Local teaching pro Jackins helps high-schoolers excel

PANAMA CITY BEACH - Robert Jackins' voicemail greeting says it all.

"I'm probably on the range teaching another golfer how to play this game," it says before callers can leave a message.

Jackins, 45, has brought his teaching talent to the Hombre Golf Club in Panama City Beach and it already has impacted some local high school golfers. His most recent success story is Mosley senior Chase Seiffert.

Once unable to break 80 last season, Seiffert now consistently breaks 70. Some of the credit for that goes to Jackins, a former junior college golf standout who graduated from Bossier Parish Junior College and went straight into the teaching ranks.

"He is a great teacher," Seiffert said. "He will tell so many finer details than I could ever see. He has the finest eye for the slightest touch. It's just tremendous."

The two have worked together since Spring 2007, but it wasn't until January that Jackins finally got the most from Seiffert. Jackins asked what color Seiffert's girlfriend's eyes were. Seiffert answered with the wrong color and Jackins said in order to be a top-level golfer, Seiffert needed to pay attention to detail.

Since then, Seiffert has been on his way to joining former Mosley golfers Zack Primavera and Jordan Massey as Jackins' students who dominated the Bay County golf scene.

"I've seen a lot of improvement in Chase," Mosley golf coach Mike Riley said. "I think he's a lot more consistent ball striker than he was last year. He's scoring more this year than he did last year. I think his mechanics are better this year than they were at this time last year."

Which shouldn't be a surprise considering who Jackins, a Shreveport, La., native, has worked with.

Jackins said he has tutored the likes of John Daly, Shaun Micheel and Milton's Boo Weekley. But it's the high school player he enjoys teaching most. A teaching pro for 26 years, Jackins said he has worked with hundreds of high school golfers and he sees room for improvement here.

"There's so many kids in this area that they're at almost the top of the mountain and they don't get quite enough of the right instruction," Jackins said. "Almost to the point of getting scholarships to junior colleges or small colleges, but they lose focus."

That's the toughest part of teaching high school-age players, Jackins said. Outside influences, such as girlfriends, friends or parties, among other things, seem to consume the golfers' time and focus, Jackins feels.
Jackins also has worked with local golfers Jared Kane and Tyler Chavira, both from Arnold. He has inquiries from other golfers, but waits until they come back for a second lesson to know if they're serious.

"Most that I work with, I strive and beat in their brain how important it is if you do go and do this, you're going to suffer if you do the wrong things," Jackins said. "If you do the right things, it may not happen tomorrow, it may not happen in a month and Chase is a perfect example.

"If I can push these kids to realize that life and golf go hand in hand, I think that's what got Chase the most."