Combined, North Oconee girls and boys golf have won seven GHSA state championships in the last four years.
In most sports, the coaches are awarded a good chunk of recognition for the way their teams and players succeed. There’s equal component, between the coach offering advice and the player following that advice.
But in golf, everything is individual, meaning that North Oconee coaches Rob Melton and Jackson Huckaby don’t really have much of a hand in the way their kids perform on the course. They aren’t the kids’ only coaches, as many play year-round in the warmth of the South and have swing coaches attuned to their flow already.
The kids’ destinies are in their own hands.
“First of all, you have to know, it has zero to do with me,” Melton said.
Melton has been the head coach of the North Oconee girls golf program for a decade and has five state championships under his belt — one in 2015 and then four from 2021-24.
“There are things we do during the year that just help with our success, but as far as what I’ve really done to build the program, it’s a combination of a lot of more outside factors,” Melton continued. “The first is, we’re in a really good area for golf. There are a lot of good courses and clubs around here. The second is the youth programs in the area. One of the boys, his dad runs a driving range, and he has lots of camps and clinics for young people to participate in. … We are blessed where we are.”
By the time the students get to high school and are ready for play for Melton or Huckaby’s rosters, they already know how to play golf pretty well. They know what they’re doing, they understand the etiquette and have developed the necessary skills. The only thing they do, Melton said, is set up opportunities for them with North Oconee’s name attached. They build the competition, the camaraderie and the culture, bridging the gap between the individual and team aspects.
Huckaby has been coaching the North Oconee boys for six years now, four as an assistant and the last two as the head. He won two state titles as an assistant and this year was his first win as head coach, after coming in second in 2023 to Lovett by seven strokes.
“Yeah, golf is a little different,” Huckaby said. “Like, I don’t do much actual swing coaching. They all have their own instructors for that. So, I’m definitely not coaching them in a sense that I’m affecting their swings. I’m more so here to give them chances to compete. I’m encouraging them and being more of a mental support for the guys.”
Creating a high school golf roster can be a challenge. Huckaby said that they could have nine varsity players, but only six on the roster, so there was a lot of rotation when it came to deciding who would play what events and why, just to give everyone the chances they deserve.
“It’s really difficult, because you could have a player who’s not getting in the varsity lineup, but they honestly would be the best player two miles down the road at a different school,” Huckaby said. “But the guys handled that really well. They grow from that, and it really pushes them to get better. They know if they’re not out there getting better then they’re going to lose their spot. Having that type of competition every single day really makes them even better than what they would be on their own.”
For some kids, like senior Freddie Chappell, the high school season is the least pressure filled season he will face during the year, Melton said. Chappell, who has plans to attend Georgia Southern in the fall, was one of the leaders for the boys program this season, always there to encourage the younger boys, though he led quietly. He was always working. After practice, Huckaby said, Chappell would go to the range to hit more balls. Sometimes he showed up an hour early to practice to just have time to dedicate to himself.
“The younger guys would see that, and they would realize that’s what they have to do,” Huckaby said. “They would say, ‘if I want to be as good as Freddie is right now, that’s what I have to do.’ That’s just what it takes to be elite, and we’ve had that culture established ever since I took over, that it takes what it takes. Not everybody’s willing to do that.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: North Oconee golf has been thriving for years, coaches explain why
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