Onsted's Jayden Valasek gets experience of a lifetime with Good Good Golf

ONSTED — If you could do anything or meet anyone, who would it be and what would you do?

For Onsted sophomore Jayden Valasek, the answer was easy.

He wanted to play with Good Good Golf, a group which launched their golf-based YouTube channel in 2020 and has grown in popularity.

"I've always watched their YouTube channel and I've always wanted to play with them," Valasek said. "I started watching two years ago when I knew I was going to be on this high school golf team and I wanted to learn some things."

Valasek was recently granted his dream through Make-A-Wish and got to meet and play with the guys from Good Good Golf at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida during a tournament.

The group entered into a four-man scramble tournament and also gifted Valasek two putters and Fanatics gave Valasek a driver. The video, which was posted two weeks ago, is well over 100 thousand views.

"It was fun getting to play with them," he said. "They're really good and they seem the same (off camera). Coming home after I couldn't believe I got to do that."

Make-A-Wish is something Valasek has been a candidate for all of his life.

His mother, Katie Valasek, was told during her pregnancy Jayden would have a number of birth defects.

He was born with heterotaxy syndrome (a rare condition where many organs in the chest are formed abnormally, in the wrong position or even missing), hypoplastic right heart syndrome (the right side of the heart didn’t develop leaving one ventricle), polyspleenia (multiple splenules unsure if they work, leaving Jayden immunocompromised), dextrocardia (heart is located on the right side of the chest), situs Inversus (a rare genetic condition which the organs in the chest and abdomen are reversed, flipped and on the opposite side of the body) and congenital diaphragmatic hernia (diaphragm didn’t close in utero and allowed his stomach, intestines and part of the liver to get into his chest cavity preventing his right lung from developing).

She was told he only had a 10% chance to survive, but here he is.

When he was 1-year-old, following a second open heart surgery, the doctors brought up Make-A-Wish for the first time.

When he was 4, following his third open heart surgery, the doctors brought it up again.

"I wanted him to wait until he was older so he could make a good wish that he would remember," she said. "I just kept waiting and waiting and he started talking about it more and we said, 'OK it's time.'"

After years of waiting for the Valasek family to use their Make-A-Wish, the Valasek had to wait. It took about eight months for Make-A-Wish to get in contact and setup something with Good Good Golf.

In fact, Make-A-Wish asked if Jayden would want to change his mind, but he was set on his wish.

"Right before they contacted us that they set something, they told us they were having trouble getting ahold of them," Katie said. "They were worried about the wait. He for sure wanted to wait. He said he'd wait as long as he had to."

It was worth the way wait.

"Absolutely," she said. "There's no doubt in my mind."

There's no doubt the trip also helped his golf game for his team back in Onsted.

Valasek went from bouncing between the junior varsity and varsity squad to not only solidifying his spot on the varsity squad, but he was the Wildcats' No. 1 golfer for the Lenawee County Invite.

"He's been playing really well," coach Brad Maska said. "He's a great kid that loves the game. As much as he loves the games, it's really good to see the rounds he's been having the last couple of weeks.

"His putting he struggling early in the year, but he's starting to knock that down. Probably because he got two new putters from the event."

Not only did he get the new putters from Good Good Golf, but he got to use a caddie at the event, which has helped him look at courses differently.

"He helped a lot on the green," Valasek said. "I didn't see what he was saying, but he was right most of the time. He gave me a couple tips and I've been using them."

Even on the channel, in a time of age where social media spews negative thoughts and energy, the video has brought some confidence to Jayden's game.

"Some of the comments are like, Jayden is such a good golfer and I can't believe he's that good," Katie said. "I think that was great for Jayden to see from other people's perspective and now he has that video he can keep to have as a memory for the rest of his life."

As far as what Jayden wants to do after high school, it's not clear.

He's in uncharted territory for someone with his condition.

"We just live day-by-day," Katie said. "It's exciting to see him out doing his thing because I know it could've been a very different outcome. They don't have kids with his condition to compare to. They don't have long term information on them. We don't know a lot.

"He's doing well. That's all we really know."

After the trip, Valasek knows what he wants to do with his future.

"He absolutely wants to be a pro golfer," Katie said. "After this experience, that's where he's got his heart set."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Onsted's Jayden Valasek gets Make-A-Wish granted with Good Good Golf