LOGAN, Utah – Hayden Eckert is the type of person others just gravitate toward.
"He is the kind of guy everyone loves to be around just because of his funny personality," said Utah State golfer Gabe Hunter, who just completed his freshman season with the Aggies. "He always seems to be loving and enjoying life, and it definitely rubs off on everyone."
Colten Cordingley, who will be entering his senior season this fall, agreed.
"Hayden is hilarious," Cordingley said. "He was friends with everyone, and would do anything for anyone."
Andy Hess, another senior-to-be at Utah State, has known Eckert since the two were playing junior golf. Hess said Eckert was the same back then as he is today.
"Hayden is one of those people that just brings a smile to your face when you see them," Hess said. "He is very energetic and outgoing, very easy to talk to and was very passionate about playing on the team. He was fun to play with, even in our junior golf days playing together. I always looked forward to playing with Hayden, and I will miss having him around the team."
Eckert, one of two seniors on this year's Utah State golf team, recently graduated with a degree in agricultural systems technology with an emphasis in agricultural business. He reflects back on his time as an Aggie with fond memories.
"My time as a student-athlete at Utah State was amazing and something I won't ever forget," Eckert said. "It's a job you look forward to waking up every single day for. It will be an experience I will remember for the rest of my life. The friendships I made not only on the golf team, but being associated with other teams, as well, made the experience that much better."
As a senior, Eckert competed in six events, recording a season-low round of 71 at the Cal State Northridge-hosted Bill Cullum Invitational.
Utah State played what proved to be its final tournament of the 2019-20 season in early March at the South Dakota State-hosted Jackrabbit Invitational in Boulder City, Nev. The rest of the season was canceled shortly thereafter due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"With my collegiate career coming to an end the way it did, I was mainly shocked," Eckert said.
"It was honestly hard to believe at first because we have never faced anything like this before. All the work you and your team were putting in to prepare for the conference championships, and then being completely shut down randomly, was extremely frustrating. The way my career ended, the thing I have taken away is you can't take an experience like this for granted. It seems like yesterday I was at my first golf practice when I was a freshman; now I am a moving on to the next step in life."
Utah State head golf coach Dean Johansen recalls one of his very first meetings with Eckert.
"He is one of the kids I have a vivid memory of meeting with him about being a potential student-athlete," Johansen said. "Being able to sit across the table from this 17-year old kid, a kid who knew how to work and was a leader, is something I will never forget.
"He worked his ass off. If he tripled the first hole, (assistant golf coach Erik) Skinner and I would look each other and say, 'I'm not worried about,' and he'd finish even or 1-under par. He was a grinder, and he was a quiet leader. If someone was complaining about his round, Hayden would ask, 'What went well for you?' He could bring everybody back to where they belonged."
Hess appreciated the leadership Eckert brought to the team.
"He was always pushing you to be the best, even when he wasn't at his," Hess said. "He always made sure you were doing what you needed to do, both on and off the course, and even though he has a very relaxed personality, he always was very competitive and made you play your best to beat him. It was fun playing both with and against him, it always is."
As a freshman in 2016-17, Eckert finished the season with a stroke average of 73.72 over 25 rounds, including a season-low 54-hole score of 3-over 213 (71-77-65) at the Notre Dame-hosted Gridiron Classic, which he considers one of his most memorable rounds as an Aggie.
"It was a very long and challenging course," Eckert said of the Warren Golf Course in South Bend, Ind. "I'm not sure what I ate the night before or really what got into me, but golf was by far the easiest sport that day for me. I shot my first collegiate bogey-free round."
Eckert carded a career-low 5-under 65 to finish tied for 20th place at 3-over 213 (71-77-65). His 5-under 65 was tied for the best round of the tournament.
"His mental toughness was something to behold," Johansen said. "He would grind, and he held the group together. On trips where he didn't make it, you could tell there was a definite void in team unity."
As a sophomore in 2017-18, Eckert's season-low 54-hole score was a 4-under 212 (69-69-74) at the Cal State Northridge-hosted Bill Cullum Invitational, where he tied for sixth. After carding back-to-back rounds of 69, he found himself in second place, just one shot off the lead. As a team, the Aggies would go on to win the tournament.
