Jackson Debusschere '21 Recruiting Profile

A little over three years ago, the extent of my golf experience included playing a casual nine holes on a Sunday afternoon with my family. Prior to turning 14 years old, I was a driven student-athlete who was fully committed to playing competitive soccer and ice hockey at the highest levels. At that time, I was respectively playing on the Philadelphia Union Academy soccer team and the Little Flyers Tier I AAA hockey team for my age group. Unfortunately, I unexpectedly developed a rare, life-threatening heart disorder called Giant Cell Myocarditis while in 8th grade. After defying all the odds that were given to me, my team of doctors informed me that I had to stop playing all contact sports. However, being the competitive kid that I am, I was determined to find a sport which I could pursue, so I chose golf.

Knowing that I was starting to play golf at a much later age than the majority of my peers, I knew I had a lot of catching up to do in a short amount of time. Once I was cleared to golf, I committed myself to practice every day possible since then in an attempt to rapidly accelerate my game to be able to compete at the highest level. I have worked my way up from events on the local Philadelphia junior tour and high school golf team where I have performed well and earned a number of accolades, including a nine hole scoring average of 37 over the last two years (school team MVP and first team All-League honors).

Within the last two years, I have been playing in as many tournaments as possible to develop the “feel” for competitive golf at AJGA, HJGT, and GAP levels. Additionally, I regularly take lessons from my personal swing coach, Brian Quinn, who is a former touring professional and the current Head Men’s Golf Coach at Temple University.

Although I started golf much later and my resume may not be as extensive as a typical 2021 golf recruit, my background is unique and I truly believe I have what it takes to play golf at the collegiate level. I still have a lot of room for growth as a golfer and believe my best is yet to come.