By Jack Cunningham
Golf is a game about consistency. Sure, you technically are competing against others on occasion. But for those who love the game, they recognize that the real competition in this sport happens within. This is a game that teaches you lessons. Some lessons it asks you to learn, like how to manage your anger when that fourth drive in a row hooks right and finds the trees. But other lessons it forces you to learn, like how to not ground your self-worth in your ability to hit a small ball into a small hole with a metal stick. Few stories exemplify the lessons golf teaches more than Samford golfer Tiaan Hugo.
Hugo’s golf story is a familiar one that happened in a not so familiar place. Originally from George, South Africa, Hugo was introduced to the game through his father, a weekend warrior who always had a game on the tv on the weekends. What started as a bonding experience became an obsession for Hugo when his dad introduced him to his first golf coach, Coach Roeloff.
“[Coach Roeloff] taught me all the fundamentals, all the basics and stuff that I still follow to this day,” Hugo said. “I’m still keeping in contact with him even though he’s not my coach anymore. He’s still just an awesome guy and he was really who kind of got me into it [golf] and really helped me fall in love with the game because it wasn’t too serious for them. It was more about having fun and learning.”
Hugo’s early playing career was littered with success and accolades. From competing for his state’s team throughout high school to winning a variety of local tournaments, it became clear from an early age that Hugo’s passion had the potential to be far more than just a hobby. However, his career was not always on a straight trajectory, and it was through the ups and downs that Hugo learned arguably his greatest lesson from golf.
“When I was younger, if I was playing well, I used to be the happiest guy ever and if I was playing badly it was the end of the world,” Hugo said. “And I feel like getting some separation between golf and your identity as an individual kind of keeps you grounded. So if things go bad, you’re like ‘it’s not the end of the world’ and when things go well, you’re like ‘this isn’t the only thing that matters in life,’ there’s more important things.”
That lesson wasn’t learned quickly, but golf doesn’t mind being patient in its teachings. The hours on the range and more lip-outs than he can count have shown Hugo exactly what the game is all about.
“It teaches you to deal with losing,” Hugo said. “It helps develop your character, dealing with adversity when things don’t go your way. You learn perseverance, persistence, grit, patience. You need so much patience with golf. What helps me is what matters is not what you do but who you are when you do it.”
Later on in Hugo’s early career, he was introduced to another coach, Coach Adam, that would continue to develop Hugo’s mental side of the game but also introduced a new goal that would define Hugo’s ambitions going forward.
“[Coach Adam] was so much in this psychology of just believing in yourself and he was the one kind of instilling in all of his players that the next level is college golf and that should be your goal. He was just preparing us all the time to get to college golf.”
Hugo’s mentality would be tested when he finished high school in December2023. From that point, he would have roughly four months to find his college landing spot or risk not getting to continue his career at all. After a series of decent finishes in competitions among local amateur circuits, nerves began to set in when opportunities still weren’t arriving. That was until a message out of the blue from Samford University Men’s Golf Coach Al Delgreco would provide the opportunity that Hugo was desperate for.
“It’s like the stars just aligned for me to come here,” Hugo said. “To come to a place like Samford, where it’s such a Christian-centered place, it’s like, to me, I can definitely see His hand was in play here.”
Since arriving at Samford, Hugo’s role on the course is still developing. Off the course however, around his teammates, his impact has been felt immediately.
Blake Gayle, Samford golfer and teammate of Hugo, said. “My biggest takeaway from Tiaan is learning to appreciate not just the big things, not the scholarship, not the great school, but the windows on a building. He teaches you to appreciate the small things and I’m grateful for him teaching me that.”
