Jacob Tasney '26 Recruiting Profile

My name is Jacob Tasney and I am a junior at South Effingham High School in Guyton, GA. Before I talk about myself, I wanted to give you some history about my family.  We are a very faith-based family which gives us our strength. My mom and dad have been married for 28 years and have 6 children together. I am the 5th of 6 siblings between the ages of 15 and 26 years old. We are all golfers and love to play and compete at the highest level. My older siblings: Joshua (26), Caitlyn (24) and Cassie (22) were all very good junior golfers out of central Ohio. They all played college golf and now are working towards their PGA cards at different facilities in Ohio and South Carolina. My older sister Cayla (19) played 2 years at Pickerington North H.S. (OH) and was #1 man on the South Effingham High School (GA) girls' golf team for the last 2 years where she helped lead the team to the Georgia state tournament in 2023. She verbally committed to play college golf, but decided to go to nursing school. Finally, my brother Jonah (15) is a freshman on my high school golf team. My dad was a PGA Associate years ago, but decided to use his college degree and became a mortgage banker for 26 years. Dad got all of us started in the game and has been our main instructor for much of our lives, although he has us work with other PGA professionals. My mom wasn’t a golfer, but is very knowledgeable about the game and has been a very supportive golf mom. She basically ran the Pickerington North Par Busters fundraising team for 5 years. She put together all of the fundraising events and golf tournaments for the girls' golf program. 

I didn’t get serious about competitive golf until the summer before 7th grade. I wanted to play on my junior high golf team. I wasn't great, but I did see a lot of improvement as the season progressed. My dad said not to worry as I wasn’t used to playing under pressure. Two years later, before we moved to Georgia, I won Player of the Year on the Columbus Jr Tour. The highlight of my freshman season when we moved to Georgia, was when I played in the TaylorMade Invite at Savannah Golf Club with some of the best teams in Georgia and l finished T-2 shooting a 74. My sophomore season, our golf program didn’t raise enough funds, so we only played in 3 18-hole events. Most of our events were 9 holes where I averaged just under 39 per match which included the 18 hole event scores.  The day before we played in our Georgia Area Tournament, I shot an even par 72 in our team qualifier at the area tournament site.  Unfortunately, they punched and sanded the greens after our qualifier, and I shot an 80 in the Area Tournament due to 39 putts.

I continue to work and grow in the game as it has become my passion. I believe being 6'5” is giving me an advantage in my long game, as distance is pretty natural for me. With my size and fitness level, I hit the ball on the farther end than most people my age. My entire family has been successful in the game, so I knew it was just a matter of time before I started to progress. Having 6 children, my parents couldn’t afford to put us in the big AJGA, Golfweek, or Hurricane events, but that hasn't stopped any of us from achieving our goals in the game. I will be playing in non-school related events after team golf finishes in April. Those results will be posted to my NCSA site. My parents said they would allow me to play in more events if I stopped playing high school basketball and focused solely on my studies and golf. I also am taking additional lessons from Chris Thompson, PGA who used to work with Brian Harmon as a teenager at Southbridge CC in Savannah, GA.  He told my dad that he hasn’t worked with a teenager with more natural potential than me.  

I also have a part-time job at my home course, so I get free golf and range balls throughout the year.  I can see where this added responsibility has been beneficial for my future.  It is teaching me to work hard and stay more focused.  The job is teaching me time management skills, which has been correlating to better study habits and better grades.  Most of my earnings from this job have gone straight into upgrading my golf game.  In order to play at the highest level, not only does it require hard work and skill, but the best equipment designed specifically for my game.  

Please continue to follow my progress on NCSA during the next couple of years. You will see someone who loves to compete and handles himself in a mature way even when things aren’t going right. I played high school basketball for 2 years which got me stronger and more fit, but I knew it was in my best interest to focus on schoolwork and golf through the rest of my high school career. My junior year has shown great improvement academically and athletically. I have become a better student, player, and teammate for my current golf team.  I was recently named one of the team leaders and the only non-senior to be named. Please keep up with my progression and my continued success story.