Shanley Golfer To Represent North Dakota At High School Golf Tournament

Shanley's Jake Skarperud plans to compete in the High School Golf National Invitational on August 3rd

FARGO, ND – There’s no shortage of golf in North Dakota and Minnesota but there are only a handful of us that are really and if you’re a kid, you might just be starting to develop your swing. Yet, one Shanley golfer seems to be a little ahead of the game.

Mid July and sun shining. One things for certain: in the F.M. area, many are hitting the links including Shanley high’s Jake Skarperud, who’s so out there seemingly every single day.

“I don’t try to take any, unless I’m feeling uneasy about my game I’ll take a break for a day here and there but I just try to grind as hard as I can every day.” Skarperud says.

The high schooler just wrapped up his sophomore season with the Deacons, winning the North Dakota golf championship by seven strokes at Riverwood in Bismarck, finishing at par for the tournament.

Since then, Skarperud has found tournaments to play in, including an upcoming one with tons of prestige.

“All the, I guess the best high schoolers in the country and if you win state, you get invited and if your team wins state, your team gets invited,” he says.

It might seem jarring for some to be but to those around Skarperud, there’s one attribute that separates him from the rest of the pack.

“He just doesn’t get up and down,” Shanley golf coach Brock Ellingson says. “He’s pretty even keel, doesn’t let a lot rattle him so that would be the biggest part that I see. And then he’s got a background of golf in his family and hockey.”

“I was fortunate as a youngster when my mom and dad, we lived in Grand Forks,” Jake’s dad Chad says. “Our dad brought us as kids to the golf course all the time so golf was a big part of our family growing up and as my wife and I started having our own children, Alex, and Jacob, and Zach, it was a big part of our family as well.”

He’s played it through elementary, middle, and half of high school. And though COVID-19 has has posed recruiting challenges, he has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

“You can email coaches and you can call them so I’ve been talking to a few coaches but I’m excited to figure out what’s down the road for me,” Skarperud says.

The national invitational at Pinehurst in Greensboro, North Carolina gets going on August 3rd with high schools representing 49 different states this year.