In the Summer of 2023, 8 year-old Jack Williams did the impossible. He came into Under Armour Summer Nationals having never shot 3-under par. Then… BOOM! On Day 1 of UA Summer Nationals, Jack shot a 3-under 33 on the biggest stage ever!
But he wasn’t done yet!!
On the next day, in the 2nd and final round, Jack fired a 29!! Yes, a 7-under 29!! Jack birdied the first 6 holes, lipped out for birdie on Hole 7, and then birdied Hole 8, before finishing with a par on #9!!
When all was said and done, this Nashville, TN native carded the most dominant victory in the history of Under Armour Summer Nationals!!
And now, Jack Williams is our Male Golfer of the Month for March, 2024!
You guys are a little unique in the fact that your daddy you’re caddy but you also have your dad that is caddy as well and Coach how do all those do you guys defer in your opinions and how do you work through it to help Jack I think we
Just defer to the guy who’s played in major golf championships uh kind of makes it pretty easy someone who’s a golf pro and has been has been a legic golf coach has played a major golf championships and most importantly uh is wiser than either of us are uh in terms
Of not only what it takes to be successful in life but also in Golf do you see Jack on the PGA tour window I do I do a friend of mine uh Mike Thomas is Justin Thomas’s father I was in Lexington as a golf professional when
Mike Thomas Justin’s dad was a pro in Louisville and we played a lot together so I remember when Justin was born and I remember when Justin was like seven or eight years old and I was playing with Mike in a tournament he says buddy I
Think my son has it I really do he can do things with a wedge that I’ve never dreamt of doing and that’s the way Jack is now Jack’s just turned nine he’s been doing things with a wedge for 3 or 4 years that he creates and he makes up
Himself I see him being on the PJ tour absolutely how does it feel to have a granddad as a caddy and Coach who has played from it helps me a lot with uh uh training and just having good attitude and the mentality of a PJ Tour player tell me
About those emotions coming off of winning Summer Nationals last year Palmer loves to joke that it was the round the second round where he shot at 29 and birdi the first six holes and ended up winning by several Strokes uh that it was the round as a caddy that
She’s heard me talk the least and that’s that’s probably true uh one because it was really hot that day two was because I just didn’t want to get in the way uh it was special from the start when he drained like a downhill 25t birdie PT I
Viewed my job as keeping him cool and keeping him calm and not saying anything to screw up the street because uh we’ve seen him do amazing things but nothing quite like that you know we’re so proud of what he accomplished but I’m even more proud of the time he put in when no
One was watching and I think that’s what’s going to pay off in the long run of turning him into hopefully a gentleman and a a kind uh kind player from here on out so I’m I’m proud of him for what he was doing when no one else
Was watching you’ve been a part of it from day one with with his golf how did it feel for him to win Under Armour Summer Nationals last year oh it was fantastic I mean my both my wife and I were there and watching it and we just
Kind of wasn’t that we were shaking our heads because I knew he could do do it but he did it and he didn’t look any different making the first birdie as he did making the sixth birdie in a row so that’s when I knew that he he had
Something special and that it didn’t bother him he didn’t get upset that he was six seven eight under par tell me what it felt like to win Under Armour Summer Nationals last year going into the tournament I actually had no expectations I I I didn’t think I was
Going to get top five I just wanted to have fun and and so I broke my scoring record the first day then I was like wow I actually have a chance to contend in this tournament and then I broke it again by uh four shots and then I was
Like wow I just won the tournament by five shots in this big major tournament for you you’re just going birdie birdie birdie was there any thought in your mind saying oh this is this is going to end no not really I was just just out there I wasn’t actually keeping score uh
I just kept hitting drives uh in uh hitting a pro shop and making p and I didn’t really care about anything at all did you know you were pretty much at the top of the leaderboard at all I mean yes I knew but I didn’t really think about
It much at all can you put into words what you guys were feeling after Jack won Summer Nationals a week later a month later he won by a landslide his his T tiny self and he comes in and just blows out the competition I mean we’re
So proud um of of what he accomplished the fact but we knew he could do it we’ve seen his game progress over the years we knew that he had all the pieces there so it was just fun to watch him put all of the pieces that were that
Have been there for a while together in one round I know as he was going on to that um the first te on the second day and he was in the lead by a couple shirks I think I was just praying would you help him keep it together like I
Can’t imagine the nerves I asked him like buddy like how are you feeling I’m a little nervous which I haven’t never heard him say before I said yep that makes sense you know this is a big day but you just go and have fun and to
Watch him be able to um swallow those nerves and perform better than he ever has um and push through that I um I was just so proud of him you tell your child and your Junior golfer that you love them as much on their best day or their
