Teen golf prodigy chasing birdies, and his dreams

For six to eight hours a day, every day of the week, every week of the year, you’ll find a lone 16-year-old out on a golf course chasing birdies, and his dream.

He goes through a pair of golf shoes every three months, switched to correspondence schooling so he can fit more golf in, and will celebrate Christmas Day the same way he did last year – by playing a round with his dad.

Jack van Prehn is his name, and surpassing greats like Tiger Woods and Jon Rahm is his aim.

‘‘I want to take it to a professional level. I want to go over to Australia a couple times next year for the amateur events, hopefully, and all that and just get in contention.’’

Jack was introduced to golfing by his grandma, Annette Greensill, who used to be a golfer but has since switched to the slightly less demanding golf-croquet.

‘‘She likes to brag that she’s the one who got me into it, she’s really proud of me, but she also tells me I have to do my schoolwork.’’

While Jack has always been a ‘‘super competitive’’ sportsman, in recent years golf has taken the focus,.

He dropped rugby, basketball and cricket and with the support of NZ Golf switched to homeschooling this year in order to have more time for golf.

‘‘On the good days I play golf, and on the wet ones I’ll do school.’’

He admits he’ll practise in just about anything short of a gale.

And the results are paying off. Jack recently won the Taranaki champion of champions competition – where the top matchplay golfers from each club face off.

‘‘It was pretty good because they held it at Kaitake Golf Club, my home club, this year so there was a bit of home advantage.’’

He plays around the country regularly and came third in the New Zealand under-19 age groups at Pukekohe at the end of August and made it into the New Zealand junior academy, as well as the Taranaki interprovincial team.

Jack has scored two holes-in-one in his life, and says his strength is ‘‘getting out of trouble shots’’.

‘‘I’m used to it, I started from a young age just practising those out-ofthe-ordinary shots.

‘‘Off the tee I’m not the straightest, which is why my recovery’s somewhat good.’’

Ask Jack who he looks up to in the golfing realm, and you’ll get an answer that is close to home – Grant Moorhead, a pro from Taranaki who won the Eisenhower Trophy 30 years ago along with Michael Campbell, Phil Tataurangi and Stephen Scahill.

Moorhead, who turned professional in 1992, is Jack’s coach – and Jack credits him as ‘‘the biggest influence I’ve had throughout my golf career’’.

Jack also works with a personal trainer to build strength and prepare his body for the demands of competition.

‘‘Everyone wants to get behind the juniors these days, it’s just really, really good.’’

Still, success is not without sacrifices. His mum ended up spending so much time at the New Plymouth Golf Club that she got a job there, and his dad took a year off work to help drive him to competitions.

When asked about future sponsorships his mum only had two words, ‘‘yes please’’. ‘‘You need about 400 jobs to play golf.’’ Most of his social life is ‘‘at the course’’, when away on competitions he’ll stay with fellow golfers around the country, and he’s even joined Zoom calls between swings.

‘‘A lot of my mates are out here on the course, so it’s good to just have some fun with them – it’s not quite the same as in tournaments – in tournaments it’s serious.

‘‘You look at the likes of Jon Rahm and Tiger (Woods) and all that and what they’ve done, and you just want to try and one-up them, so you can say you’ve one-upped the greatest... this is my one shot.’’