21 year-old JJ Guerra has been playing golf for 19 years. The Dominican golfer devoted himself to golf and has high aspirations of becoming a successful professional golfer. The senior business major is on pace to break NSU records during his last year as a Shark. The modest golfer was reluctant to discuss his accomplishments, but after he opened up, his aspirations do not seem out of reach.
How were you introduced to golf?
“I started playing when I was 2 in 1999, and my dad started playing in 1997. When he started getting better at it, he started taking me with him to the course in the golf cart and stuff. As soon as I could walk, I grabbed the club and started swinging, and I just kept with it.”
How did you feel after securing your first individual tournament win of the season at the Griffin Invitational?
“It felt good considering that my first score of my first round didn’t even count for the team. I was the worst on the team for the first round. Then to be able to come back and win the tournament, that was a feeling I’ve never had before. To come from way back and end up winning the tournament by four felt good. It gave me confidence. I know that going forward that is going to help me a lot. If I’m having a bad round or something, I know that I can still compete even with a bad round. It was a great way to start the year and a huge confidence booster.”
What are your goals as a golfer this season?
“I want to be the best player in the nation. I want to get ready for my professional career which is what I’m working for right now. This is just a personal goal of mine, but I want to be the person that wins the most individual tournaments in his career at Nova. I think I’m three short. I just want to get to that number.”
What steps have you had to take on your path to becoming pro?
“To be honest with you, I used to be pretty bad at golf. I was pretty good in the general population, but to be a golf pro I wasn’t even close when I was 16. Then when I was 17, I left the Dominican Republic to go to a golf academy when I was a senior in high school. I spent my last year of high school there in Orlando. Then I just got better there because I started working really hard. Before, I said I wanted to be a golf pro, but I didn’t really work for it. Then I started
working for it during my senior year of high school. I slowly just started getting better. Then I signed with Nova, and then this happened.”
What gets you out of bed every morning?
“Workouts, class, and the fact that I want to get better. That feeling like someone out there is out working you, I don’t like that feeling. I hate feeling like people practice more than me. Even though I’m not a morning person, I sometimes prefer to do it to get out on the course, to be the first one there and last one there. Just to feel like I’m outworking them, even though they’re playing better than me. The fact that I work harder than them makes me feel better about myself, and like I can beat them or feel like I deserve to beat them in a way.
What is your favorite memory on the golf course?
“Growing up I had a lot of really good memories with my dad that we shared on the course. My best memory of all time was [when] I shot 60 in the beginning of April 2017. That was the most fun I’ve had in my life on the golf course. My dad was there to see it. He came for three days just for that tournament and to be able to do it in front of him was just fun.”
Who is your role model?
“Off the course it’s my dad. I’ve always looked up to him and my mom. On the course, I would have to say Tiger. I know off the course he hasn’t been the best of people, but to turn his life around like he has in the last five, six years. To come back and win two weeks ago, I feel like that’s pretty amazing. To be that low and try to come back from it is hard to do.”
What are your goals as a professional golfer?
“It’s a different life when you turn pro. You’re playing for money. You’re on your own. Here, you have people that are helping you to get better, but when you turn pro you’re on your own. I just want to be able to have fun and have a good time while I’m doing it. If I’m having a good time, I’ll probably be making a good amount of money. That’s the hard thing about golf. If you’re good at it and you’re a good professional, then you’ll be okay. But if you’re not good, it’s going to be a hard life. There’s not much money if you’re not good at it.”
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
“On the PGA tour, having fun with the sport that I love and the people I love around me. Hopefully [I’ll have] a few tournaments under my belt and a green jacket.”