Worst de and you love them the exact same amount no matter what uh and you often have to say that on the heartbreaks whether it’s the close losses or the worst rounds ever you have to say that to them but then you get to say it to them when they have their best
Round ever and and and when they’re on top of the mountain and and they’ve just you know won one of the biggest tournaments they’ve ever played in you get to say it to them then too and it means even more to them then uh and if
I’m honest it means more more to me too when you get to say it to him in that situation uh that I’m proud of you but I love you just as much as I always have and ever will and it has nothing to do
With the fact you just shot a 29 and won a championship but because you’re my son who was the most emotional coming off that way Mom Dad or Granddad mom definitely did she cry she was on the verge of it you run off the green
Who did you hug first uh I hugged my dad on the green and then I hugged my mom and then my grandpa so you mentioned that the highlight of your career was shooting a 71 in on the pro tour compare that to seeing your grandson winning summer National I think I’m easier on
Jack than I am on myself so I was I was for me I was actually more nervous at the Hawaiian open on the last toe because I really wanted to break par than watching Jack I trust Jack more than I trust me I don’t get nervous when
Jack plays I also again this comes from Dr otella it’s a hard game and so you he always teaches me to underreact to whatever happens I Pat myself on the back when it comes to being a grandfather or a caddy watching Jack play I know it’s a difficult game if he
Hits a bad shot okay you just got to let it go I think he’s learned a lot from me but I think he’s also learned a lot on his own tell me about Jack and when he started playing golf I come from a golfing family so Jack had his first set
Of classic clubs when he was 18 months old maybe earlier um so he’s always been around golf he picked up a golf club started going to the range when he was like two um but really it was just for fun and um to get to hang out with my
Parents and Joseph but when he turned four I think is really when we could tell he caught the bug and he started competing when he was five um and just hasn’t looked back it was during the pandemic when all the other sports leagues were cancelled and uh the sneds
Tour in Tennessee opened up and Palmer mentioned well maybe let’s sign him up for one of the first tournaments and I said well maybe he should play a nine-hole round and keep score before we put him in his first tournament uh but Palmer per usual was exactly correct uh
And he absolutely loved it it was also the best way for him to understand the game and how keeping score Works was to do it in a low Saks fun friendly tournament environment and uh he can’t get enough of it ever since tell me about the first time you started playing
Golf uh I was about 5 years old I remember it was like the happiest time to me cuz I it was my first ter ever and I didn’t know it was going to be like and I was just out there having fun with when did you realize that Jack had a
Talent for golf when he was five he was homeschooled that year and he would come out and want to come out he would he would call me on the phone and say can I come out to the golf course tomorrow and all winter long regardless of the
Weather we would go out and Chip and Putt and hit balls and I could tell really early that he had a really he had a gift uh for the short game and then also his golf swings as good as as as I’ve seen so Jack has pretty much grown
Up seeing granddaddy playing golf I’ve got a good swing I’ve worked hard on it over the years so the first golf swing Jack ever saw was mine and I believe that’s a really really important thing that they see it being done correctly and I think that’s helped him
Tremendously cuz he was he couldn’t talk he couldn’t speak I mean he was like a year and a half old when we first started going out to the golf course and I’d sit him down and say just watch me and that’s basically since we couldn’t communicate verbally I would just swing
And he would he would copy me what would you say is a strongest part of Jack’s game I think Jack’s Focus um we call him an old soul he’s a 70-year-old man and a you know 9-year-old’s body um so he’s just a focused kid he always has been
And I think that plays to his Advantage when he’s in kind of a high stakes tournament um he can kind of tune the noise around him out and really focus on the job that needs to be done he just has fun with it like it’s not monotonous
Practice for him because he’s having fun playing games you know there are so so many times people stop and take photos or videos of him on a range because there’ll be 30 people lined up on a range and this tiny little golfer named Jack is more disciplined in his practice
Routine than any of them he became friends with the Vanderbilt golf team which is some of the best amateur golfers in the world because they saw him on the Range uh and called him over and they asked him to have chipping contests with them because when you see
Him practicing you can tell both not only is he disciplined and focused but he’s also having fun with it do you enjoy and what is it like playing with the older kids you you said mom said that you play with the kids from benderville yeah it’s really fun and it’s kind of
Just it’s for me it’s kind of just another day playing golf the golf course the way that you guys talk about this it’s almost like he practices by himself he’s not he doesn’t have one of you there all the time with him he goes um to where my dad teaches golf I’ve played
In nine major champion ships a PGA Championship at Hazel te in 2002 I four spotted in Hawaii one year at the Hawaiian open so I was on PGA Tour shot 71 so broke par on the PJ tour so that was probably my highlight as far as my
