In just his first year of high school golf, St. Cloud freshman Ayden Febres is already decorated with district and regional tournament medalist wins. (Photo/J. Daniel Pearson)
If you just watch St. Cloud High freshman Ayden Febres play golf, you’d likely assume you were watching a prodigy that grew up in a fancy country club setting with all the advantages afforded to the entitled.
Febres has the game, confidence and looks of such a budding star who would have come from that background.
But that assumption stops at his game.
On the course, Febres is compiling quite the junior golf resume. On the Florida Junior Tour earlier this year, he earned a come-from-behind win in FJT Tour Championship in the 13-15 age group, and also won the FJT Eagle Ridge Classic and bettered more than 200 other golfers to earn a spot in the Final 16 at the FJT Junior Match Play Championships.
His freshman high school season saw him not only crack the varsity line-up on an extremely deep and talented St. Cloud team but play from the No. 1 spot. In an 18-hole regular season match this year, Febres fired an incredible 64 to set a school and Osceola County record. He followed that with a 67 a week later. In a nine-hole match held at Kissimmee Bay, he shot a 6-under 30 on the tight front nine to set another county record.
In the past two weeks at Royal St. Cloud, Febres has claimed individual district (66) and regional (65) championships. At regionals he led the Bulldogs to a runner-up finish—their highest finish in more than 30 years.
While his playing accomplishments are becoming well known around the state, it is his background that makes his story truly astonishing. Ayden did not grow up in a country club setting with access to top courses and coaches. He’s not a second or third generation prodigy. Instead, he was introduced to the game by his father, Eli, a self-proclaimed horrible golfer, who took up the game around the time Ayden was born.
“I was living in Sacramento and I had a co-worker who kept bugging me to play golf with him. I started going to the course with him and after Ayden was born I would take him with me in his car seat,” Eli said.
This went on for a couple of years but when Ayden started walking, Eli noticed he seemed to have a fascination with the clubs. “Ayden was always trying to grab them and hold them, when he started walking he would grab them out of my hand and try swinging them. About the same time, I was starting to get pretty friendly with the staff at the local muni. One day when I checked in to hit some range balls, the assistant pro handed me a cut-off pitching wedge and said ‘hey, why not let the boy hit a few’?”
What happened next was nothing short of unbelievable.
“He was about three at the time, and I handed him that club and I swear on his very first swing with a real ball, he launched a perfect shot into the air that went right down the middle,” Eli said. ‘I honestly believe that is what started the love affair between golf and Ayden. When Ayden was four we played our first nine-hole match together, and he beat me. After a few years I decided it was a lot more fun watching him than trying to compete with him.”
It was while participating in local junior tournaments in California where Ayden caught another break. “He was chipping and putting when we noticed a guy watching him,” Eli said. “He walked over and said he was a coach and said Ayden had a lot of talent and he wanted to work with him.”
That relationship lasted several years before Eli moved his family to St. Cloud for work. While he continued to develop and compete on the junior circuit, Ayden was featured on a youth golf documentary on the Golf Channel where he met legendary coach Sean Foley, who offered to give him a few free lessons. That relationship continued to develop and now Ayden is now one of Foley’s students.
And while his playing career continues to explode in an upward trajectory, it has not always been smooth sailing for Eli and his family.
“Junior golf is an extremely expensive proposition and frankly we are far from rich,” Eli said. “But I am 100% committed to helping Ayden reach his goals.”
That commitment included Eli having to take a second mortgage on his house to help finance the golf lessons, equipment, travel and other fees associated with the sport.
“When I was young, my father divorced and left us. He never contacted us again. My mother and I were devastated,” Eli said. “I pledged I would always be there for my children.”
That special bond between Ayden and Eli has little to do with golf and more to do with the father’s dedication to his son. “Yes, I think he has a great future in the game,” Eli said. “But if Ayden came to me tomorrow and said he wanted to quit the sport, I would honestly ask what he wants to do next. And I would support it and want him to be the best he could be at it.”
Ayden said his dad is his confidant, best friend and biggest supporter.
“He has given up so much to allow me to pursue my dreams,” Ayden said. “He tells me he just wants me to be the best I can be but puts no pressure on me to do so. Everything I have accomplished is because of my family and their sacrifices.”
Febres dedication is intense. Most days he’s up at 7 a.m. for a gym lifting and stretching session. He then returns home for his home-school studies. By early afternoon he is in his garage, working on a golf simulator his father had installed. By 3 p.m., Ayden is headed to the golf course for additional practice. Overall, he spends about 8-10 hours a day on golf-related training. When he is not playing in a tournament on the weekend, it is a schedule he follows six days a week.
Alejandro Sanchez, Ayden’s high school coach, says his commitment is unusual but comes from passion.
“You seldom see a player that young that is that focused, dedicated and driven to a singular goal,” he said. “It is not something he has to do, it something he wants to do. His sole focus is getting better.”
At just 15, Ayden already handles interviews with thoughtful, polite answers. He is constantly smiling on the course, encouraging and supporting both teammates and foes. He seldom displays any sense of disappointment in a poor shot and just focuses on next one.
Febres says he patterns his game off professionals Max Homa and Scottie Scheffler. He possesses a powerful but under control driver that rarely misses fairways and he dials back on his irons. He putts quickly, making a quick read on both sides before striking his ball within seconds after taking his stance.
Without question, at 15 you could say Febres is a “diamond In the rough”—except his Titleist seldom ends up there.