"I played very well the first 36 holes," Eckert recalled. "The highlight that helps me remember those rounds is when coach came up to me in the fairway on hole nine with a tucked back-right pin. He made it very clear not to be long because it would be absolutely dead there. Well what did I do? I hit it long, of course. We get up there and, yes, I would have to hit the chip of my life to keep it close – if not it would fall off the first ridge where the pin is, catch the second ridge and most likely run off the front of the green.
"I went for a dead-hand flop shot and it came out way too perfect, landed in the rough and nestled down right on the lip. I tapped in for par and turned around and just gave coach a nice little wink. To this day, I still do not think he understands how I pulled that shot off."
Eckert played 74 career rounds during his time as an Aggie. He had 13 rounds under par, four rounds in the 60s, three finishes under par, three top-10 finishes and five top-20 finishes.
"The forefront of my memories looking back is easily the friendships I made in the four years I was at Utah State, and the memories we made together," said Eckert, whose favorite golfer is Brooks Koepka. "I am sure we will talk about them for a long time. Another thing I would like to say is that I am thankful for the athletics department for all their hard work, and for the golf coaches taking a shot at me to help our golf team."
One fond memory Cordingley has of Eckert is filling his teammate's bag full of rocks.
"We went to St. George one weekend for practice with the team," Cordingley said. "I was grouped with Hayden for qualifying and he was whooping up on me after about the fourth hole. So, I started dropping rocks down his golf bag to make it heavier and hopefully, wear him out. By the end of the round, I had probably dropped 15-20 rocks in the club slots of his bag and he never noticed. I did come back and barely beat him that day.
"When we got back to Logan the next day, he still hadn't noticed and went to class for a couple of hours. While he was gone, I cleaned out all the rocks and still to this day, he has no idea he was carrying quite a few extra pounds."
Eckert certainly knows now.
"We are going to miss him," Cordingley said. "We had lots of laughs and good memories."
Added Hess: "I will miss the atmosphere he provided. He brought such great energy to the team room practices and tournaments. He was always quick with a joke to lighten the mood when things weren't going well, and was just really optimistic all the time. That's what I will the most about Hayden."
The son of Mike and Richelle Eckert is back in his hometown of Buhl, Idaho, where he is working on his family farm – Eckert and Sons, Inc. – of about 5,000 acres. The farm is crop-oriented, and the family raises sugar beets and barley, which goes to major beer companies and such. They also have hay and silage corn for dairy feed.
"I have worked on the farm for as long as I can remember and I wanted to come back to Idaho and continue with my family," Eckert said. "I will be the fourth generation coming back to our farm."
Prior to making his way to Utah State, Eckert was a four-year letterwinner at Buhl High School, where he had a 69.3 scoring average as a senior and tied for first in state before losing in a playoff. He won the 2015 3A individual title and was named the 2015 KMVT-TV Golfer of the Year. As a sophomore in 2014, he tied for first at state and lost in a playoff.
Eckert was a part of four-consecutive Idaho 3A State Golf Championship teams from 2013-16, and was also a four-year letterwinner in basketball, averaging 19.8 points, 4.5 assists and 2.4 steals per game as a senior.
As a basketball player, Eckert was named the 2016 SCIC Player of the Year, Idaho All-State All-Star, Wendy's National Heisman State Finalist, and was named to the IDSports.com All-Tournament Team and the East-West All-Star game. He was tabbed the 2015 Times-News Player of the Year and the 2015 KMVT-TV Player of the Year, and earned first-team all-state honors from 2014-16.
What was it about Utah State that made Eckert want to become an Aggie?
"The thing that made me want to become an Aggie was easily the campus and the athletics program regarding culture, the success of other teams and the facilities," he said. "We have one of the best campuses, in my opinion, in the country, and the atmosphere during other team's games was something I wanted to be a part of."
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June 15, 2020 at 10:09PM
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UTAH STATE GOLF SENIOR FEATURE: Hayden Eckert The Type Of Person Everyone Wants To Be Around - Utah State Aggies
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