TEEN ACE, OLD SOUL
Hudson embraced golf at 2, and it became refuge from life’s unkindest blow
“I’ve got a picture of her in diapers, holding that plastic golf set, and her hand-eye coordination was ridiculous”
Jessica Hudson knocked in an 8-foot birdie putt at Torrey Pines North’s uphill 16th hole during the final round of last year’s CIF individual golf tournament. After scooping her ball out of the cup, Hudson pulled the pin for one of her playing partners, then, from the elevated perch, looked south at the spectacular view.
The cliffs, the ocean, the La Jolla backdrop.
“I looked at the beach and saw paragliders and hang gliders,” Hudson said.
While Hudson, 15, has lived in San Marcos her entire life and has played golf since she was 4, it was her first time at the world-famous public course that has twice hosted the men’s U.S. Open.
Non-resident fees, now $155 for juniors, were a little steep for the daughter of P.E. teachers.
“To be playing there as a freshman,” said Hudson, “it was just incredible.”
Representing Calvin Christian High School, the only golfer on the team, Hudson shot a 3-under 69 — the low round of the day — to finish second overall.
After transferring to Mission Hills, Hudson will be one of the favorites when the CIF individual tournament concludes next month at Torrey Pines North.
Those who know Hudson well describe her as wise beyond her years, someone who is passionate about the game and who, after watching her best friend die of brain cancer, keeps golf — and life — in perspective.
“This kid is such a beautiful human,” said Scott Boyens, Hudson’s coach at Mission Hills. “She’s vulnerable, unique and an old soul.”
The natural
Hudson is blessed with athletic genes. Her mother, Nickie, played basketball at Cal State Stanislaus. Her father, Brian, played baseball at the school, leading the team in hitting and stolen bases one season.
Brian recalls that when Jessica was 2 and her bedroom looked like a Toys-R-Us overflow aisle, she gravitated to plastic golf clubs.
“I’ve got a picture of her in diapers, holding that plastic golf set, and her hand-eye coordination was ridiculous,” Brian said.
Jey Bacani has been giving Hudson lessons since she was 4.
“She was never pushed into doing anything,” Bacani said. “She’s just been a very competitive person her entire life.”
Hudson’s favorite club in her bag is the driver. She carries the ball 250 yards in the air off the tee. At 5-foot-4, she’s not big, but generates power with club-head speed that averages 102 mph.
The average club-head speed on the LPGA Tour is 94 mph.
With an embarrassed smile, Hudson said, “I like to hit it far.”
“Ever since she was little, she’s always been the longest of all the girls in her age group,” said Bacani. “She definitely has a lot of talent.”
While Hudson didn’t play at Torrey Pines until she was 14, she had hit balls at Augusta National. In 2019, Hudson moved through three rounds of qualifying to advance to the finals of the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship, which is held at Augusta National the Sunday before the Masters.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hudson didn’t play the championship until 2021, finishing second in her age group.
Sitting in the veranda at Vista Valley Country Club before a Mission Hills practice, Hudson said of Augusta National: “The trees, the azaleas are so beautiful they look fake. I had to touch them and thought, ‘This is real.’ ”
For the drive portion of the event, she was allotted 15 minutes to practice on the range. Rather than just hit her driver, she pulled out every club in her bag.
“I told my dad, ‘I’m hitting all my clubs. This is the best grass I’ll ever hit off of in my life,’ ” Hudson said.
A difficult decision
Hudson transferred to Mission Hills primarily because of golf. Nicki Hudson said tuition at Calvin Christian increased 7 percent and the family had a decision to make: Let Jessica continue at the private school but not play many national tournaments because of the cost, or go to the public school near their home and play more events.
“We just couldn’t swing it financially anymore,” said Nicki. “We value education. We’re educators. She definitely wants to play golf in college, so she wanted to play in those more difficult tournaments.”
Going into Monday’s match against Fallbrook, Hudson had played seven dual matches for Mission Hills and was the low medalist in each one. Her best score was a 4-under 32 at Native Oaks Golf Club in Valley Center when she started 3-3-3 — birdie, eagle, par.
Bacani said where Hudson can improve the most is dealing with the sport’s ups and downs.
“Like most golfers, what gets in her way is the mental part of the game,” he said. “There will be days when she’s lights out and can turn it on. There will be days when, like most golfers, she can’t put it all together. But there’s definitely a lot of promise, a lot of upside.”
Said Hudson: “I love that you can’t perfect golf. I love that you strive for perfection, but the fact is, it’s unattainable. That’s kind of my driving force.”
Friend for life
Hudson and Ava Catherine Handley were friends since preschool. In September 2020, Handley, then 12, was diagnosed with Childhood Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), an aggressive brain tumor.
The disease worsened, affecting Handley’s vision and ability to walk. In seventh grade at Calvin Christian, Hudson pushed Handley to classes in her wheelchair.
Handley was 14 years old when she died on June 15, 2022. She spent her final weeks in hospice care at Rady Children’s Hospital. Near the end, Handley couldn’t talk or swallow and could barely move. Hudson laid in an oversized bed with her friend day after day.
“Every single time Jessica came, she was in bed with Ava and they were holding hands,” said Becky Handley, Ava’s mother. “They could communicate just by looking at each other.”
During the time Ava was battling her brain tumor, Hudson turned to golf for solace.
“It was basically an escape from reality,” said Hudson. “It was almost to the point where when I was at the range or when I was playing golf, cancer didn’t exist. Ava didn’t have cancer. I just played and performed to my best level without having those distractions.”
Asked how she remembers Ava, Hudson said, “Graceful, poised, just a child of the Lord. Like the kindest, giving heart you’ll ever know.”
At Rady Children’s Hospital, when patients finish treatments they select a gift from a treasure box. Jessica was saddened that there weren’t more gifts for teenage girls. So after Ava died, she spent $200 of her own money to buy art supplies, nail polish and purses.
Ava was a talented ballet dancer. After she died, her family created a non-profit, En Pointe For Ava, to help children and their families travel to treatment.
Hudson helped organize two fundraisers. One raised $1,000 at Calvin Christian. The other, a golf tournament at Twin Oaks Golf Course, raised $27,000.
“Jessica is wise beyond her years,” said Becky Handley, Ava’s mom. “She loved my daughter with all her heart. We look at Jessica as another daughter. I can’t imagine the journey we went through without her.”