It was not easy but Tayden Wallin recently made a decision that is going to take him nearly 2,500 km away.
After a long recruiting process Wallin has recently signed to attend Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, where he will join their golf team.
Walling says making the decision was a big weight off his shoulders.
“It was kind of stressful for the past year just trying to decide between schools and get all signed up for the right classes to be eligible.”
The process started last January with coaches from prospective universities calling and emailing him to let him know of their interest as well as provide him with information regarding their schools and programs.
Earlier this summer Wallin says the number of schools was cut to approximately six or seven, before he whittled that number down to two.
His decision came down to Minot State University and Midwestern State, before ultimately deciding on Midwestern.
Wallin says he chose Midwestern because he was able to golf all year round, as opposed to Minot where the golf season is much shorter, but he also liked the program, which is ranked in the top 50 in Division II golf and was really impressed when he went for a visit in October.
“It’s just a super nice city and great weather, nice people.”
The recruiting process was a long and onerous one for Wallin who noted it was kind of overwhelming.
“You just really want to do your best at the tournaments that you go to and it’s a lot of added extra pressure because all those coaches are watching all the scores that you’re shooting and just evaluating you on that and making their decisions whether to offer you scholarships.”
Wallin ran roughshod over the high school golf scene over the past four years as he won four consecutive district championships, two provincial team bronze medals and two provincial individual medals, one gold and one silver.
Wallin says the support he has received from both the school, as well as the rest of the community has been amazing.
“It just shows me that people are watching me and are proud of what I’ve done. It means a lot.”
Looking ahead to his collegiate career Wallin expects Midwestern State to help his golf game tremendously, noting that being able to golf all year round, as well as having great coaches and teammates, is going to help his game out a ton.
“Then having a coach who knows what he’s talking about and having teammates who have done it for a while and have experience just to kind of lead me through it.”
As for the classroom Wallin says he has not yet decided what he is going to study while at Midwestern but says he is leaning towards studying business.
Looking past his collegiate career, Wallin says he hopes to be able to put the four years at school to good use, continually improving on the golf course with the goal of potentially turning pro.
“If I can get to a level where I can turn pro then I’ll go for it and if not then I’ll get a job and probably continue to golf for the rest of my life.”
