Having to essentially relearn the sport of golf twice in his young lifetime, Jake Olson has learned that the secret to having success on the golf course now without his sight is repetition.
With his father, Brian, setting him up for success on the golf course, crouching down to make sure his club is pointing in the right direction for every shot, what is required from the Huntington Beach, California, native is the same swing, over and over and over.
“It is something that we put a lot of work into. I think especially the good shots when people are like, ‘I don’t know how you do that.’ Well, it’s repetition, repetition, repetition,” Olson said. “If there’s anyone — I guess the only myth or whatever, misconception I want to say is that you look at someone like me, oh, I could never do that; no, you can. It just takes time and effort and a passion.”
Effort is what Olson, 25, credits has gotten him to where he is in his life. A former national champion in the U.S. Blind Golf Association, Olson became a more commonly known name in the fall of 2017, when he became the first blind person to play in a college football game. He was a backup long snapper for the University of Southern California football team, but got his chance to snap the ball on a point after touchdown try against Western Michigan, and then again against Oregon State during his junior season.
Jake Olson leads the USC marching band after a game during his time on the football team.
John McGillen/USC Athletics
Much like a golf swing, the part of the long snapper on a football team is about repetition, and being able to replicate when the pressure is on.
Football gave him notoriety, but golf was Olson’s first love, and he kept the passion for the sport after he lost his sight at age 12.
“It is something that I really was taking seriously as a little kid, and then obviously I found out I was going to lose my eyesight and didn’t really know where that left me with golf, but it was something I was wanting to continue to try and target to do, just with the overarching goal that blindness wasn’t going to rob me of the things that I loved doing,” he said. “So we put a lot of time and effort into golf and realized, hey, this is something we absolutely can do. It was a love of mine before and I made the decision that blindness wasn’t going to rob me of anything I love in life, and that included golf.”
He continued to play the sport on and off through college after making his triumphant debut with the Trojans on the gridiron. Then came the call a few months ago he would be in the field for the inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open.
“Once I found out I was going to play in this tournament the last two months, I spent a considerable amount of time putting a lot of effort into it,” Olson said.
Effort and hard work are nothing Olson is a stranger to, and is something he is a firm believer in.
“I don’t really think anything comes easy in this life. If it does, you’re probably getting scammed. You should check that,” Olson said. “But no, I mean, it is finding what you’re passionate about, what you love to do, putting a tremendous amount of effort and hard work into it, and then letting that passion be contagious to others around you. If you let other people know that you’re passionate about something and you want to work towards something, it is contagious. You get a good group around you that want to find that way to help you do what you want to do.”
His contagious passion has kept David Olson on the bag with him, helping him as his right-hand man, literally, for every drive, chip and putt, standing behind Olson on his right side to line up shots.
Jake Olson hits his first tee shot on the 10th hole of the U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst No. 6 Monday.
Joseph Hill/Special to The Pilot
“He exemplifies a lot of love, and just being out here and putting that much effort into helping me, I think there’s a lot of people out there that wish their dads would love and care just an ounce of how he treats me in that way, in that respect,” Olson said of his father. “I’ll play with my friends and they’ll try to set me up, and I feel a little uncomfortable, I don’t know if this is done correctly, and you have a lot of kind of distrust with just the process. I think really what a breakthrough with us is really just trust and knowing that he’s got the club, he’s got it firmly in his hands and I can just kind of do what I need to do, and there’s no question when I’m sitting down there after he’s lined me up that I’m in a good position to make a good shot.”
Olson opened with a 102 in the first round of the U.S. Adaptive Open, including a birdie on the par-5 sixth hole. Competition is on the minds of every golfer in the field, but a sense of inspiration is there as well, for those suffering from the same disabilities that might not have the same outlook on life as the 96 players in the field.
“I think everyone out here has kind of proven that, so if you’re sitting on the couch or wherever you are right now and looking at your disability saying, “What do I do in life? I can’t live the life I want to.’ No, you can, and if that’s golf, we welcome you,” Olson said.
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