Ego is concerned and uh played in two senior British opens two senior us opens five Senior PGA championships and probably seven or eight Champions Tour events and he spends um during the summer all day long roaming around the practice area I my dad can see him
Thankfully but he is often by himself in our area we’re developing um a golf community of kids his age but really for a long time he was one of the only ones but there were several years where um it was Jack and uh you know a lot of nice
Older gentlemen at the course but he didn’t seem to mind sometimes when I’m cading for him and I’ll find him in a he will find himself in a tricky situation under a tree in a rough fly uh up against the lip of a bunker
And he’ll say oh I I can hit this shot and you know I feel like I’m Michael grower talking to Jordan spe and I’m like no you can’t he goes no no no I’ve been practicing it in the backyard uh and sure enough you know chokes down on
The seven iron and punches it right up to 12T I’m like where did that come from he goes I practiced it for 45 minutes last week by himself in the backyard under and behind pine trees along our back fence so how does it to see your
Son to come up with these amazing shots that you never thought possible it’s an absolute blast and and he never ceases to amaz me and I just smile and shake my head and um say well there he goes again of of course he he he pulled it off yet
Again rarely does he find himself in a situation on the course in a tournament that doesn’t align with some sort of fun game him and his brother are playing in the backyard while they’re trying to hit trick shots have there been times when you’ve had to talk him out of a a club
I’ve realized over the last couple years that it’s not my job to talk him into clubs or out of clubs when he’s most successful and when I’m his best caddy and his best dad is more so just by asking him questions and making him talk through and think through things instead
Of rush into things we ask him questions so that he hasn’t forgotten anything or doesn’t leave anything any stone unturned and and so but again when he’s playing in a tournament he’s the player and he makes the final decision allow that and and that’s how you learn as
Well if he made the wrong decision he learns normally he knows what the right answer is and he’s more likely to get there on himself if I merely just kind of ask him questions about like well you know tell me why you would hit this club
Or why you wouldn’t hit that club and he gets there on his own and figures it out as he gets older we had a tournament last year he was tied for the lead coming to the last toll and he hits in a fairway bunker and he gets in the
Fairway bunker and I was catting for him and I told him make sure let’s do um take plenty of Club cuz I don’t want you swinging hard because if you swing hard in a fairway bunker your feet will slide and you’ll miss hit it but he hits
It to here with the five iron hits it and and makes the Putt and wins a tournament and when we’re coming off the green he says I remember a year ago you told me that right before I take it back in a fairway bunkers to lift my chin so
He he remembered that from a year ago I I tell people you know they say well you’ve done a great job with Jack no Jack done it I just hope I don’t mess him up which is what Jack grout said about Jack Nicholas he said I’m just
Glad I didn’t mess him up I’ve seen Jack play for pretty much I guess as long as you guys have talked about his his golf career has been going on and I always see him very calm his his emotions are very just straight C cool collected his Grandaddy always tells him um before
Every tournament Jack I want you to have the best attitude on the course today he doesn’t say Jack I want you to go out there and win I want you to go out there and you know birdie every hole he’s is Jack I want you to have the best
Attitude on the course today and so it’s something that he’s worked on for as long as he’s been playing so there’s not every day that he’s this you know perfectly chill little guy but I think it is something that he realizes is really really important and I think it’s
Part of why we love that our boys play golf I think there’s not another sport that teaches this sort of um discipline and self-control and learning how to fail and come come back stronger from it um than golf because there is no perfect right every time he hits a birdie the
Next hole he’s got to face a new challenge when Jack won nationals the next week he went out and shot an awful round and I was thankful because I said gosh one teaches humility this is a hard game you have to keep working on it you have not peaked as a 8-year-old golfer
But two um he learned what it looked like to be at the very top and then also be at the very bottom and and had to come to terms with do I still love this game and of course he does you know which I think is is um such a gift that
Golf gives yeah I think there’s no greater gift that a parent can give than to teach them perseverance and resilience golf teaches perseverance and resilience keeping a good attitude in the midst of hard things it’s like you know one of my favorite Bobby Jones quotes of golf is the most like life
Because you hit good shots and get bad results and hit bad shots and get good results and it can seem unfair in the moment um but that’s what helps teach that perseverance and resilience that is key not only to golf but also life you have a different perspective on being
Coach caddy granddaddy how has that helped your relationship how has that helped an engulf I think all three things uh are pretty much on the same theme and that I’m I’m a client of Dr Bob Rotella the the famous hor psychologist and he says number one you
