Mark DuPre
Student, Tennessee Tech
Mark DuPre had a quick baptism into the game of golf and family relationships.
The recent McCallie School graduate played his first round about two years ago as part of a bachelor’s day leading up to his sister’s wedding.
He didn’t own his own set of clubs, so he cherry-picked from his dad’s golf bag during that first round.
These days, he has his own set of Nikes that he’ll be taking with him in August to Tennessee Tech, where he will begin studying business.
“My brother-in-law and I are pretty competitive, and my goal is to beat him, but I haven’t completed that goal,” DuPre said. “I believe that I’m not a person who gives up on a lot of stuff, so after a while when you hit good shots, it’s like a bug that bites.
“You just want to keep going and going.”
DuPre, who blistered through a large bucket of balls on the range earlier this month, said golf is a game he can play for the rest of his life, unlike football, which doesn’t lend itself to frail fellows.
“When you come out to a course, you don’t see 6-6, 200-plus guys. You see 5- to 75-year-olds,” DuPre said. “It’s one of those games that everybody can play if you put your mind to it.”
And with a business degree in his hands a few years from now, DuPre believes his golf skills may help in his professional world.
“I heard like 80 percent of business is done with golf,” DuPre said. “I hope to use golf for that, too.”