As many of you know, our motto here at the NTPGA Junior Tour is #WHOSNEXT® . The NTPGA Junior Tour is well represented by its alumni on the PGA, Web.com and LPGA Tours. Currently, there are 22 former Junior Tour members competing professionally including Jordan Spieth, Cody Gribble, Ryan Palmer, Angela Stanford, Brittany Lang and many more.

But, our #WHOSNEXT® motto doesn’t just apply to future professional golfers. It applies to our former members currently showcasing their talents at the collegiate level all across the country.

In this bi-monthly blog series, we will be featuring former Junior Tour members who are currently playing golf. Every other week we’ll check out what they had to say about their time playing on the NTPGA Junior Tour, and gain some insight into what it’s like to play college golf.

We know it is the goal of many of our current members to move on to play golf in college. Are you the next college golfer? #WHOSNEXT®

WILL ZALATORIS - NTPGA JUNIOR TOUR MEMBER 2005-2008

2014 U.S. Amateur Champion

Senior at Wake Forest University

Psychology Major

Graduating in May 2018

Q: What are your post graduation plans?

      A: GOOOOOOOLF! (FUN FACT! Will is currently playing golf professionally and finishing his college degree online.)

Q: How old were you when you became and NTPGA Junior Tour Member?

      A: 9 years old

Q: How did being a part of the NTPGA Junior Tour help or impact your golf game?

      A: Having what seemed like endless opportunities during the summer let me gauge where I was at and see where I could improve given how strong junior golf is in the state of Texas. Being able to play 20-30 one day events in the summer helped me learn how to play tournament golf. Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth were my peers. That says enough in itself.

Q: What was the biggest thing you learned while you were a part of the NTPGA Junior Tour?

      A: Learning how to play tournament golf rather than how to simply “play.” The mental, the strategic, and the physical aspects were tested day in and day out playing with the NTPGA. Learning how some days I needed to find a different way to play well and stay patient.

Q: What is one piece of advice you would give to current NTPGA Junior Tour Members?

      A: Play as much as possible. Mechanics are overrated to a point. If you can stand on a driving range and shape the ball, then go out and play a game with a buddy. That’s essentially what Scottie and I did. We played against each other weekly, which made us way better than we ever would have been grinding it out a range session.

Q: How did the NTPGA Junior Tour help prepare you for playing golf in college?

      A: Time management is a huge thing in college. Playing 20-30 times a summer can be tiring for anybody of any age. Learning to pace myself in practice and the amount of rounds I played during my early junior years was the beginning of me trying to make the most of my time and energy. I played a lot of one day NTPGA events growing up and always felt like I needed to play perfectly or I wouldn’t win. Staying patient and level headed after a bad shot taught me how to regroup and shoot consistent scores.

Q: Please describe what your personal golf recruiting process looked like.

      A: I was fortunate to have a lot of college coaches start following my game when I was 13 years old. However, I grew a full foot in three years and it took me a long time to adjust to being six feet tall. I lost a lot of interest from college coaches as my play suffered during high school but I stuck with it and was fortunate enough to get the Arnold Palmer Scholarship to Wake Forest.

      When it came to picking a school, I wanted to keep the right balance of academics and athletics. As we all know, not everyone will become tour professionals so it’s important to have your education as a backup. Despite turning pro a semester early, I actually will graduate this May. Facilities and the routines that the coaches put on the team are “2A” and “2B” in my mind. Quality facilities will make you want to work harder and will of course make you better. Of course, everyone has their own swing coach, but when looking at schools, I wanted to have a coach that would be a second pair of eyes and not drive a wedge between Cameron McCormick and I. Cam and I had a plan for me to improve certain areas of my game and I wanted someone I could lean on. Coaches run the team and it is vital to make sure that the environment that you have will help you develop as a person and a player. Wake Forest, Coach Haas and Coach Walters met all of my criteria.

Q: How does playing in college differ from the NTPGA Junior Tour?

      A: The most obvious answer would be that the competition becomes much tougher as you are now playing with older, more developed players. College golf is your next step in the journey as you are competing against kids from all around the country. You played all of those NTPGA events to prepare you for the next level. Courses will be a little longer and harder but kids are growing at the same time and beginning to hit the ball farther. Playing NTPGA events will develop your skills to play in college. Look at the list of names!!