At the tender age of 16, Harlan County High School junior Brayden Casolari has already compiled a golf resume’ that would be the envy of virtually anyone who has played the sport, competitively.
And the newly-crowned Region 10 champion is looking to add to his impressive list of accomplishments at the Kentucky state tournament Tuesday and Wednesday in Bowling Green.
Casolari’s two-over-par round of 73 at the semistate tournament in Somerset last week was good for a tie for 11th, and punched his ticket for the state competition for the second time in his three-year prep career with the Black Bears.
“The goal this year was to be regional champion,” Casolari said. “When I got to the regional, I played like I wanted to win. I wanted it so badly.
“Then we moved on to semistate, and going into that tournament, I just wanted to play calm and just qualify for state. I shot two-over-par there. I wouldn’t say I hit the ball well, but I was happy to stay where I was and qualify for state.”
Two years ago, Casolari became the first HCHS golfer to qualify for the state tournament in the 15-year history of the program, and the first golfer from Harlan County to make it to state competition since Aaron Watkins represented Cawood High School around 2005 or 2006.
Prior to becoming the first Black Bear to win a regional championship, Casolari earned his third consecutive Pine Mountain Golf Conference Player of the Year honor and led the Black Bears to their third straight conference championship.
Casolari is riding a wave of confidence heading into the state tournament, and realizes that if his putting holds up, he can make some noise at Bowling Green Country Club.
“Putting is definitely the key to the game; I feel like I have everything else,” Casolari said. “I’m striping the ball and hitting the driver straight. I feel like if I can get the putting numbers down I feel like I have a pretty good shot (at the state tournament).
“I’m hitting around 13-14 greens per round and averaging about 31 putts. I’ve had days where I’m hitting 17 out of 18 greens, but I’ll have like 37 putts. Right now, I’m averaging 4-5 birdies a round and just trying to keep bogeys down. My short game is in pretty good shape when I need it.
After playing another busy summer tournament schedule on both the Golf World Tour and in AJGA events across the country, Casolari continues to hone his burgeoning talent through tireless work at both his home practice facility, as well as on-course work.
“I put in hours and hours of work every day; I’d say I practice at least 4-5 hours every day,” Casolari said. “I usually take Sunday and Monday off.
“I usually start out with putting and wedge work and then go play 9 holes. After that, I’ll come back and work on what I did bad. I figure if I can get the ‘bad,’ good, that’s when I can shoot under par.”
Although he is now regularly shooting rounds in the high 60s, or low 70s, Casolari mentioned one of the most challenging things he has done was breaking 80 on a consistent basis.
Generally regarded as a significant milestone for golfers, posting an 18-hole score under 80 is a feat accomplished by only about 5 percent of all golfers, according to the National Golf Foundation.
Casolari said he broke 80 for the first time just three years ago.
“It took me a minute to get over that hump,” he said. “I would probably call that the hardest part is breaking 80. You have to take the practice you’ve (done), step it up a little and have that goal to break 80.
“Once I started breaking 80 I got down to shooting 75ish and now I’m shooting under par.”
On the way to his second appearance in the state tournament, Casolari has logged countless thousands of miles, playing in high-level competitive events in more than 10 states.
Casolari initially took the region by storm as a seventh-grader and won his first event during the opening week of his eighth grade year at Cumberland with a two-over par 37 at the Kentucky Jr. PGA Fall Series Championship for players 14-and-under.
Prior to beginning his freshman year in 2022, Casolari put together several stellar performances in advance of his prep debut.
That summer, he competed in 15 nationally-ranked events with two wins, seven top five finishes and nine top 10 finishes to earn a top four ranking in the state in the Class of 2026.
Following the end of the conference season last fall, Casolari skipped the remainder of the KHSAA postseason to participate in the Pure Insurance Championship at storied Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill in northern California.
During the nationally-televised event, Casolari earned first-place honors in the First Tee Boys division, with a three-round score of 21-under par. Casolari represented First Tee Pine Mountain, and was paired with PGA Champions Tour player, Brian Gay during the event.
Playing at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill rank at the top of Casolari’s list of favorite golf courses, but he also had high praise for a golf course closer to home.
“Pebble and Spyglass. Those two are probably my two favorite courses, but if you want to talk about closer to home, I’d say The Virginian Golf Club in Bristol,” Casolari said. “It’s a really nice course and there is not one blade of grass out of place. It’s the purest course I’ve played, outside of Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill.”
Prior to that event, Casolari became the first Harlan County golfer to receive an invitation to compete in the Kentucky Golf Coaches Association’s All State Championship at the University of Kentucky. He placed 17th out of 96 of the state’s top prep players in that event.
With the 2024 state tournament in his sights, and another full season of high-level national events and his senior high school season on the horizon, Casolari dreams of playing college golf, with an eventual eye on playingp rofessionally.
He has attracted early attention from close-to-home LMU, a nationally-ranked NCAA Division II program, and has been in contact with University of Kentucky.
“I had about a 25-minute call with LMU the other day, and I thought it went pretty well,” Casolari said. “I like the coach a lot. They have a great facility and they play 10-11 tournaments a year.
“He said it would take like 4-to-8-under (par) to get in the top five. When he said that to me, I really felt like I had a chance.
“I’ve talked to (UK) before, and they’re just not in contact right now. I think they’re working on some other offers, but we’ve been talking back and forth.”
On playing professionally, Casolari said, “That’s been my goal, 100 percent, but I do have a Plan B for that if things don’t work out. I want to teach.”
For now, Casolari is in the final stages of his preparation for the state tournament, and will then play two events in November. Scheduling for 2025 will begin sometime in December, after some much-needed, and rare, time off.