BUIES CREEK, N.C. - It's difficult to imagine that a decade ago, one of the best golfers in the Coastal Athletic Association did not like the game. 
 
Not at all.
 
Oh, how times have changed.
 
Initially, Jade Potter accompanied her father, Andy, on his weekly visits to a local driving range.  She joined a Saturday practice group and "hated" (her word) it.
 
Until she met her friend, Lara.  Then she found a golfing community.
 
When she enrolled at Campbell University in the summer of 2023, she found an extended family.
 
"We have such a good culture," said Potter, the lone senior on this year's women's team.  "We all push each other and accept each other for who we are.  There's no having to 'fit in.'  It feels like home.  It feels like family.  Everybody looks after you."
 
During the recruitment process, Campbell's head coach – now Director of Golf – John Crooks and his former assistant Ashley Sease saw something they liked in Potter's game.  Injury and an emergency surgery hampered her development over her first three semesters. 
 
Potter's rise on Campbell's roster and among CAA players follows a more traditional college athlete's pattern of improvement.  Adjust to the level, improve, then make an impact as experience is gained.
 
She's also learned to trust the process.
 
Why Campbell?
Were it not for a late withdrawal in the 2022 British Girls Championship at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland, Potter might not ever have had the opportunity to play for the Camels.
 
"I was actually on the waiting list and got the call that I'd get to play the night before," Jade recalled.  "It's crazy. I guess if that one person didn't pull out, then I wouldn't be here."
 
Despite a poor first round score on one of the toughest courses in the world, Crooks and Sease saw something in Potter's game they liked.
 
"I was playing so bad," Potter said.  "I hit it pretty good off the tee but shot 80-something. I met Coach and Ashley. They were so supportive and considering that I had played so badly that day and they were still so interested in me.  I played better the second day, shot 2-over or something on the hardest golf course I've played."
 
Not only was Potter impressed by the staff's interest, but the school's location, make up of the team and facilities sold her on Campbell and its golf program.
 
"I spoke to a couple other schools but felt like (the Campbell coaches) really cared about me," she said.  "The   location of Campbell – not too far from the airport to get a flight home – was important. I loved the fact that it was an international team. I needed to have the golf course nearby.  I came out for a visit, just loved the place and the coaches."
 
An honors student studying sports communication, Potter truly values both her athletic and academic scholarships.
 
"My scholarship, obviously, means a lot," she said.  "Coming from a different country – it's going to be expensive – even if you're on a full scholarship.  To be able to come here is less expensive than if I was going to college in the U.K. and you're treated like a proper athlete here.  You've got your trainer, you've got your strength coach, you've got your coaches.  Everyone here supports you and you have someone to go to for every single problem.  That's one of the best things."
 
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Early days
Jade was born in Sydney, Australia, moved to England when she was a toddler, then on to Scotland during her teenage years. 
 
It was during her time in England that 12-year-old Jade met Lara, and with a friend to share the experience, started to enjoy the game.  Jade then found a group of a dozen or more girls at Northampton Golf Club and had a larger community in which to play and compete.
 
From there she began working with putting coach Nick Soto, who also works with Solheim Cup standout Charley Hull and a number of other professionals, as well as her first swing coach, Dan Wood, and strength coach, Jamie Greaves.
 
"Nick helped me see a lot more ambition in golf," Jade recalled.  "I was never that good when I was young, but that gave me a bit of grit and determination to get better."
 
At 16, she decided to enroll at Loretto, a boarding school in Scotland that provided her with the opportunity not only to improve her game but also would give her the experience of living away from home.
 
"I'd always had the idea of coming to America in my head and thought that if I went to boarding school in Scotland for two years, then maybe the move to America would be a bit easier," she said.
 
During her time at Loretto, Potter's game developed.
 
"I learned how to work on my own when it comes to golf," said Jade of her time at Loretto.  "I also met my current coach (Fintan Bonner) and he helped me take my golf from being a good county and club player to being able to compete on the national stage.  I love his motivation, the way he works, very positive, believes in the process, and has the same values as me when it comes to golf."
 
The journey
Potter arrived at Campbell in the fall of 2023 and was coming off knee surgery to repair torn meniscus.  The squad she joined returned three players from the previous season's league championship team along with two highly-touted freshmen, who by the end of the year, were 1-2 in the lineup.
 
"I rushed back into it a bit too quickly, and my golf was very immature," Jade admitted.  "Especially the Swedish girls had started playing earlier than I did and had very good course management.  I hit it far but had very bad course management.  I didn't play very well and was working too many hours on the range trying to figure something out and it wasn't coming."
 
She competed in only two tournaments during her first three semesters, then underwent an emergency appendectomy in November 2024.
 
