Hole-in-one earns award for Jackson

Local golfer Kent Jackson was playing at Wildwood Golf Club Feb. 9 when he made a hole-inone with a seven iron at 175 yards.

Jackson has been golfing since age 14. He began working as part-time summer help for Rayburn since his dad, Elmo Jackson, was an employee at Rayburn Country Club. His job duties were to maintain the golf carts and pick up range balls. Then, out of boredom, he took up a five iron and hit the balls back to the middle of the range. His lowest round was in 1986 with a 69.

He worked full-time for Rayburn until 1987, then started with Jasper ISD, and is now working parttime for Rayburn with Pros Jason French, Randy Atkins and Pat Beaty. Jackson has played in several tournaments and also played with LPGA Kate Golden.

"The game is not as easy as it looks," says Jackson. He quotes one of Jasper's football announcers as saying, "You gotta love it!"