included learning how to take it easy, too. In South Dakota, Christensen was relegated to short seasons due to the weather and went non-stop while he could. 

It’s different in New Mexico where golf is a year-round activity, and initially, Christensen was going non-stop again. So much so he began having back problems and visited a physical therapist, who said Christensen’s back was out of alignment due to extra torque.

“It was definitely a learning process over this last year,” Christensen said. “I had to in a way tame myself down and use more quality in my practice sessions and think more when I am playing, realizing what my good and bad tendencies are.”

This summer, Christensen is back in South Dakota and has a part-time job with the tribe. He’s also playing in local tournaments, including this weekend’s South Dakota Golf Association Two-Man Championship in Aberdeen.  

In the fall, it’s back to Las Cruces and back to representing his school, state and reservation — on and off the golf course. He intends to get a degree in business and entrepreneurship, with hopes of providing opportunities for Native American kids in the future. 

“Being able to represent at this level, and being able to have a chance to do something in this game, and do something for my people is awesome,” Christensen said. “That’s why I am getting my education also. It’s not just golf.”