Every whisper of the crowd fades into the background while all eyes watch the golfer. In the defining moment, the countless hours of practice, the precision of each stroke perfected over many years and the mental resilience built through challenge and perseverance all come together. With the calmness of a seasoned competitor, Jonathan Zhang (12) executes his swing flawlessly, securing victory. In late June, he won the AJGA Rolex Junior Scholastic All-America, an achievement recognizing his excellence in the classroom and on course.

Jonathan started playing golf in eighth grade, following the footsteps of a close family friend he admired who excelled in the sport. As he sharpened his skills in each practice over the years, his interest for golf grew. His dedication to the sport also became an integral part of his life, spending anywhere between 20 to 70 hours a week refining his game, where he gained an invaluable mindset of resilience through the ups and downs in tournaments. As his overall performance increases over time, his determination to play to the best of his abilities remains strong.

“Golf is not your traditional competitive sport like basketball or football,” Jonathan said. “A lot of the competition comes from yourself, like competing against your own mind.”

A major aspect of his mentality centers around patience, determination and motivation. Although he may not see immediate results, his hard work eventually shows in competitions. To Jonathan, this long-term improvement, compared to any short-term, superficial sense of achievement, is much more rewarding. Throughout his journey in the sport, he has encountered many experienced players who have influenced this mindset.

“Golf has made me much more patient, much more mature about the way I see things,” Jonathan said. “In golf, one thing I like about it is that you don’t see improvement immediately. You can work for a lot of hours in a day and the next day, you’ll come back and feel like you haven’t done better. But when you look back in six months or one year, you’ll notice how much better you’ve gotten.”

To ensure concentration during tournaments, Jonathan clears his mind to achieve flow, adopting a tranquil mental state to eliminate any interference with his game. Through the countless months, hours and days he spends preparing, Jonathan trusts his efforts from training and strives to approach competitions with this calmness.

“A lot of times, I follow this routine that gets me into the right mindset, where you remove all expectations,” Jonathan said. “Once you have high expectations for yourself, it’s over because as soon as you make even a tiny mistake, you can spiral out of control into this continuous cycle of mistakes that become bigger and bigger, so remove any expectations, good or bad or high or low expectations. That’s what goes through my mind a lot of times.”

Middle and upper school head golf coach Ie-Chen Cheng watched Jonathan’s personal growth over the years to develop as a confident leader and captain for the team. She commends Jonathan’s success from the way he approaches golf.

“Jonathan’s love and dedication to the game, to the craft, is really unparalleled,” Cheng said. “I have a lot of good golfers come through, and they love it because they’re really good at it. But he really, really loves the game.”

Close friend Callie Yuan (12) also admires his driven attitude in both golf and life. Jonathan would be the first to arrive at practice and the last to leave. Moreover, she perceives his positive and approachable attitude as one of his prominent qualities.

“He’s genuinely a really positive person,” Callie said. “You can easily find comfort in talking to him to forget about your problems because he’s really good at not only giving you very logical advice but also helping you steer away from that.”

As a dedicated golfer and an open friend in conversations, Jonathan draws respect from close friend Om Tandon (12) who appreciates his work ethic of a “work-life balance” between focusing on school and having fun outside like going out for drives. 

“Jonathan’s really driven by the things he loves to do,” Om said. “He’s not going to take no for an answer when it comes to those things, so he works really hard in golf and in school, in the classes he loves. He falls in love with the things that he cares about, and gives it his full.”

With his devotion to golf, Jonathan’s reflected improvements in competitions instill a sense of pride in him. He appreciates each tournament he qualifies for and competes in, approaching each with a steady excellence. Striving for his best in every moment he can, Jonathan ensures that each decision he makes ultimately aligns with his personal beliefs.

“Keeping in mind what my goal is and where I want to end up motivates me,” Jonathan said. “Everything I do on a day-to-day basis is a decision. You can decide if doing this thing brings you closer to your long-term goal, or it doesn’t help you, so make the right decision or choose to do the thing that gets you a step closer to your end goal.”