ROLLING GREEN fields, beautiful skies, rustling trees, and the crack of club on ball are the staples of the golf course. For Franklin County High School senior Garrett Patterson, those are sights and sounds that mean hard work, focus, and hours playing the game he loves.
Patterson’s exposure to golf began when he was young, spending afternoons with his stepfather hitting balls around their backyard.
“I was mostly just kind of picking up his balls that he would hit,” Patterson said.
Years later, they went to Bear Trace at Tim’s Ford, and Patterson played his first few holes. By seventh grade, he knew he wanted to play more consistently.
“I decided that I wanted to go down the route of trying to play golf, and ended up finding out that I really enjoyed it,” Patterson said.
In high school, he began taking the game more seriously. On top of a busy schedule as a member of the student council, Beta Club, the National Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of America, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Patterson began taking lessons and specifically working to improve his game. That hard work has paid off. He has been recognized as the golf team MVP and OWL Awards Fall Male Athlete nominee, received the FCA Dean and Tyler Zimmerman Memorial Award, and been a district and regional qualifier for the Franklin County golf team.
Patterson said his low scores have been consistent enough that he has been confident in reaching out to college coaches. Ultimately, he wants to play for Maryville College, but in the meantime, he has begun competing through the Sneds Tour: the junior golf tour of the Tennessee Golf Foundation.
“My dream has always been to play a college sport while getting all the academics that I need to become a vet,” Patterson said. “It’s very exciting for me.”
Aside from hard work and practice, Patterson said the key to a successful game is to remember that everyone is there to do the same thing — shoot a low score.
“The only person that you’re really playing is yourself and the course,” Patterson said. “If you can stay mentally stable, you’re going to play well.”
While he played other sports, like basketball, Patterson always felt more at home on the golf course. He said it has made him a better person, and it’s a place he can always go to relieve stress and focus on what is important.
“It’s a different feeling — a different kind of calm than all the other sports,” Patterson said. “There’s only one person to blame, and you can always make yourself better.”
Getting better doesn’t require fancy equipment or access to a nice golf course. All you need, Patterson said, is a good starter set of clubs and a little space to begin working things out. There are tons of resources online that can help, and when you really begin to love the sport, things will begin to fall into place.
“Start out by yourself,” Patterson said. “Finding your love is the first step, and then everything will come to you from there.” GN
