Southern Scribes: Reece Coleman to Take a Swing at Professional Golf After This Season Ends
3/13/2024 10:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Learn about fifth-year golfer Reece Coleman’s journey to Georgia Southern
STATESBORO - Every athlete faces the same question at some point in their career: "Do I close this chapter of my life, or do I attempt to turn the page into professional sports?" There is always the opportunity to play recreationally, but each athlete has to face the question of whether to maintain the level of commitment and intensity required to excel in sports.
For many, this comes at the end of a high school career or the end of a collegiate career. Like most collegiate athletes, Reece Coleman first considered the question as he was completing his undergraduate degree at Anderson University. Unlike most, Reece had the opportunity to reconsider his answer and choose a different path.
Reece has faced many challenges in his collegiate career, not least moving from South Africa to South Carolina, where he first began playing NCAA golf. He then spent four years at Anderson University, where he established his home in the United States.
This past year, Reece decided to take advantage of the opportunity to use his fifth year of eligibility and transferred to Georgia Southern. More on that decision later. In many ways, this transition was a repeat of his experience when he initially moved to America.
"I spent four years at Anderson University, a small school in the upstate of South Carolina, 4,500 kids, so nothing crazy," Reece explained. "You know, I built a lot of relationships around the area. I had a family, what I considered family. So, moving four hours down here, kind of by myself, I do have that support system in the Anderson, South Carolina area. But you know, it's like coming down here by yourself; you're doing everything yourself. Your family and stuff are still back there. If you need anything, you know, it's four hours away. Originally moving to the States, I was in the same position. I didn't know anyone. So, I kind of figured life out like that. It was just going back four years and just doing it all over again. It wasn't too hard. It was pretty easy. The coaches and the teammates definitely made it a lot easier for sure."
In other ways, his transition wasn't a change at all. Reece was able to quickly find support in his new coaches and team. He especially found this in the assistant coach, who had roots in Anderson and was able to relate to Reece's previous experiences.
"My previous coach, he had a relationship with the assistant golf coach that's here right now [Daniel Castles]. They're really good friends. Coming here on my visit, at first, it made me almost feel like I knew them already, even though I'd never met them. Which made it a lot easier to transition. So even though we weren't friends, we were friends. I knew—I trusted my previous coach–I trusted these coaches. They had that relationship, so it just made it so much easier to talk to people, just to relate to different things. My assistant coach is actually from Anderson, South Carolina, originally. That's how they knew each other. So, talking about things like that he was very up to date with my previous team, all the people around there, so it was really smooth in that sense."
So, how did Reece get to Statesboro from Anderson? Well, his current path couldn't be more different from what he originally pictured after graduation. After an internship that Reece had one summer, he accepted a full-time position with a company due to start in 2023. During the next golf season (2022-23), Reece played well. He had seven top-three finishes, was the SAC Golfer of the Year, and was ranked sixth in Division II by Golfstat. This season changed Reece's perspective on the possibility of playing professional golf.
He took a leap of faith and went back to the company to tell them that he was going to pursue professional golf as a career, "Absolutely not," Reece said when asked if he were where he thought he'd be.
"Funny story, my first three years of college, they were good. I was playing the sport. I was getting my degree, and it was fine. It came down to my last year, where I had to choose if I wanted to pursue golf or if I wanted to go into the workforce. I'd actually had an internship over the summer of my junior year. Once I got done with that internship, they offered me a job, and I accepted it, meaning that I was going to start working at the start of this school year. Things kind of changed. I played decent golf in order to, you know, maybe pursue it as a career. So, then the day came, and I decided that I wanted to do another year of college and try and do this after school. I had to go back to the company and say, 'Hey, I'm not coming to work. I'm extremely sorry for any inconvenience that I've caused, but this is what I want to do.' That was basically my story, and that's how I ended up here."
Reece ultimately decided on Georgia Southern because of the relationship he felt he could easily build with the team and coaches. It was not too far from Anderson as far as culture and landscape, and that made for the easy parts of the transition.
