Family Links

Havre has a history of great sports families. Actually, most communities the size of Havre do. Sporting legacies are seemingly always passed on from generation to generation.

And right now, one of Havre’s great golfing clans is still thriving on the links.

For 27 years, Dennis Bymaster was the head golf coach at Havre High. From 1968-1995, Bymaster was teaching the game of golf to hundreds of Blue Pony golfers, and while he accomplished many great things during his tenure on the golf course, he was able to reach the pinnacle when he led Havre to its first state championship in golf in 1991.

Also during his illustrious career as the Blue Ponies’ golf mentor, he was able to coach his daughter, Carol. Like her dad before her, she was outstanding on the course, earning All-State honors four times during her run as a Blue Pony golfer.

That love, passion and skill for the game of golf, the one started by Bymaster, continues in the Blue Pony program to this very day. While Bymaster has long been retired, and Carol’s days of high school golf are well behind her, her children — Bymaster’s grandchildren — have continued to forge a deep-rooted family legacy in Blue Pony golf.

Carol’s oldest daughter, Nikki Gabrielsen, was an All-Conference golfer for the Blue Ponies three different years for the Ponies, and while she graduated from HHS two years ago, younger siblings Randi and Kane are still starring for the Ponies on the links.

And both of them credit their grandfather and mother’s golf careers as their biggest golfing influences to this very day.

“They’re the main reason I play golf,” said Randi, a senior and now four-year letter winner for the Ponies. “It was always assumed that I would play golf because it’s been in my family for a long time. My grandpa taught me a lot, especially chipping and putting, and he’s the main reason my short game is probably the best part of my game. My mom has worked with me a lot. too, but it’s her support that really helps me the most. She’s very positive, and is always picking me up when I have a bad day.

“So I look up to both my grandpa and my mom a lot,” she continued. “I look forward to seeing them after a tournament and telling them how I played. They are both so interested in our golf that it makes me want to play better.

“My grandpa was a tremendous influence on me,” added Kane, a junior who has been on the HHS varsity team since he started as a freshman. “He is the one I go to for help. My mom helps me a lot. too. She was an All-State golfer four years in a row, so it’s pretty cool to have two golfers like them in our family, and they have always helped me with my game a lot.”

Indeed. Bymaster has always had a knack for being able to teach the game of golf to players of all skill levels, and that’s why, even in a small town like Havre, which had just nine-hole Beaver Creek Golf Course during his coaching days, he was able to have so many successful Blue Pony golf teams.

However, because of how much golf has been a family affair, Randi and Kane also have internal help. Getting to play with each other, and at one time, with their older sister. Nikki, means instant family and emotional support, even when their grandpa and mom can’t be out on the course with them.

That time together is something both Gabrielsen’s cherish.

“It will be really weird next year when I’m all by myself,” Kane said. “I’ve gotten a chance to be on the team with both of my sisters, and they have always helped me a lot. They’ve always been there for me, and it’s been really cool to be on the team with them.

“We’re a really close family,” Randi added. “So to be able to have my brother and sister on the team with me, that has been a huge help to me. If I hadn’t have been able to golf with both of them, I might not have even continued playing golf. They have been very supportive of me. When I was younger, having Nikki on the team helped so much. Golf is a hard sport mentally, but she always just made me feel so secure with golf. And Kane, he’s the one I go to when I’m struggling now. He’s really good at helping people with their game. I think he would make a great golf coach someday, just like my grandpa is. And on the other side, I’m really protective of Kane. I will always be there for him, and when he has a bad day, he knows he can come to me.

“So it’s been really nice and a great experience to be able to play high school golf with them,” she added. “For all four years, I’ve always had someone on the team I’m close with. I’ve always had someone I can count on. I’ve always known I had a friend out there with me. And that’s helped me out so much.”

As close as Randi and Kane are, and as much as they support each other, they both happen to be outstanding golfers, too. Randi has been on the varsity team since the first day of her freshman year, and aside from being an All-Conference golfer multiple times, she’s also competed in three state tournaments — and will one more time when the Ponies head to Sidney for the Class A state tournament next week.

Like his older sister, Kane has also played varsity from the very start and is already a two-time All-Conference player — and will look to make that three in a row when the Ponies play at the Central A divisional tournament Saturday in Lewistown. Beyond that, Kane has also helped the Blue Ponies become a Class A powerhouse, and when Havre is done with the divisional tournament this weekend, it will be on to Sidney where he and the rest of the Pony boys figure to be a state title contender.

But no matter the accolades, no matter the scores, Randi and Kane are part of something bigger. They’re part of a unique family, one that is now in its third generation of golf at Havre High. And it’s something both of them are very proud of.

“I always told my grandparents I was going to play golf for the Blue Ponies,” Kane said. “And I’m proud to be a part of the Blue Pony golf team. And I’m very proud of my family’s legacy in golf. That legacy is what keeps me going when the putts are lipping out.”

“It’s really cool to think about that, how big a part golf is in our family,” added Randi. “To come from a golfing family like ours, it’s really cool. And it’s been something really special to be a part of. Learning from my grandpa and my mom, and getting to be on the team with my brother and sister, it’s been an amazing experience, and it’s something I’ll always look back on and be really proud of.”

For three generations, the Bymasters and Gabrielsens have been an important part of Havre High golf. They are truly Havre’s golfing royal family. And, forever, their time on the golf course as Blue Ponies is something they can always be proud of.