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The LaGrange College golf program officially welcomed their new head coach, Aaron Feyes, on board earlier this month as he kicked off his tenure in red and black. 

“Well, my wife works in LaGrange. Her parents live in Pine Mountain,” Feyes said. “This gets them a little bit closer, so I put an application in, and lo and behold, here I am at LaGrange College and I couldn’t be happier to be here.”

While not a native of Troup County, he is intimately familiar with the area. Officially Michigan-born and raised, the Peach State has been home to Feyes since his college days. 

“I’m originally from Michigan,” Feyes said. “I moved down here to go to Shorter for college and went there in ‘94 and I’ve been in this area ever since.”

There have been a ton of stops along the way.

“I have been to quite a few places. I worked as a golf pro at Callaway Garden for a little while. Worked as a golf pro at Sunset Beach, North Carolina. Worked as a golf pro in Chattanooga,”Feyes said with a laugh. “I ran Meadow Links, which is a state park golf course down in Fort Gaines Georgia and that is actually where I got into coaching.”

For the longest time, being a club pro was Feyes’ only fixation. That was until he gave coaching a go at Andrew College in 2006. That was his coaching home before making the switch to LaGrange College.

“There was a little bit (of hesitancy), but my other part of being an Andrew was, and it was an admissions office for the last nine years or something like that. And it was just time to do just golf before I retire, which I will be able to do here,” Feyes said. 

Coaching at LaGrange College will bring new obstacles and challenges. Andrew College is a two-year junior college so it was hard to nurture and cultivate year over year success with so much turnover every summer. Now, Feyes has the opportunity to potentially have players stick around for 4-5 years. 

“I’m still learning how to recruit for a four-year program, but it is exciting to go out there and recruit players that can be apart of you program for years,” Feyes said. 

Feyes will be leading not just the men’s program but the fledgling women’s program as well. The Panthers’ women’s golf team is going in its first season of existence and with that comes a whole host of challenges.

“It’s been 17 years since I’ve coached a women’s program. When I first got to Andrew, they had a mens and womens team,” Feyes said. “Right now, we are trying to make sure we recruit enough girls to have a full team. Right now we only have three, so we’re working on trying to get a full team. But yes, it’s going to be fun. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Feyes has not coached women’s golf since his early years at Andrew College but is looking forward to the opportunity to do so again.

The Panthers fall season is well underway and Feyes’ tenure in red and black is just getting started.