A local golfer is among the region’s best amateurs.
Throughout the past year, Brynn Mason has traversed the Southeast in search of its toughest events. Recently, she was named the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour’s 13U Girls Player of the Year.
“I was pretty happy because there aren’t many girls who play, especially during school time, but during the summer there were a couple girls who were really good,” said Mason. “That just made me really happy that I actually won, because some of the girls were really good.”
“There might be just two or three in her age group in a tournament, but she’s number one out of the entire Hurricane Tour, which covers 22 states,” said Brynn’s father, Robert. “There’s always a bunch of the tournaments in Florida, so out of all those girls she’s never met, she’s still ranked higher than them. … She only played five events on the GSGA – the Georgia State Golf Association Junior Tour – but she also made the All-Georgia team for the 12-15 girls age group.”
In 15 tournaments across the Carolinas and Georgia, Mason turned in a near-sterling record, earning 12 first-place finishes, a second and a third. With a yearlong stroke average of 78.1, she already boasts the swing of a seasoned player.
“Two years,” said Mason of how long she’s been playing golf, a sport that can take a lifetime to truly master. “My daddy took me to the range in Franklin and I wanted to hit his golf clubs, and whenever I started hitting his golf clubs I liked playing with him, so I just started playing golf.”
“I’m good at my irons. Like my long irons, I think I like them the best and I’m pretty good at those, especially my 9-iron and 8-iron.”
Thanks in part to her knack for approach shots, Mason has made a name for herself, planning to play in another 15 or so tournaments this coming year. Still in seventh grade at Highlands School, she already has her sights set on a long career.
“I would like to play in college,” she said. “I kind of want to get a scholarship, like a full ride and all that, and I do want to play professional golf.”
As one of the tallest players on the HJGT circuit, Mason says she admires Nelly Korda, the 5’10” winner of the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship. For golfers who can’t generate the same power from their swings, she even offers advice.
“They’ve also asked her to be an influencer for Hurricane,” said Robert. “You’ve got a lot of those people out there doing trick shots ... and a lot of the younger ones will putt and look at you and go, ‘Oh, how’d that go in?’ We’re doing more of, ‘Hey, if you’re on a par-five and you can’t get there in two, hit it to a yardage that you like. So if you like 100 yards and you’re 255 out, hit your 155 club if you’re familiar with 100 yards. ... Right now she has like 1,500 followers, but I told her if she gets to 25,000 she gets to take a friend to Disney World.”
From her Instagram page, @brynnjuniorgolf, Mason makes helpful videos on strategy, course etiquette, and being a student before an athlete. In so doing she’s even gained notice from University of Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton, who sent her a video message telling her to keep up the good work. Between this and a chance meeting with the Bulldogs’ women’s golf team in Highlands, Mason says she’s grown fond of UGA, much to her Auburn fan father’s chagrin. Nevertheless, he hopes to help Brynn attend more tournaments this year.
“I couldn’t afford to take her to the national championship in Orlando, and it was just missing that many days of school right before Christmas,” he said. “She really wanted to compete in it, and I really wanted her to go to it, but a lot of these players that play on that – and good for them – but their parents, they’ve got launch monitors at the house, putting greens in the backyard, live on a golf course, see their golf coach three or four times a week, are either homeschooled or go to school half a day and then golf half a day. She hits in a net in the back yard and a putting mat in the living room.”
To help Mason attend tournaments like this year’s HJGT National Championship, visit www.gofundme.com, click the search bar on the top left corner of the page and enter “Help Brynn Compete in Top Junior Golf Events”.