Former Jackson State women’s golf standout Shasta Averyhardt became just the fourth African American woman to earn LPGA status. Averyhardt grew up in the inner city of Flint, Mich. with her mother, Maria Espinoza and father, Greg Averyhardt.
“My dad worked as an affirmative action officer, while my mom was a home health care worker, but later turned business owner,” said Averyhardt. “My dad had a high-stress leveled occupation, so as a stress reliever, he’d go to the golf course and seldomly take me with him.”
Enjoying the scenery and the fun being on the courses with her dad, Averyhardt’s life changed when she received a set of pink golf clubs from her dad at the age of seven.
“For me at that point, everything and anything I did revolved around golf and learning the game,” said Averyhardt. “When I gravitated towards golf, all I had to do was watch it. I was pretty good at imitating golfers’ swing, stance, etc.”
Until the age of 15, Averyhardt competed in local junior tournaments around the Flint area in the Flint Junior Golf Association. Averyhardt attended Flint Central High School during her freshman through junior years, where she was a two-sport athlete competing on the varsity volleyball and golf teams.
During her freshman season, Averyhardt approached her dad about investing in her game. With that initial push, Averhardt’s father introduced her to Jack Seltzer, a Flint-area swing instructor. Seltzer eventually became one of her swing coaches.
After her freshman season, Averyhardt made a significant leap with her golf game by shooting par and ultimately, breaking it. Going into her junior year she started receiving the attention of recruiters in volleyball and golf from several NCAA Division II institutions. After having a solid showing at the Michigan High School State Championship, she felt like she should consider a change. Rival school Grand Blanc High School eventually won the state title that year.
“I had a great time meeting the young ladies from the Grand Blanc HS golf program and wanted to win not only medalist, but a team championship, so I asked my dad about transferring,” said Averyhardt. “So senior year, that’s what I did.”
Going into her senior season, Averyhardt transferred to Grand Blanc HS and began focusing solely on golf.
“I had to promise my dad that I’d have to stop playing volleyball when I transferred, but of course, I still tried out. He found out and cut that short really quick,” said Averyhardt.
JaAveryhardt entered her senior season at Grand Blanc HS on a mission. The once two-sport athlete’s golf team went undefeated during that season and completed a memorable campaign with a state championship. She was named to the All-State Dream Team and was in the running for Ms. Golf in the State of Michigan.
Going into the spring season, Averyhardt began receiving scholarship offers from Barry University (Fla.), Eastern Michigan, the University of Michigan, and Jackson State.
“I had full-ride offers to JSU and Eastern Michigan,” said Averyhardt. “I chose to accept an official visit to Eastern Michigan, after going to the campus several times before being from Michigan, but I thought, playing in the winter time here would be really rough dealing with the cold weather, so I wondered should I take the visit to Jackson State as well.”
After pondering the thought of competing for the Lady Tigers, Averyhardt decided to accept JSU’s request for an official visit.
“After going back and forth with my dad, learning how competitive JSU’s schedule was and knowing that I could train year-around being down south, I chose Jackson State,” said Averhardt.
Arriving at JSU in 2004, Averyhardt had a competitive freshman year but saw quickly that many of her peers at the larger institutions had more resources than Jackson State could offer. With that in mind she decided that she had to do more if she wanted to excel in the sport she loved at the collegiate level. Averyhardt opted to continue to work with her swing instructor back in Michigan throughout the entire season.
That spring Averyhardt and the Lady Tigers won the first of four Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships she would claim while competing for JSU. During her sophomore year, Averyhardt entered the season more skilled and mentally stronger.
“I had to get stronger, both mentally and physically,” said Averyhardt. “I had begun reading more books on how to have better mind control, learning how to handle myself in pressured situations and I eventually saw improvements in my game.”
With that training, Averyhardt went on to win a second Individual Medalist Award for shooting the lowest score during a championship and the team won its second consecutive SWAC Championship at the Dancing Rabbit Golf Club in Philadelphia, Miss. The two-time low medalist winner set a conference women’s golf championship record for shooting the lowest two-day score of 138 (69, 69) for the championship.
“I did not realize how big of a deal this was until I read about it in Golf Week Magazine a week later,” said Averyhardt. “I was in a zone that week.”
During her collegiate career, Averyhardt collected a SWAC Championship each year she competed and was the SWAC Championship Medalist Award winner each season. She also captured a total of nine tournament medalist awards.
“Two of my most memorable individual championships were at the Southern Mississippi Invitational and a tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla.,” said Averyhardt. “I loved playing in the tournament at USM because Coach Brand had the best snacks and they always had a competitive field of golfers there as well. In Daytona Beach, I shot five or six under that tournament and we had a pretty strong field, so it felt even more rewarding to win.”
After college, Averyhardt joined the LPGA Tour, becoming the fourth African American woman to earn LPGA status. In December 2014, she decided to leave the sport of golf to work for PricewaterhouseCoopers, which is one of the top accounting firms in the world. After considering whether she would have regrets in the long run about playing golf, she quit her job and decided to return on tour.
In 2017, Averyhardt returned to golf to compete on the LPGA Symetra Tour (a tour below the LPGA Tour) and is currently still on tour. In 2018, Averyhardt was surprised when she received the call that she had been inducted into the Jackson State University Sports Hall of Fame.
“I was really shocked, very overwhelmed, and did not know what I was going to do, because I was on tour and did not know if I would be able to make it to the ceremony or not, but God stepped in and it eventually worked out perfectly for me,” said Averyhardt. “I had a new-founded appreciation for Jackson State and the people who are running the athletic department. Athletic Director Robinson and his staff are doing a great job there and I see major improvements happening around the university.”
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