"When I had my appendix out that November, I had to take a month and a half off," said Potter.  "I think that gave me the mental re-set; I started to enjoy my golf more. I earned my spot in the team in the first qualifying back from the surgery."
 
As the weather warmed up, so did Jade's game.  Potter recorded her best two scores on the collegiate level in the final round of the Daniel Island Invitational (73) and City of Oaks Collegiate (72). 
 
After a tough outing in the Chattanooga Classic to close the regular season, she traveled to the CAA Championship at Southport, N.C., but was not in the lineup for the opening round at The Reserve Club at St. James.
 
"Coach actually sat me down after the first round and said, 'I don't know if you're ready,'" Jade recalled.  "I told him, 'I'm ready and you can sub me in.' Coach always gives me a little nudge when he needs to. It gives me motivation, and he's done it many times."
 
She made the most of her chance on April 12, 2025.
 
Potter fired back-to-back one-over 73s over the final 36 holes of the CAA tournament to help the Camels finish just six shots out of the lead.  She also secured a place in the starting lineup for the NCAA Lubbock Regional three weeks later.
 
"It was amazing," Jade recalled.  "I'd gone from not playing for a year and a half to basically playing in every event for the team. When I was not in the lineup for the conference, I was annoyed, but I'd always told myself that as long as I worked the hardest on the team, my opportunities would come."
 
Just over one year later, she not only had played in every event for the Camels during the 2025-26 season but earned a spot on the CAA All-Championship team after tying for fourth place (71-72-78—221) in the league tourney.
 
"I've learned to trust my process," said Jade.  "I try to have a mentality of being very positive and trusting myself. I didn't do that the first year and a half I was here.  Not everybody's journey is that same as each other.  At some point, I might be playing on the LPGA tour. The end goal is the same and how I get there, it doesn't matter."
 
Camels on the bag
Over the summer break, in addition to competing in tournaments, Jade serves as a caddie at the Renaissance Club near Edinburgh, which has hosted the Genesis Scottish Open since 2019.  During the 2025 pro-am, she found out just how wide the Campbell Golf alumni network stretches.
 
Her player in the pro-am happened to be in a group with Sepp Straka, who was among the top-10 players in the world at the time.  Straka's caddie is Duane Bock, a 1992 Campbell graduate and four-time all-conference performer, who played his senior year (1990-91) for Coach John Crooks.
 
"I was wearing my Campbell cap when I was caddying in the group with Straka, then Duane came up to me and said, 'Roll Humps,'" Jade recalled.  "I asked him, 'how do you know that?' and he said, 'Oh, I played there.'"
 
Bock and Potter swapped contact info, and she followed Straka the whole week during the tournament, where she also got to see 2019 Campbell grad Jesper Svensson during his rookie year on the PGA TOUR.
 
"Campbell is such a small place, if you know someone who's from there, you're automatically friends with them," said Jade.  "That was so nice. Duane still texts me to this day – he texted the other day and said good luck in the tournament."
 
Potter and Bock bonded over their relationship with Crooks and their shared experience as Campbell Golf team members.  She saw how Bock worked with Straka, particularly regarding course strategy and management.
 
Jade realizes the bond between Campbell Golf alumni is strong and she has enjoyed being a part of that group.
 
Interactions with former Campbell golfers at the annual Battle for the Creek alumni tournament at Keith Hills along with other encounters – whether it's a round and a meal with Sarah Lewallen '11 or another alum – provide Jade with a "sense of family away from home."
 
Summer of 2026
Coming off a strong performance in the CAA Championship, Potter's confidence was at an all-time high when she returned to Scotland to compete this summer. 
 
She opened play in the Scottish Women's Amateur where she finished T6th (+1).  Potter then played in the St. Rule Trophy at St. Andrews, where she shot 6-under on the new course 5-over on the legendary Old Course.
 
Jade had played for the Scottish Girls national side on one prior occasion before she was chosen to compete on the women's national team for the European Women's Team championship.
 
When she teed off at PGA National Slieve Russell resort in Bally Connell, Ireland, Potter not only wore her national team colors, but also competed against current (Fanni Gronlund of Finland) and former (Mira Berglund of Sweden) Camel teammates.
 
"It was strange to play on a different team than Fanni and Mira; we're always rooting for each other, but not this time," said Potter with a smile.
 
She capped her summer competition with a fourth-place finish at the Belgian Amateur and by playing in the Men's and Women's Home International matches in Ireland.
 
The daughter of a Scottish father (Andy) and English mother (Lisa), Jade chose to represent Scotland when the time came to play for her national team.
 
"I love Scotland. It's the place that resonates with me the best," said Potter.  "The people are friendly, life is so nice, and Scotland has so much natural beauty. I live on the East coast just outside Edinburgh.  I love Scotland golf, I love links courses, there's nowhere else in the world I'd want to be."
 