Got to love it from the from the very first I would try to make it as fun as possible kids love to play games love to have light-hearted competitions and we would always sometime during our practice sessions we would have a a contest and he absolutely loved it and
He’s gotten to where he beats me most of the time now it’s obvious that Jack is smaller in his age St wise how does that help him how does he persevere through that yeah Jack’s a pet um I’m 5T tall he definitely has MA jeans and not Joseph
Uh but I think one it’s forced him to be disciplined and to work on swing mechanics he can’t have a wonky swing because his Ball’s just not physically going to go as far as everyone else and so he has really spent a lot of time with my father and with his coach
Working on his swing and now he can keep up with the big dogs right he’s always a head shorter than most of the other top competition but we’ve taught him i’ a a saying that I’ve always told him is dynamite comes in small packages and I
Think that’s true for Jack he um he’s used his size to his advantage and hasn’t let it stop him from playing really great golf you’re one of the smallest kids in your age group when you play golf how do you work through that I’ve learned to play my own game and
Just just uh not really care about what they’re doing and just keep playing golf how does it feel to see that you don’t need to be the big strong bomber to win a National Title it’s kind of nice not having to stress about how far drive it
Or how tall you are and just be yourself out there I actually think it’s a feature not a bug golf is a mental game and I can’t tell you the number of rounds whether it’s he’s playing with someone a foot taller or someone 2 and a half half years older or sometimes both
In which the round will start with Jack a couple Strokes behind and then after a few holes Jack is tied it up and then those older players fall apart uh because they can’t believe what what Jack is doing the shots he’s hitting the putts he’s draining the chips he’s
Almost pulling out not only does it help him stay a better player but it also gives him a mental game heads up even if he’s a head shorter than everybody else you guys specifically separate the family ECT the granddaddy aspect versus I’m the caddy I’m the cad absolutely I
Act like a caddy and he’s cadd for me and he’s one of the best caddies I’ve ever had what makes him the best cadd well he knows what the player wants because he knows what he wants I tell people he’s got a golfing IQ of a 30-year-old touring Pro in my opinion
It’s it’s amazing how he has learned and a lot of it well most of it I would say he’s learned on his own he’ll get up before school and turn on the 2017 Masters or he’ll go out back and chip on his his chiping green before school
Starts you don’t have to tell him to do that he’ll he’ll be in a tournament the tournament’s over and before we go home he’ll want to go back to the putting green the putt I’ve never told him to do that but that’s what he wants to do
What’s the strongest part of your game shortly so how do you keep your mental state so even kill when I’m warming up it’s I’m just not thinking about being perfect I’m just thinking about getting loose and then on the course I just try to have the best attitude and if I get
And if I get bogey double bogey triple bogey or whatever it is you I’m mad for about 20 seconds and then I’m and then I’m just walking to the next te how important is it for Jack to play other sports to us it’s really important um especially at a young age I’m sure
There’ll be a time where he has to pick uh but right now from just a physical standpoint I think it makes Jack stronger during baseball season his drives start going a lot further because he’s um he’s swinging a baseball bat every every day so I think it’s
Important I think also having a team you know golf can be a lonely sport there’s a lot of of pressure um from the mental game standpoint on yourself so I love that he gets to have his buddies he gets to play baseball and basketball um golf is definitely his favorite thing to do
And the thing that he’s excels at but he I think the other sports at least for now are really important to his development both um mentally but also physically playing on a team there’s just the teaches do so many things about life and other sports and I’m you know primarily from my
Father-in-law uh who was professional baseball player before becoming a professional golfer is is the lesson that uh if if taught correctly and coached correctly they always complement each other other sports and golf rather than kind of taking away from each other um and and I’m a firm believer in that
And frankly I think Jack is a prime example of that baseball was my first love and I played in high school and college wanted to play professionally but didn’t quite work out but uh in 1963 my family went on a vacation to Chicago and we went to the Western open first
Tour event I’d ever seen Arnold Palmer Jack Nicholas Gary Player they were all there and I put it in the back of my mind I was 11 years old at the time that if baseball didn’t work out I was going to be a golfer and so baseball didn’t
Work out so I became a golfer so you’ve heard that as a baseball player you should never pick up a golf club because it’s going to mess up your swing or vice versa you have a different perspective on that oh it’s a big myth it’s the same
Pivot it’s just on a different plane and so that’s that’s what I’ve what I teach my students and what I what I teach Jack and Jack’s a good baseball player as well I’m a level two certified TPI instructor the tiess performance Institute the they want their their
