This week, the AJGA Trailblazers Spotlight Series highlights the journey of our current Manager, Projects & Digital Marketing - Jacob Wildes. Wildes’ journey in education, music, family and his love for golf brought him to the AJGA in 2022.
Wildes has been deeply connected to sports, particularly golf, through his family from a young age.
“I loved sports growing up,” said Wildes. “My dad and granddad were coaches, so I understood the lifestyle of competition and life lessons that we learn in sports.”
Wildes would carry his competitiveness and life lessons that he learned from his dad and granddad into college.
While Jacob applied for colleges in 2009, he wanted a school that would fit both his love for golf and music. That’s when he found Andrew College, a small school located four hours south of his hometown in Cuthbert, Georgia. Wildes played golf for the Fighting Tigers while balancing a major in music and extracurricular activities. Wildes describes his golf skills as “okay,” but discovered his true passion for teaching and music education.
“I knew early on I wanted to be a teacher, but I was a golf course management major for half a semester,” said Wildes.
Wildes would transfer from Andrew College after earning his associate degree in music to Georgia State University in August of 2011. He turned his passion into a reality by majoring in music education. At GSU, Wildes actively participated in a wide range of activities and organizations, including multiple symphonic ensembles and the Honors College.
Wildes earned a Bachelor of Music Education from Georgia State University in December 2014. He taught band at Meadowcreek High School from 2014 to 2016, and later at Otwell Middle School for five years before accepting an offer at the AJGA in 2021.
“I loved working with the beginners doing “Hot Cross Buns” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” Wildes said, “because of the motivation that I had to push these kids. Just like at the AJGA, there is an avenue for kids who wanted to just learn the game of golf.”
Unlike most employees at the AJGA who go through the internship process, Wildes took a different route with a little help from AJGA Chief Financial Officer Jason Miller and his wife, Tamara.
Wildes’ wife, Bridget, worked as a band director at Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Georgia. There, Jason and Tamara became deeply involved in the band program.
The two couples would also become heavily invested in each other’s lives, and Jason eventually extended Jacob an offer to work at the AJGA. Jason would point out the parallels between Jacob’s values for his students and the AJGA’s goal of providing world-class opportunities to kids through golf. A few phone calls later, Wildes accepted a role as a Manager of Projects & Digital Marketing in January of 2022.
“As a band director, any type of coach, mentor, teacher — it’s hard to do that job halfway,” said Wildes. “I decided for my family and myself that I could be a good dad and a mediocre educator, or I could be a good dad and still find a way to impact kids [at the AJGA].”
Wildes found comfort transitioning into the AJGA upon reflecting on his junior golf career, realizing he would have qualified to be a Liberty National ACE Grant recipient as a junior golfer.
“In my current role, this is a pretty big motivator — to make sure that kids like me that are out there begging for these opportunities know that this [Liberty National ACE Grant] is out there,” stated Wildes.
Although Wildes is now away from teaching in a classroom, he has continued to demonstrate his teaching skills in the office at the AJGA.
“I love training our staff, they’re like students of mine. If I can’t teach them effectively, the product suffers,” said Wildes. “I could never work for a company that’s okay with being average. I want to see how long I can make an impact here.”
From teaching band at Otwell Middle School to welcoming in new employees at the AJGA, Wildes exemplifies what it means to be an AJGA employee. He is an exceptional father to his three kids, Caleb, Kerry Beth and Benjamin, an exceptional husband, a hard worker and a teacher in everyone’s lives around him. Wildes reflects on how the AJGA can make an everlasting impact and create opportunities for golf's next generation.
