A veteran golf professional and instructor for nearly 40 years, Jeff Paton was elevated to full-time assistant coach for the Georgia Tech golf program in August of 2024. Paton had served as a volunteer coach for the team since August of 2021, along with his work coaching top-level amateur players and touring pros at all levels.
Paton has worked as a self-employed PGA Tour coach since 2015, following a 32-year career as a golf professional at various clubs in the area, including two stints as director of golf at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta, Ga., the Yellow Jackets’ home golf course.
“Jeff has been part of our program in some way shape or form for almost 30 years and was instrumental in our getting a team membership at the Golf Club of Georgia in 1996,” head coach Bruce Heppler said. “He was worked with many of our most successful alums through the years. It will be very valuable having his teaching skill set around our players on a full-time basis.”
He began his career as a golf professional while still an undergraduate student at Georgia State, working from 1983-87 as an assistant pro at Brookfield West Country Club in Roswell, Ga. He moved on to serve as an assistant pro at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Duluth in 1987 before becoming the director of golf at the Golf Club of Georgia in 1993. After a short stint as director of golf and general manager at Chestatee Golf Club in Dawsonville in the late 1990s, he returned to the Golf Club of Georgia as director of golf and GM in 2001.
Along the way, Paton has been honored as the Georgia Section PGA Teacher of the Year and Georgia Section PGA Merchandiser of the Year (twice). He has served as past president of the Georgia PGA Assistants division, the Georgia PGA North Chapter and the Georgia Golf Course Owners Association, and has served on the board of directors of the Georgia Section PGA. He is a certified PGA Tour instructor.
Having lived in the Atlanta area since age 10, Paton is a longtime Georgia Tech sports fan, attended Wheeler High School in Marietta, West Georgia College in Carrollton and Georgia State University in Atlanta.
