By Rubin E. Grant
Jack Goldasich was burned out on golf.
He grew up playing the sport with his older brother, Sam, younger brother, Ford, and his dad, Dennis, who played collegiately at Lipscomb University in Nashville.
“We’ve been playing golf since we could walk,” Jack Goldasich said of himself and his brothers. “We’re all pretty close. We play all the time.”
But after graduating in 2018 from Homewood High School, where he and Ford had helped the Patriots win a state championship in 2016, Goldasich decided he had had enough of the family sport. He went to the University of Alabama but just as a student, not a golfer.
“I wasn’t playing well,” Goldasich said. “I didn’t have the desire. I didn’t touch a golf club from August to January.”
Once the calendar flipped to 2019, Goldasich, 19, caught the golfing bug again. He picked up his clubs, returned to the links and started striking the ball.
“I decided this was something I was pretty good at and I needed to get back to practicing,” he said.
A trip to Augusta National for the final round of the Masters in April convinced him that a golfer is what he was meant to be.
“It was kind of the final straw,” Goldasich said. “It’s hard to go to the Masters and not get the juices flowing again.”
Beating His Brothers
On the first weekend of June, Goldasich showed he was all the way back. He won the 103rd Alabama State Amateur Championship, shooting a bogey-free final round six-under 66 to overcome a three-shot deficit at Turtle Point Yacht and Country Club in Killen, near Florence.
Goldasich edged Ford by two shots with a four-round total of 9-under 278. Ford shot a 67 in the final round and finished second at 280. Sam finished 10th with a four-round total of 2-under 285. It’s the first time three brothers had finished in the top 10 in the State Amateur.
“It was pretty crazy,” Jack said. “I hadn’t played a tournament since August of last year.
“We played a practice round and we were in the hotel room, talking smack and goofing around. Sam and Ford had a good first round, but I was for 54th (after an opening round 4-over-par 76) and I just said, ‘That’s OK, I’ll get them tomorrow.’”
Jack shot a 67 in the second round and a 69 in the third round to put himself in position to claim the championship trophy.
“It took a while to sink in that I won,” he said. “I have bragging rights now for a little bit.”
Jack also has a renewed passion for the game. He competed in The Daikin Spirit of America Golf Classic at Burningtree Country Club in Decatur during the final week of June.
This week he and his brothers are competing in the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Men’s Amateur Championship at the Tacoma Country & Golf Club in Lakewood, Washington.
Next week, Jack is going to Little Rock, Arkansas, to try to qualify on-site for the 113th Southern Amateur Championship July 17-20 at Chenal Country Club. Sam, 22, who will be a senior this fall at UAB, already has qualified for the tournament.
The brothers also are going to try to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Aug. 11-18 in North Carolina at the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club.
Going Back to School – as a Golfer
In the fall, Jack is headed to Central Alabama Community College to play golf, joining his brothers at the collegiate level. Sam also played at CACC before going to UAB.
Ford, 18, just graduated from Homewood in May after becoming the first Patriots’ golfer to compete in four state championships. He was the runner-up low medalist this year and finished his career as part of three runner-up teams and one state championship team. He is headed to Lipscomb University to play at his father’s alma mater.
Jack also has designs on playing at a four-year college after his time at Central Alabama.
“I will play there for a year and then go to another school,” Goldasich said. “I am already talking to schools, especially after the State Amateur.”
Now, that he’s back on course, Jack has started looking beyond college. “My ultimate goal is to play on the PGA tour,” he said.
