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Men's Golf
vs The Wohali
Wyoming Warrior: Jordan Costello
9/23/2019 3:25 PM | Men's Golf
By JT Wistrcill
Utah Athletics Communications Student Assistant
To be successful in sports, you must out-work your competition each and every day. Even when circumstances like weather and lack of a practice space get in the way, there's always ways to get better. Senior Jordan Costello knows this, and it's given him an edge over the competition.
Costello grew up in Pinedale, Wyoming with his mom, dad and two siblings. His parents were the ones who introduced him to the game that he loves so much. Both his mom and dad played golf often when he was young and sometimes they would even bring him with them.
"When I was two and three years old, they had the pull carts and I would hug their bags on the carts so they would drag me down the fairway," Costello said. "They would hit some shots and pull me along to the next hole."
It was great memories like these that made Jordan realize he wanted to play golf. Costello fell in love with the game quickly and never looked back.
"The frustrating and challenging aspects of golf I hate, but at the same time it keeps me coming back," he said. "I think the idea that anybody can come from any walk of life and get to a really high level, but it's just the never ending grind to get better. As long as your putting in work then you can get better. You don't have to be 6-5 and jump forty inches to be good at it."
The impact of Costello's parents didn't stop at a young age, as they have continued to support Jordan in each step of his journey.
"My parents where huge," he said. "They definitely sacrificed a ton for me in my career by always dropping whatever they had going on to get me where I needed to be and also picking me up when I'm down saying 'you got this!'"
In Wyoming, Costello didn't have much competition, but that all changed when he started competing on a national stage.
"I won everything in Wyoming, and I didn't have much competition, but then I went to that first national tournament and got my eyes opened," Costello said. "I remember thinking holy cow these guys are pretty good. They all came from Florida and Arizona where they're playing year around and I said if I want to beat those guys, I'm going to have take advantage of every second that I have when I'm practicing. I had to do more than most people to get to the level that they were at."
Pinedale, Wyo., is not an ideal location for an aspiring young golfer to start his career. There is snow on the ground for six months out of the year, making it impossible to hit shots on the green for half of the year. Costello was relentless and creative to not let a little snow stop his dream.
"I built a 4x16-foot platform in my room and had a putting green on it for three years," he said. "Over the winters my goal was to make 10,000 -10 footers and 5,000 - 15 footers and 15,000 5-foot putts. I also set up a net in our garage and would hit into that."
By the time Costello reached high school he was more then ready to compete.
"I think the biggest reason I excelled in Wyoming golf was because I had perspective of outside the state," Costello said. "I was just more comfortable competing at higher levels and so I'd say the fact that I had competed on different levels was a big reason I did well back then. My high school team had never won a state championship and I really wanted to do that. Those two years my drive in those tournaments was to try to get the team to win the title."
When it came time to pick a college, the decision wasn't difficult for Costello after visiting Utah.
"I loved the campus being on the base of a foothill and since I grew up in the mountain town, it just felt natural," Costello said. "The coaches have made me a lot more consistent and helped me to dial in my mental game. I've become a much more mature player then I was coming in and I'd say I'm three shots better a round because of them."
While competing for the Utes, Costello is still able to maintain academic success. He is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention and an All-academic All-American. He is majoring in business administration and once again his family influenced this decision.
"Both of my parents were entrepreneurs," he said. "When I was eight, I started a candy machine business with my sister and then we started a shuttle company just four years ago," Costello said.
In his final year as a Ute, Costello has two goals in mind - one for the team and one for himself.
"I 100-percent believe this team can compete at nationals this year as we've got a really solid group," Costello said. "Individually, I just want to be consistent and if I do that week in and week out the results are going to show."
Utah Athletics Communications Student Assistant
To be successful in sports, you must out-work your competition each and every day. Even when circumstances like weather and lack of a practice space get in the way, there's always ways to get better. Senior Jordan Costello knows this, and it's given him an edge over the competition.
Costello grew up in Pinedale, Wyoming with his mom, dad and two siblings. His parents were the ones who introduced him to the game that he loves so much. Both his mom and dad played golf often when he was young and sometimes they would even bring him with them.
"When I was two and three years old, they had the pull carts and I would hug their bags on the carts so they would drag me down the fairway," Costello said. "They would hit some shots and pull me along to the next hole."
It was great memories like these that made Jordan realize he wanted to play golf. Costello fell in love with the game quickly and never looked back.
"The frustrating and challenging aspects of golf I hate, but at the same time it keeps me coming back," he said. "I think the idea that anybody can come from any walk of life and get to a really high level, but it's just the never ending grind to get better. As long as your putting in work then you can get better. You don't have to be 6-5 and jump forty inches to be good at it."
The impact of Costello's parents didn't stop at a young age, as they have continued to support Jordan in each step of his journey.
"My parents where huge," he said. "They definitely sacrificed a ton for me in my career by always dropping whatever they had going on to get me where I needed to be and also picking me up when I'm down saying 'you got this!'"
In Wyoming, Costello didn't have much competition, but that all changed when he started competing on a national stage.
"I won everything in Wyoming, and I didn't have much competition, but then I went to that first national tournament and got my eyes opened," Costello said. "I remember thinking holy cow these guys are pretty good. They all came from Florida and Arizona where they're playing year around and I said if I want to beat those guys, I'm going to have take advantage of every second that I have when I'm practicing. I had to do more than most people to get to the level that they were at."
Pinedale, Wyo., is not an ideal location for an aspiring young golfer to start his career. There is snow on the ground for six months out of the year, making it impossible to hit shots on the green for half of the year. Costello was relentless and creative to not let a little snow stop his dream.
"I built a 4x16-foot platform in my room and had a putting green on it for three years," he said. "Over the winters my goal was to make 10,000 -10 footers and 5,000 - 15 footers and 15,000 5-foot putts. I also set up a net in our garage and would hit into that."
By the time Costello reached high school he was more then ready to compete.
"I think the biggest reason I excelled in Wyoming golf was because I had perspective of outside the state," Costello said. "I was just more comfortable competing at higher levels and so I'd say the fact that I had competed on different levels was a big reason I did well back then. My high school team had never won a state championship and I really wanted to do that. Those two years my drive in those tournaments was to try to get the team to win the title."
When it came time to pick a college, the decision wasn't difficult for Costello after visiting Utah.
"I loved the campus being on the base of a foothill and since I grew up in the mountain town, it just felt natural," Costello said. "The coaches have made me a lot more consistent and helped me to dial in my mental game. I've become a much more mature player then I was coming in and I'd say I'm three shots better a round because of them."
While competing for the Utes, Costello is still able to maintain academic success. He is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention and an All-academic All-American. He is majoring in business administration and once again his family influenced this decision.
"Both of my parents were entrepreneurs," he said. "When I was eight, I started a candy machine business with my sister and then we started a shuttle company just four years ago," Costello said.
In his final year as a Ute, Costello has two goals in mind - one for the team and one for himself.
"I 100-percent believe this team can compete at nationals this year as we've got a really solid group," Costello said. "Individually, I just want to be consistent and if I do that week in and week out the results are going to show."
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