After going straight from high school to the NBA, two-timechampion J.R. Smith is getting his collegeathlete experience at 35. But, he isn't playing basketball.Per NCAA rules, students cannot attend college for a sport they already played profe sionally. Since Smith played 16 seasons as a profe sional basketball player, hedecided to follow another pa sion of his when enrolling at North Carolina A&T golf.Smith will compete in hisfirst college tournament on Monday, Oct. 11 through Tuesday, Oct. 12.Smith's first college tournament is thePhoenix Invitational hosted by Elon University at the par-71, 6,867 Julian Edelman Hoodies Sweatshirts -yard Alamance Country Club golf course.MORE: Is J.R. Smith good at golf?Twelve years ago, Smith was playing in Moses Malone's charity golf tournament. He hit a 300-yard drive, and since then, he has been hooked on golf.Smith started playing golf up to six times a week, along with attending various PGA Tour events to follow around the profe sionals. He established friendships with PGA profe sionals Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Keegan Bradley. Back in 2017, Smith even caddied for Jason Day at the World Golf Championships., Smith has a 5 handicap. Men's handicaps range from 0 to 28, with the average being 14.2. However, collegiate golfers at the Division I level tend to have handicaps below 3. NC A&Tgolf coach Richard Watkins,who gave Smith the chance to join the team, said in that they wanted to see how good of a golfer Smith was before signing him, and he impre sed them despite a higherhandicap.After we had played about four or five holes, my a sistant coach and I kind of looked at each other, and we were like: Uh, yeah. He can play, Watkins said. Hes not just a good golfer for an NBA player. Hes just a good golfer, and hes going to be significantly better.Smith didn't qualify for the Aggies' first tournament in September, which Smith announced via Twitter.Didnt make the team qualifier for our tournament this weekend bitter sweet feeling to have wishing my teammates the best this weekend go get em fellas!! JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) Smith has also hosted 11 Gunner Olszewski Jersey years of his own charity golf tournament, which he named the J.R. Smith Annual Charity Golf Cla sic.Why J.R. Smith is playing college golfWhen Smith was a senior in high school, he had multiple offers to play college basketball, including an offer to the University of North Carolina. Smith ended up declining all the offers because his family was in need of money after his father got sick. He needed the paycheck to help his family, David Andrews Jersey but UNC said he was always welcome to come back to school if he wanted.Smith claims to have always thought about returning to college. So as his love for golf grew, he decided it was time to enroll in school.Golf is one of those games that has you feeling really high and or can bring you down to your knees and humble you, Smith said, . And to have that feeling and knowing that all of the games pretty much on my own hands, and I dont have to worry about teammates to pa s the ball and receiving pa ses and playing defense I can play my game and just have fun.Smith reached out to his friend and fellow NBA playerChris Paul, who then told his brother C.J. to speak with Watkins about Smith's potential to play for NC A&T. Since NC A&T is a historically black college (HBCU) and C.J. lives in North Carolina near the university, he thought NC A&T would be a good fit for Smith. Watkins opened his arms to Smith, and the rest is history.It's a big deal for A&T. It's a big deal for him, Watkins said, . It's not very often that somebody in his position really has an opportunity to have a thought, a dream, an idea, and to be able to go ahead and move in that direction."What Jim Plunkett Jersey is J.R. Smith's college major?Not only will Smithhit the golf course, he has been hitting the textbooks, too. Smith chose to major in liberal studies, and he has detailed his college experience for his fans through his Twitter account. Some of his tweet updates on college life have gone viral. Here are some of his best tweets about adjusting to college life.85 on my midterm!!!! Liberal Studies cla s JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) Pi sed about this 72 i got on my quiz JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) 75/75 African History Quiz JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) Had my first golf team practice yesterday!! The experience is amazing! John Hannah Jersey Cant wait for the opportunity to put our skills on as a team! So many great teammates with great tips to get around the course!! Learning so much from these dudes! JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) Another great tutoring se sion! For sure asking for more hours, a little extra help ain't never hurt nobody! JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) J.R. Smith's golf swing and highlightsWhile playing with Rickie Fowler in a pro-am event, Smith asked Fowler for some advice on his game.Always improving. picks 's brain for some swing tips. PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) Although this video is now five years old, it shows Smith's swing in motion.This video shows some of Smith's best drives caught on camera. The second drive was from Smith's celebrity tournament run at the Quicken Loans tournament in 2017.