Brad Dalke didn't always play golf.
He waited until he was 11 months old to pick up a club.
And he didn't always take it seriously, either.
He waited until he was 3 before he entered his first tournament, so it's pretty clear Dalke doesn't rush into things.
So last month when eighth grader Dylan Moses of Louisiana was reportedly offered a scholarship by Alabama football coach Nick Saban, Dalke must have been thinking why Moses took so long to make up his mind.
That's because Dalke has been a University of Oklahoma commitment since he was a seventh grader, waiting more than 12 years (after his birth) to officially make up his mind.
Too soon? Too young?
Well, Dalke wasn't born with a golf club in his hand, but he and his parents like to say he has Oklahoma in his DNA. "In Brad's case, his first words were, ‘Boomer Sooner,'" said his dad Bill. Dalke's father played football at Oklahoma. His mother played golf and his grandfather played basketball for the Sooners, so while some may say Dalke is too young to make such a big decision, he'd tell you it was decided all along.
"There's some who understand," said Dalke, a freshman in high school at Spring Creek Academy in Plano, Texas. "But they don't know what it's like to have mom and dad and grandparents go to the same school. They don't get that it's in the blood."
And they might not get this either:
Dalke isn't just a kid wearing fancy gear and swinging shiny clubs. He can play. He's ranked as Golfweek's No. 6 high school player in the nation and the top freshman. Dalke is the youngest player to win on the prestigious American Junior Golf Association Tour, winning a tournament two years ago. He finished in the top 10 in seven of 11 tournaments last season, had five top-10 finishes in 2011 and two top-20 finishes in just three tournaments in 2010. In two tournaments this year, Dalke has already won, shooting 70-71-70 in the HP Boys Championship where he beat a field with most of the nation's top players.
As an 11-month old, he could swing a cut-down club and hit the ball in the air. As a toddler he would sit on his mom's lap, watch golf and then imitate the swings of the pros he saw on TV. And as a 3-year old in his first tournament, he won the three-hole competition with a score of 8. That's two pars and a birdie.
"I kind of knew golf was for me real early on," he said.
Dalke contacted Oklahoma coach Ryan Hybl by email when he was 11. By the time he was 12, Dalke said Hybl had watched him play, and by the time Dalke reached seventh grade, he said he was offered a scholarship to play for the Sooners. And while Hybl is not allowed to comment on prospective recruits, and while oral commitments are non-binding, Dalke said the decision was easy.
Dealing with the decision, however, hasn't been.
"He knows what he wants, and it simplifies a lot of things for him," Bill Dalke said. "He loves the pressure and putting himself out there. I can understand the questions and the concerns, but even as a seventh and eighth grader, he could have possibly or probably made the top five on a lot of college golf teams."
That's a projection that can't be made in football or basketball. While Moses is 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, he's never been on the same field as the college athletes he'll face in the fall of 2017. Dalke has, so making projections or guessing his future becomes more predictable. Making a college decision was the easy part.
"Golfers travel so much, it's different than football players," Dalke said. "I've been to a ton of places. I played at college courses with college golfers and been on their campus. OU is where I've always wanted to go."
For now, Dalke goes to school and trains and lives at the Jim McLean Golf Center in Fort Worth, Texas, during the week. He goes home on the weekend and also writes a blog for Golfweek.com.
High school is just getting started. College is a long ways off. For now, Dalke is the guy people know for being the 12-year-old who committed to going to OU.
"I'm the one who decided to do it this way," Dalke said of his golf choices. "I want to go to OU and hopefully win some championships. I want to go on tour and be No. 1 in the world and one of those guys people know about."
