One of The O’Neal School’s stars student-athlete golfers, Fulton Smith, has made a verbal commitment to study and play golf for Wake Forest University. Smith has secured a spot on the Demon Deacons golf team for fall 2019.
Smith, who began playing golf at the age of 6 years old, has wanted to play collegiate golf for as long as he can remember and in 7th grade started to focus on golf as his primary sport in the hopes of one day playing at the college level. Smith worked his way to the #2 ranked North Carolina Junior Golfer overall, and #1 in the class of 2019. Smith has won numerous high-level tournaments, most recently winning Carolina Golf Association’s prestigious Dogwood State Junior Boys’ Championship for the 2nd year in a row.
Smith’s coach, Director of Golf at Berkley Hall Golf Adam Kushner, has guided Smith as his swing coach throughout his youth career. Kushner simply glows about his talent. “Fulton has unbelievable hands, which has helped him develop a great short game and the ability to shoot low scores. Fulton has a great work ethic and is as competitive as any kid that I have seen.”
Smith earned All-State honors in both his freshman and sophomore seasons for The O’Neal School’s boys golf program. Boy’s golf coach, Brian Anderson, is delighted his success has led to a future competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference “Watching Fulton’s development over the last three years has been a joy to watch. You can see that it is in his DNA to strive for perfection on the golf course but he still remains humble and has now taken on a much larger support role to his teammates. He still knows what his goals are while still at O’Neal and knows that this is still much work to do. To say that I am proud of Fulton’s recent commitment to Wake Forest is a huge understatement, and I can’t wait to see what his future holds here at O’Neal and beyond.”
Athletic Director, James Franklin echoed Coach Anderson’s thoughts and beamed with excitement for Smith, recognizing his achievements are a result of endless hours of commitment, “Fulton epitomizes how all successful student-athletes should approach being top athletes. He is dedicated to the process of developing all the tools necessary to be at the top of his sport. He is dedicated physically, technically and cerebrally and is one of the strongest youth athletes psychologically I have ever known. These tools are very recognizable in his success and will only manifest themselves further as a student-athlete golfer at Wake Forest. Congratulations, Fulton!”
Fulton, the son of Xan and Gena Smith, lives in Pinehurst and is a member of the Country Club of North Carolina. Smith plans to major in business at Wake Forest University as a member of the golf team. Wake Forest golf has a long tradition of success, winning National Championships in 1974, 1975 and 1986. Wake has also won a staggering 18 Atlantic Coast Conference titles. Smith would like to add to those ACC titles stating, “I’d like to be a part of and contribute to a NCAA Championship winning team at Wake Forest.”
