When I was about 2 years old, I would wake up really early and go to the course with my dad to ride in the cart to watch. I was mainly there to pick up sticks and rocks, but I’ve always loved being outdoors. Once I started walking and was big enough to hold a club, I started dragging my dad’s clubs around the house. This led to him cutting down some old clubs for me. That's pretty much how it started.
Obviously, as I got older, all I wanted to do was beat my dad. It took a lot of practice on the putting and chipping green because I knew I couldn’t hit it as far as him when I was 12. I think the first time I beat my dad from the same tees I was 13. I've done my best to not let him beat me since, although he still gets the best of me about once a year.
I started playing as many junior golf tournaments as my parents would let me sign up for in the summers, and I was truly hooked. My mom and dad always supported me and did so much for me to be able to travel and play a busy summer schedule, and every tournament I felt like I was improving.
In my teenage years, I started thinking about playing in college (and possibly professionally) one day. The TGA, AJGA, along with my parents’ support allowed me the opportunities to get exposure to a lot of college coaches. My dad played golf at TCU, and my sister went there as well. But after being recruited by most major universities in Texas, I ultimately decided Texas Tech was the perfect fit for me.
After a successful college career, I tried playing professionally for a few years and had little bits of success, but the financial stress made the game less enjoyable than before. I took some time away from the game and got my first real job in sales. It was very tough to give up on something I had worked for my whole life, but now I am so happy I did. I got my amateur status back and slowly started playing again.
I now have a great job with Independence Title, I’m married to my beautiful wife, Shelbi, and I am enjoying golf at the amateur level more than ever.