Wylie Golfer Karson Grigsby doesn’t let a little thing like a bad hole or a windy day or even a berth in the state tournament get him rattled.
“There’s not a whole lot of pressure that goes into this,” he said. “I want to do well, but worrying about it doesn’t help me at all. I do everything in my power to control what I can control.”
So when his first round of the regional tournament didn’t go as well as he had hoped – he shot a 76 – he just went out the next day and shot a 69 to win the tournament championship and earn a trip to state.
“I knew as long as I could finish well, I would be OK,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about it too much. I knew I had put in the preparation.”
Karson has been playing golf his whole life. 
“My dad played all the time,” he said. “I would hang out with him out there, and then I just kind of picked up the game.”
He started playing tournaments when he was only 6 or 7 years old, but when college coaches started calling him in 8th grade, he began to take it more seriously.
“I grew up being competitive in everything I did,” he said. “But when I had college coaches calling me to talk to me my 8th-grade year, from then on I knew this was legit.”
He earned his first trip to state during his freshman year at Cooper. Also as a freshman, he committed to attend the University of Oklahoma on a golf scholarship after he graduates from high school.
“They won the national championship in 2017 and since then they’ve been the No. 1 golf school in America,” he said. “It’s nice to have that done and dealt with.”
Last year was a lost season because of COVID. Now Karson is a student at Wylie and making his second trip to state. The state tournament had not happened as of press time. Check WylieGrowl.com to find out how Karson did at state.
As competitive as Karson is and as hard as he has worked on his golf game since he was a young boy, he still knows how to keep life in perspective.
He also played soccer at Wylie this year, and he is part of a worship band that plays at Beltway Park Church most weeks.
And he takes his relationship with Jesus with him whether he is on the golf course, or the soccer field or in the church sanctuary.
“I have a strong relationship with Jesus,” he said. “That helps me more than anything. During every tournament I play, I pray during the whole tournament. It’s such an important thing. You can control what you can in that moment. Anything I can do to honor the Lord is my goal.”
By Candy Reagan