John Harris has a photo of his son Jordan in his office at Lowell Church of Christ, where he is the associate pastor.

It’s from his time in Ecuador, when he lived in Cuenca and worked as a missionary.

Jordan is around 2, and he’s holding a plastic golf club, addressing a plastic golf ball.

It was his golfing start.

John Harris remembers telling his wife that Jordan “can do it. He can do it even though he’s never been taught.”

The elder Harris also is the golf coach at Lowell, and Jordan, a junior, has been the Red Devils’ No. 1 player for three years.

It’s been a father-son golf story in the best possible way.

John, who played at Harding University in Arkansas, settled in Lowell in 2004.

When Jordan was old enough, they’d play at Pheasant Valley and Palmira together.

Jordan was a natural from the time he picked up a club.

“He just put the club in the right position once I showed him,” John said. “It was really cool.”

All those years of playing golf, and it’s come to this for Jordan. He really wants to qualify for state.

Jordan was right there last year at Battle Ground Golf Club.

On No. 17, a long par 5, Jordan hit two perfect shots, and he had about 50 yards to the green. He was 5-over going into 17 and figured a birdie would get him to the cut line.

There was one problem. His second shot had landed in a divot.

John was terrified. He knew getting out of a divot wasn’t a shot they had practiced much.

John couldn’t coach Jordan once he started a hole.

Jordan was on his own.

He chunked his shot, it came up short, and he made double bogey.

His state championship dream evaporated. He made bogey on the next hole and finished with an 80. The last score that qualified was 76.

“I just remember he buried his hands in his head after that shot,” John said. “It’s easy to do on that shot. That has been our motivation for this year.”

Jordan hopes he has learned from it.

It’s hard to know whether you have until a similar situation arises.

Golf is unpredictable that way.

“You can’t let your mental game go weak especially when you only have a couple of holes left,” Jordan said. “You gotta stay strong.”

Jordan has been solid this year, averaging 38.3 for nine holes.

Last Friday, he shot 75 at the Lake Central Sectional at Palmira, finishing second behind Crown Point’s Yianni Kostouros, who shot 73.

Jordan has been the medalist in six of the eight dual meets he played in, according to John. He was named first-team all-conference in the Northwest Crossroads.

He said playing golf for his dad has been an excellent experience.

“It’s great,” he said. “He helps with my game, but if I have a question about something else, I can go to him as my father. It’s a cool mixture.”

Jordan gets another chance Thursday to qualify for state at Battle Ground.

Jordan knows he can’t force it.

“I just want to have fun and trust myself,” he said. “I know I can do it. I know I’ll have some bad shots. I just can’t let it affect the whole round.”

mhutton@post-trib.com

Twitter @MikeHuttonPT