Grayson County High School’s Jackson Mayes will join the golf team at Brescia next school year.
Mayes committed to the college earlier this year but officially signed his letter of intent during a ceremony at the high school on Wednesday evening.
He has turned into a standout golfer for the GCHS golf team, including qualifying for state the last four years and making it to the final round three times.
“Brescia is going to get a hardworking kid,” GCHS head coach Tony Embry said. “I have always been impressed by his work ethic; he wants to play, wants to get better, and he’ll take care of things in the classroom.”
For any student, athlete or not, fit is one of the main aspects when it comes to making a decision on where to attend college.
“It really felt like home there,” Mayes told K105. “It’s not too big, not too small. It’s just right for me. I met some of the professors and the counselors. They were all nice.”
These ceremonies usually allow the student-athlete, parents, and coaches to reflect on the journey that was taken to reach the point where they currently are, and Mayes specifically gave credit to his parents for that.
“They meant everything to me, they paid for all my tournaments, all of my clubs, all this stuff. I mean, they really do everything for me,” he said.
“I’m just out there playing, but in the background, it’s all them. My dad (Ben) was my coach for the last two years. We butt heads a lot, but he’s always out there trying to help me get better.”
His mom, Tiffany, was beaming with pride throughout the entire evening and shared similar sentiments.
“Extremely proud and so blessed,” she said. “He’s been doing this since he was about four years old, so he’s had a lot of hard work and blood, sweat, tears but also a lot of love.”
Her reflection specifically took her back to the long car rides with Jackson to different competitions where Ben may have had to have stayed behind due to work or other conflicts.
“I wouldn’t trade it for anything, because a lot of the times, it was just me and him. That was our bonding, even though Ben is the golfer.”
Jackson has always had natural skill in power off the tee, but both his short game and the mental aspect have been things that his coaching staff has seen him improve.
“Maturity just around the course,” Ben Hayes said. “He’s always from a young age struck it well, but his mental part of the game has been a struggle at times. He’s played a lot of big tournaments, big matches, it takes a lot of guts.”
Brescia is an NAIA school in Owensboro. They are coached by Drew Augenstein, who was only officially announced as the new coach earlier that morning. Despite the quick turnaround, he was still in attendance at the signing.
By Sam Gormley, Play-By-Play Announcer/Local Sports
Reach Sam at sam@k105.com
