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By Jay Spivey

For the Clemmons Courier

CLEMMONS — Mary-Paige King came about golf naturally.

After all, her father, Kevin King, who just retired this past June as the boys golf coach at West Forsyth after four years and also was the boys basketball coach there for three seasons and left after the 2021-22 season. Also, Mary-Paige’s grandfather, Ron King, who was the boys basketball coach at North Surry for 31 years and won 502 games before retiring after the 2000 season, has always been an avid golfer.

So, Mary-Paige King, who turns 20 years old on Aug. 5, started playing golf as a 10-year-old, played four seasons on the girls golf team at West Forsyth, and now is about to start her sophomore season as a player at Catawba College.

“At first it was just me getting into it, learning the basics, and it starting getting more competitive with both of them,” she said about her father and grandfather.
As good as her father and grandfather were, she slowly kept getting better, and according to her, she came pretty close to their level in eighth- or ninth-grade.

“I started doing the First Tee program at Tanglewood,” she said. “And then I did PGA Junior League in the summer and started playing different tournaments around here. It helped me a lot, seeing different players and different levels and having different competitions.

Then, she stepped on campus at West Forsyth as a freshman.

“I was always playing against the freshmen, always starting, so I had that confidence to know I was always going to be in the lineup,” Mary-Paige said. “I felt like I kind of had a leadership position from the beginning just because I always one of the better players.”

Early on with the Titans, her coach was Jimmy McMullen. McMullen is now a PGA Tour Professional and coach at The Golf Academy at Salem Glen in Clemmons. McMullen was also Mary-Paige’s coach at Salem Glen.

“He was a good coach,” she said. “He worked with a lot of us, so he knew kind of our swing and our games. So, that was nice to have.”

Although she was one of, if not the best player on the team at West Forsyth, even as a freshman and sophomore, it wasn’t always easy.

“It does feel good, but at the same time it’s pressure,” Mary-Paige said. “I knew my score was going to count pretty much every match, so I needed to play well.”

Mary-Paige’s reputation as a player proceeded her in high school.

“I think it was good for my freshman year,” she said. “I mean, I went to (NCHSAA Class 4-A) regionals, and I went to (NCHSAA Class 4-A) states.”

In her sophomore season with the Titans, Bill Walwik took over for McMullen as coach. Mary-Paige also knew Walwik from Salem Glen.

“It was very different,” she said. “Walwik was still a good coach. Just didn’t know as much about the golf perspective. He definitely helped like the lower-level girls more than me. I played with him outside the golf team. He knew that I was going to do my thing and he could help the other girls more than he could help me.”

After her sophomore season at West Forsyth, Mary-Paige began playing multiple tournaments.

“I mean, you don’t have to (travel to play), but it definitely helps get your name out there, and the more you play, the more people can see you,” she said. “The more you play the better you can put yourself out there.”

Mary-Paige carried the momentum into her junior year. Listed at 5-foot-4, she still drives the ball 220 yards, but she added that chipping and putting can sometimes be her bugaboo. She also said that her putting can be inconsistent.

“I don’t think size really matters,” Mary-Paige said. “I mean, somebody can hit the ball 270 (yards) and have no short game. I mean, it’s all relative.”

Much of the hard work Mary-Paige put in starting paying dividends in her junior season with the Titans.

“I felt like that was the time where I was probably playing some of my best golf,” she said. “I mean I was in the recruiting process, so I was constantly trying to do my best.”

She qualified for the NCHSAA Class 4-A state championship her junior season when it was held at Pinehurst No. 5. She finished in 20th place with a two-day total of 12-over-par. Morgan Ketchum of Reagan won the tournament at minus 4, and Reagan won the team championship at 2 over. West Forsyth finished seventh at 51 over.

Mary-Paige committed to Catawba and prepared for her senior season with West Forsyth.

“It was definitely more relaxed because I was already committed,” she said. “There wasn’t as much pressure of trying to impress coaches. It was just still trying to keep playing and keep the momentum of playing tournament golf going into my senior year.”

By then, Kevin was assisting Walwik with the girls golf team.

“It was nice having him around because, like normally in my tournaments, he can’t say anything to me,” Mary-Paige said. “So, he could actually talk to me and help me.”

She was named Central Piedmont 4-A Player of the Year her senior season at West Forsyth and also qualified for the NCHSAA Class 4-A state championship in the fall of 2022. She finished tied for 13th at 13 over. West Forsyth finished sixth as a team at 80 over.

“I think my senior year in the regular season was good,” Mary-Paige said. “I mean, at that point, it was really just for fun. I was already committed. I already knew where I was going. High school didn’t really matter as much to me. Like I said, the regular season was good. I won the regionals. States was not what I was expecting.

“I wouldn’t say disappointing because I knew that wasn’t my last time playing for a team.”

Mary-Paige graduated from West Forsyth in June 2023 and soon headed to Salisbury to enroll as a college golfer at Catawba.

She quickly excelled on the course and in the classroom for Catawba. According to catawbaathletics.com, she finished her freshman season with a stroke average of 78.17, which ranked her third on the team. She was also one of three players from the team named to the Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team.

“It was very different because high-school golf is only nine holes from the red tees,” Mary-Paige said. “And now I’m playing anywhere from 5,900 yards to 6,200 yards and playing 36 holes in one day. It was a big change, but it wasn’t a really big change for me because I’d been playing all of these tournaments. So, it was just like another tournament.”

Mary-Paige reports to Catawba soon for the start of the fall season. Meantime, she’s working as a camp counselor this month for the Junior Golf Academy in Pinehurst with boys and girls ages 11-17.

“It’s basically get paid to play golf with kids,” she said.

Just like playing with her dad and her grandfather, golf has provided her with so much more than just a score on a course.

“It’s given me relationships,” Mary-Paige said. “Lots of friends, good memories, opportunities.”