Jones College

Gentry Barton enters his fourth season working with the Jones College men's golf program.

After three seasons as an assistant coach, Barton will transition to a swing coach in 2026-27.

Barton and the Bobcats continue to make tremendous strides since the program was reinstated in 2022.

The Bobcats finished as runners-up in the 2026 MACCC Championship at The Club at Ole Brook, the highest-ever finish in the conference tournament since Jones became a Division II program. Bastian Graf and Drew Groscost earned All-MACCC honors.

Jones finished 24th in the final rankings, third in the region, after a 302.1 scoring average over 28 total rounds with four Top 3 finishes.

There were also two program-firsts during the 2024-25 season. Sebastian Nowak was selected as an NJCAA Division II PING Honorable Mention All-American and Jones qualified as a team for the national tournament. 

Jones would go on to finish 14th in the national tournament out of the 22-team field.

In Barton's first year, Jones placed in the Top 5 in nine of 10 tournaments, including a season-best runner-up finish October 16-17 in the Bobcat Invitational and third place finish in the MACCC Championship. The year prior they had just four Top 5 finishes.

Kieran Morris qualified for the NJCAA National Tournament due to his fantastic season play, the first Bobcat qualifier since 2014. He'd go on to place in a tie for ninth in a field of 127 players. 

As a golf professional, Barton's knowledge of the golf swing and the game has transitioned well at Jones. 

He previously volunteered with West Jones' golf programs for a year before accepting the assistant coach job for the Bobcats.
 
Barton played soccer for Jones back in 2012-13, and after a career-ending injury, he went to work as an employee of Laurel Country Club. 
 
While finishing his bachelor’s degree at Southern Miss in 2014-2016, Barton accepted the assistant professional job at LCC. He has worked at LCC for nine years, teaching golf and helping in day-to-day operations under general manager Andy Loving. 
 
Barton also became an insurance agent in the state of Mississippi starting in 2021. 
 
Barton and his wife, Lydia, have been married for four years.