Above photo: Joe Morales has been golfing since he was a 7-year-old in Puerto Rico. He came to Florida after accidentally applying to the wrong USF campus and now serves as president of the club golf team. Courtesy of Joe Morales
By Jeffrey Waitkevich
This will come as a shock to a lot of people. USF St. Petersburg has a club golf team.
Joe Morales, 19, the president of USF St. Petersburg’s golf club, wants to make that common knowledge and unite the people who share his passion for golf.
“The main purpose of the golf team is to get people into the sport,” the sophomore biology major said. “There’s a lot of people who come to college who have played a sport all their lives and then they’re so jam-packed with school that they don’t play it anymore and they give up and stop playing it.”
Most members joined because they were looking to fit in with people of similar interests, Morales said.
He added that the hardest part of getting people to join is overcoming the stereotype that you have to be a rich, country club-type to play golf.
His favorite golfer, Jason Day from Australia, is the perfect example of that. Day came from a poor family but now has 11 PGA TOUR victories under his belt.
This coming week, the team will begin practicing with USF Tampa’s varsity golf team on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. on “The Claw at USF” – the school’s home golf course.
Morales hopes this opportunity will help grow the team that only has 10 members.
He also wants to start playing in more tournaments. The team only plays in two local tournaments per semester. Before he graduates, Morales hopes to increase that number to four or five or even twice per month, if possible.
The university only provides the balls, so Morales is hoping that with the leftover money in the budget, he can purchase a set of clubs for beginners to use and learn with.
Morales started playing golf as a 7-year-old in his hometown of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Upon attending a summer program at his local golf course, he fell in love with the sport.
His interest began to pick up in his sophomore year of high school. He was even ranked as the best golfer on the west coast of Puerto Rico as a kid.
During the summer after his sophomore year, he fractured his hip – sidelining him for six months and diminishing his chances of getting recruited to play college golf.
However, he still bounced back and won several tournaments in his high school career.
He then set his sights on being a walk-on in college, but opted to focus on school instead.
After accidentally applying to USF St. Petersburg instead of the Tampa campus, Morales toured the waterfront campus and was attracted to the scenery. He decided to stay and started living in Florida for the first time.
He has played in three tournaments as a member of the golf club and finished in the top five in all of them. His most recent tournament won was the Isabela Open in Puerto Rico over the summer.
On Sunday, Morales and two other members competed in a tournament at the Heritage Isles Golf and Country Club in Tampa.
Because there wasn’t much notice, Morales couldn’t gather any more players, but he hopes to have at least seven Bulls compete in their next tournament in April.
He also recently became a brand ambassador for Srixon Golf. The position allows him to attend pro golf events and get insight into golf industry, while promoting the brand and growing the sport.
