Warrior Elementary welcomes pro golfer Trey Mullinax

Published 10:58 am Thursday, March 16, 2017

WARRIOR — The kids at Warrior Elementary School welcomed a special guest on Tuesday.

The students did not enjoy their usual day in coach Chris Reeves’ PE class. Instead, the youngsters took lessons from one of the top golfers in the world—Trey Mullinax.

“[I want to] promote the game to these young kids. Golf is growing a lot so anything I can do to promote the game and to give back to my community which has given me everything I’ve ever wanted,” said Mullinax, who works as a professional golfer on the PGA Tour.

Mullinax, a 2010 graduate of Gardendale High School, worked with kids on club grip, proper backswing and, of course, jumping jacks on a cold March morning. He even grabbed a club for a little demonstration for some lucky second graders.

When asked what the most important aspect of the game is for a young golfer, Mullinax had this to say: “Man, just to have fun. There’s so much stuff in this world that can go wrong, so just have fun doing what you love doing. If there’s a certain thing that you need to know about golf I guess it would be make sure you have good fundamentals.”

According to Reeves, who was recently recognized as one of the top educators in Jefferson County, Mullinax is the first professional golfer to visit his class.

“We’ve never had a professional golfer here and they’re super excited about it. We went online and gave a brief history to the older kids yesterday, so I’m sure they’re going to come in with some intelligent questions,” said Reeves.

He believes in educating his students in a variety of sports.

“Not everyone is going to be great at baseball or basketball, so this gives them another option and if they learn at this age to build a foundation with golf, maybe they can get a scholarship in golf one day,” he continued.

Mullinax married Warrior Elementary first-grade teacher Abi Essman on Saturday. 

“This is home to me and I’m always more than grateful to come and give back and spend time with these kids that don’t know golf,” said Mullinax as he hoisted a youngster for a slam dunk. 

Erik Harris is the Sports Editor of The North Jefferson News. Email him at njnsports@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeharris2.