Junior players to play other sports to get their bodies uh as well rounded as possible so do you think he’s that perfect example of the balance of baseball golf other sports yes absolutely um for one thing you don’t get burned out that’s that’s that’s my number one concern and I’ve talked to Dr
Rotella about it is making sure that a 9-year-old doesn’t get burned out by he loves it so much I kind of put a a blanket on him and and slow him down a little bit it’s time to play baseball and he loves basketball as well because again burnout
Is real and who nobody remembers who won when they were 9 years old they remembered when they were 19 20 and 25 years old so that’s I want to make sure if that’s what he wants to do that we that we have the foundation bu built so that uh he can
Give that a shot when it’s time you guys play in a lot of junior golf tournaments what makes the junior tour powered by under arour stand out I think my favorite thing about the Under Armour tour is how much it has pushed Jack to be the player he is today so he started
Um playing the tour when he was 6 years old so he’s in that 6 to eight division he said he’s a small guy so when he was six and he was playing against 8-year-olds two head shorter them right but he had to learn learn how to play
Longer distances how to lose with Grace how to watch those older guys and as the years progress as he became seven he became the top seven-year-old in in Nationals still you know not in the top 10 but okay he’s he’s making progress and so it was really sweet to get to see
It pay off last year but I love that Under Armour has pushed him to be a better golfer we’re about to see it happen again you know he just aged up to be 9 to 11 and it’s going to be a slog um it is brand new distances he’s never
Played anything this long and I think we’re going to see his game accelerate because of that push the junior tour sponsored by Under Armour is an absolute blast uh we say that all the time the golf tournaments are really well run but also the entire environment around them
Uh of how the whole family is celebrated as a family unit um in support of the junior golfers but also just because junior golf like life should be fun um and it should be something that brings all of us closer together uh it’s like that for adults whether as a golf fan or
Golfing with your friends or golfing for business it unites people together um and I think the junior 2 about Under Armor is a great way of showing kids of how fun the game can be but also how important the family unit is and then the broader community that it brings
Together of golfers from not only all across the country but around the world you growing up did not have any Junior tours to be a part of how important do you feel that the Junior Tour Part of Under Armor is to have to help Jack grow
His game oh the Under Armor tour is fantastic um to get be able to play that much in in a tour of of a a Junior Tour event that feels like a major championship again i’ I’ve played in a PJ championship and Senior opens the the atmosphere walking in to those under
Armoured Junior Tour events they have the same atmosphere as a a major championship so it’s just going to be kind of second nature when he turns 18 or 20 and and he’s playing in on National Tournament cuz he’s playing in National tournaments now with Under Armour what do you guys want Jack’s
Future in golf to look like I want him to always love the game of golf and I think if he always loves the game of golf that gives him a chance at playing at the highest levels uh if he continues to love it it’s far too frequent that
You will see someone whose priority is to see someone succeed at the highest levels of golf uh above loving the game and I think that’s a sure far way to ensure that neither of those things happen uh whereas if you cultivate a love for the game uh then perhaps it
Gives an opportunity uh to continue kind of climbing through the ranks as time goes on I’m just grateful for the memories that golf has given our family memories with my dad memories with Joseph and his brothers trips that we get to go on around the world so I hope
That that continues that for the rest of his life he gets to travel the world and play courses um in in the most remote places because he loves the game and he he wants to explore so you’ve got some pretty strong ties to vanderbild is that where you want to go to college
Definitely where would you like to see your future in golf I wanted to be on the PGA tour and winning uh tournaments Majors hopefully what is it that helps him get to that point where again a birdie to him is it’s nothing I think the things that I
Learned in my own game in the 40 years that I’ve played and and then also from Dr Rotella is that it’s a game treat it like a game it’s not serious you never get too serious I want him to practice like it’s the most important thing in the world
And again this comes straight from Dr Rotella but when you get on the golf course he says man it’s party time let’s go play the game a four-year-old knows how to play as we get older sometimes we we we kind of forget how to play and we
Get all serious and we scrunch up our face and I got to make this butt instead just go play the game stay in the present it’s this shot right here right now do the best you can and then go and play the game have a lighthearted
Attitude why do you love that Jor toour PR by under dror I get to meet new friends coming from uh some from Florida some from Georgia some from California and some from Indonesia uh just meeting new friends and having a fun time and and Coach Cliff giving us new nicknames on
TX playing out of Nashville Tennessee rocking the tiger Friday red give it up for Jack Williams what’s that nickname uh I have a few Big Jack Jack dubs I’m sure there’s going to be some new Ones