"Just going back on that [his official visit], it kind of felt like I knew people here already," he explained. "A couple of other schools, they were a little further away. I didn't know anyone. It would have been a completely different lifestyle change in the upstate of South Carolina, in South Georgia. Not the same, but in the South it's a lot of the same morals, the same beliefs down here that it was up there. So yeah, that feeling of knowing someone down here made it a lot easier for sure."
Reece's transition from Anderson to Georgia Southern hasn't been all smooth. The move from Division II to Division I has been a challenge, but not one that he wasn't prepared for.
"I expected it," Reece stated. "I played a lot of amateur non-college stuff over the summer, so I got to play with a lot of good players that have been everywhere else: a lot of Division I players. They're all good. I knew that coming into it, so I did expect it. It wasn't as easy as it came in Division II. You're competing every week, and you have a chance to win, whereas here if you don't play your best, you're gonna be in the middle of the field to the bottom of it. I did expect it to be tough, for sure."
Despite the new level of competition in Division I, Reece has been able to rise to the challenge and improve his game. As a member of the Georgia Southern golf team, Reece has had five top-20 finishes and helped lead the team to a first-place finish at the Colleton River Collegiate.
Playing at the Division I level gives Reece the opportunity to further embrace what he loves most about the sport of golf: the constant battle against yourself.
"Oh man, my favorite part about golf is the grind that it always is," he was quick to say. "People say that golf is ninety percent mental and ten percent skill. So, it's all about how your mind is and it's just a constant battle with yourself to try and get better. You're never gonna be perfect at the game and it's within you basically."
So, what's next for Reece Coleman? He plans to continue to embrace the infinite challenge of golf and make his way into the professional world of golf after finishing up this spring with the Eagles.
"It will be some time of professional golf, hopefully," Reece explained about his future plans. "So, they're doing a new tour called PGA Tour of Americas, it's just below the Korn Ferry Tour … PGA Tour is the main one. I will go to qualifying school for the PGA Tour of Americas now in the next couple of months. I mean, if everything goes according to plan, play on, and graduate up to the PGA Tour; that is my plan after I get done here."
However, before jumping into professional sports, Reece will compete with the team at the Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro this weekend as the team makes its way closer to the Sun Belt Conference Championship on April 22-25.
For many, this comes at the end of a high school career or the end of a collegiate career. Like most collegiate athletes, Reece Coleman first considered the question as he was completing his undergraduate degree at Anderson University. Unlike most, Reece had the opportunity to reconsider his answer and choose a different path.
Reece has faced many challenges in his collegiate career, not least moving from South Africa to South Carolina, where he first began playing NCAA golf. He then spent four years at Anderson University, where he established his home in the United States.
This past year, Reece decided to take advantage of the opportunity to use his fifth year of eligibility and transferred to Georgia Southern. More on that decision later. In many ways, this transition was a repeat of his experience when he initially moved to America.
"I spent four years at Anderson University, a small school in the upstate of South Carolina, 4,500 kids, so nothing crazy," Reece explained. "You know, I built a lot of relationships around the area. I had a family, what I considered family. So, moving four hours down here, kind of by myself, I do have that support system in the Anderson, South Carolina area. But you know, it's like coming down here by yourself; you're doing everything yourself. Your family and stuff are still back there. If you need anything, you know, it's four hours away. Originally moving to the States, I was in the same position. I didn't know anyone. So, I kind of figured life out like that. It was just going back four years and just doing it all over again. It wasn't too hard. It was pretty easy. The coaches and the teammates definitely made it a lot easier for sure."
In other ways, his transition wasn't a change at all. Reece was able to quickly find support in his new coaches and team. He especially found this in the assistant coach, who had roots in Anderson and was able to relate to Reece's previous experiences.