A fast start
Jade and the Camels opened the 2026-27 season with back-to-back runner-up finishes.  In the Golfweek Fall Challenge at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in Pawley's Island, S.C., Potter tied for fifth with Gronlund (+1) as the Camels completed the event 5-over as a team.  Freshman Miah Rivas won the individual title, and Campbell produced its best team finish since a runner-up showing in March of 2025 at the City of Oaks Collegiate.
 
A week later, the team again placed second on the leaderboard, behind only host Ball State, in the Brittany Kelly Classic.  Rivas finished T5th, while Potter, Gronlund, Yukino Kudo and Linn Svedlund all tied for 20th place.
 
Through two events, Campbell's head-to-head won-lost record is 33-2.
 
For the first time since the 1990 spring season, Campbell's head coach is someone other than John Crooks.  Val Patino was elevated to head coach over the summer after serving as Crooks' assistant, then associate head coach.
 
The only senior on Campbell's '26-27 roster says that the transition has been smooth.
 
"We've found a really good balance," said Potter of the adjustment to a new head coach.  "She gives us flexibility, gives us drills to do every week, but lets us do them on our own time. She knows we have lives outside the golf course.  It's a really good coach-to-player relationship.  I can go to her about a lot of things, and she'll always have an answer. If not, she'll get an answer."
 
Crooks, who remains on the Camel staff as Director of Golf, quickly learned how well Patino works with her players during competition.  In her first two outings as an assistant, Patino helped lead Campbell to a runner-up finish at the 2024 Clemson Tiger Classic and the title at the 2024 Golfweek Fall Challenge.
 
"She's very good on the golf course," said Potter of her head coach.  "Val doesn't show a lot of emotion as to how the team is playing. That's really important.  It can affect the team when their coach is really up and down with their emotions depending on how the team's playing."
 
Patino, who was a five-time all-conference performer at Idaho (2018-22), is not too far removed from her playing days to forget what it was like to hold the club in your hands.
 
"She always says, 'as long as you try your best, I'm never going to be mad at you,'" said Potter of Patino.  "Last year was a bit of a rough year and we weren't ranked where we wanted to be, but not once was she annoyed, not once was she disappointed in us because she knew the five girls she took each week (to a tournament) were working hard and all wanted to be there."
 
Patino also realizes that her players have responsibilities as students away from practice, competition and workouts.
 
Last year's squad produced a 3.803 grade-point average, the highest among all 21 Fighting Camel varsity programs.  The Camels also received the NCAA Public Recognition Award, which is presented to teams who earn multiyear Academic Progress Rates in the top 10 percent of all schools in their respective sport.
 
Potter has earned CAA Commissioner's Honor Roll status in each of her first three years.  A self-described golf nerd, Jade might one day like to serve as an on-course reporter for Golf Channel or another TV outlet.  Among the courses she's taken are TV production and sports reporting.  She assists in social media content creation for the Campbell golf teams and has honed her interviewing and writing skills.
 
In addition, she finds time to lead the international subcommittee on Campbell's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
 
"I enjoy my classes. Most of the time I try to get my schoolwork done on the day it's set, but there's a lot of homework in the van traveling to and from tournaments," said Potter.  "The flexibility from professors here is amazing. Because we have such small classes, you get to know your professors here on a personal level.  They're willing to help.  I just try to be productive at the golf course and home and still allow myself to have a bit of free time."
 
Potter's golfing goals are simple.
 
"I really want to win this year as an individual," said Potter.  "Our goal as a team is to win the conference.  Going to nationals isn't even out of the question. My sophomore year at regionals, we didn't finish well but were in the mix."
 
Beyond this season, she would like to compete in the 2027 Curtis Cup and eventually play in the Augusta National Women's Amateur.
 
Leaning on her trust in the process, Potter says that she will "turn professional when the time is right."
 
As the only senior on an eight-player roster that includes four freshmen, her advice is also straightforward.
 
"Enjoy it and don't overwork yourselves," said Potter.  "Be really specific with what you want to do and achieve.  Enjoy it. Stay competitive. That pushes us all."
 
Q&A with Jade Potter
 
Best piece of golf advice I've ever heard
Trust the process; I know it sounds clichéd' but it's really changed my golf. When I step on the first tee, I know I've prepared for everything.
 
Golf heroes
Tiger Woods.  I love the way he pushed boundaries.
 
Favorite course I've played
Royal Dornoch
 
Toughest course I've played
Carnoustie
 
My ideal 4-some
My Dad, Nial Horan (One Direction), Tiger Woods, Andy Murray
 
Something most people don't know about me
I have a twin sister