"My previous coach, he had a relationship with the assistant golf coach that's here right now [Daniel Castles]. They're really good friends. Coming here on my visit, at first, it made me almost feel like I knew them already, even though I'd never met them. Which made it a lot easier to transition. So even though we weren't friends, we were friends. I knew—I trusted my previous coach–I trusted these coaches. They had that relationship, so it just made it so much easier to talk to people, just to relate to different things. My assistant coach is actually from Anderson, South Carolina, originally. That's how they knew each other. So, talking about things like that he was very up to date with my previous team, all the people around there, so it was really smooth in that sense."
So, how did Reece get to Statesboro from Anderson? Well, his current path couldn't be more different from what he originally pictured after graduation. After an internship that Reece had one summer, he accepted a full-time position with a company due to start in 2023. During the next golf season (2022-23), Reece played well. He had seven top-three finishes, was the SAC Golfer of the Year, and was ranked sixth in Division II by Golfstat. This season changed Reece's perspective on the possibility of playing professional golf.
He took a leap of faith and went back to the company to tell them that he was going to pursue professional golf as a career, "Absolutely not," Reece said when asked if he were where he thought he'd be.
"Funny story, my first three years of college, they were good. I was playing the sport. I was getting my degree, and it was fine. It came down to my last year, where I had to choose if I wanted to pursue golf or if I wanted to go into the workforce. I'd actually had an internship over the summer of my junior year. Once I got done with that internship, they offered me a job, and I accepted it, meaning that I was going to start working at the start of this school year. Things kind of changed. I played decent golf in order to, you know, maybe pursue it as a career. So, then the day came, and I decided that I wanted to do another year of college and try and do this after school. I had to go back to the company and say, 'Hey, I'm not coming to work. I'm extremely sorry for any inconvenience that I've caused, but this is what I want to do.' That was basically my story, and that's how I ended up here."
Reece ultimately decided on Georgia Southern because of the relationship he felt he could easily build with the team and coaches. It was not too far from Anderson as far as culture and landscape, and that made for the easy parts of the transition.
"Just going back on that [his official visit], it kind of felt like I knew people here already," he explained. "A couple of other schools, they were a little further away. I didn't know anyone. It would have been a completely different lifestyle change in the upstate of South Carolina, in South Georgia. Not the same, but in the South it's a lot of the same morals, the same beliefs down here that it was up there. So yeah, that feeling of knowing someone down here made it a lot easier for sure."
Reece's transition from Anderson to Georgia Southern hasn't been all smooth. The move from Division II to Division I has been a challenge, but not one that he wasn't prepared for.
"I expected it," Reece stated. "I played a lot of amateur non-college stuff over the summer, so I got to play with a lot of good players that have been everywhere else: a lot of Division I players. They're all good. I knew that coming into it, so I did expect it. It wasn't as easy as it came in Division II. You're competing every week, and you have a chance to win, whereas here if you don't play your best, you're gonna be in the middle of the field to the bottom of it. I did expect it to be tough, for sure."
Despite the new level of competition in Division I, Reece has been able to rise to the challenge and improve his game. As a member of the Georgia Southern golf team, Reece has had five top-20 finishes and helped lead the team to a first-place finish at the Colleton River Collegiate.
Playing at the Division I level gives Reece the opportunity to further embrace what he loves most about the sport of golf: the constant battle against yourself.
"Oh man, my favorite part about golf is the grind that it always is," he was quick to say. "People say that golf is ninety percent mental and ten percent skill. So, it's all about how your mind is and it's just a constant battle with yourself to try and get better. You're never gonna be perfect at the game and it's within you basically."
So, what's next for Reece Coleman? He plans to continue to embrace the infinite challenge of golf and make his way into the professional world of golf after finishing up this spring with the Eagles.
"It will be some time of professional golf, hopefully," Reece explained about his future plans. "So, they're doing a new tour called PGA Tour of Americas, it's just below the Korn Ferry Tour … PGA Tour is the main one. I will go to qualifying school for the PGA Tour of Americas now in the next couple of months. I mean, if everything goes according to plan, play on, and graduate up to the PGA Tour; that is my plan after I get done here."
However, before jumping into professional sports, Reece will compete with the team at the Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro this weekend as the team makes its way closer to the Sun Belt Conference Championship on April 22-25.
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