The golf academy is empty, save for a handful of driver shafts dangling from a wall and a piece of AstroTurf welded to the floor, relics of what this space once was and reminders of what could have been.
One year ago, Chason Perry needed help. His gym in Columbus, Ga., was growing, and golf was a natural extension. Perry already had success working with high school athletes who went on to receive Division I college scholarships in football and baseball. But golf presented two problems: Perry’s 26,000-square-foot building did not have a formal golf space; and Perry, a former tactical specialist in the Army and Air Force, didn’t know enough about the game. He required someone who could run the golf program, and whom parents and kids could trust.
Now, Perry tries to understand how the person he trusted tore it all down and ended up in handcuffs.
The official notice went out to membership on June 21, 2022:
We are extremely excited to welcome Scott Power to the team as our new Director of Golf Performance! Scott developed his knowledge and talents collaborating with some of golf’s best coaches, absorbing priceless knowledge … Scott has a passion to develop golfers of all skill levels and ages who share his passion.
“I get a résumé not long after I put the position up, and it’s impeccable,” Perry says. “I thought, Man, this guy is too good to be true.”
The biography Scott Power sold was impressive in scope and reach. He worked as a director of player development for legendary golf instructor Jim McLean and helped him open his first academy in China. While he was there, Power led the China Junior National golf team. Power had previous stops at a country club near Atlanta and John Hughes’ golf school in Orlando. He also was an assistant golf coach at Berry College when the team won the NCAA Division III Championship in 2014. Though it wasn’t on his résumé, Power told Perry in an interview that after his stint in China he worked for Phil Mickelson’s golf academy in Arizona.
In total, Power said he had more than 26 years of teaching experience, was TPI certified, coached players on the PGA Tour, European Tour and LPGA Tour, and had more than 200 students who earned college scholarships. And his résumé was only part of it.
“He was very charming,” says Kyle Sprague, 31. “He said all the right things.” Sprague is one of Perry’s program directors at the gym, and he had previously worked with the University of Alabama and Texas A&M University football teams. Though he had a number of golfers as clients, Sprague admittedly doesn’t know much about the swing. Yet during his introduction with Power, Sprague said it was clear Power knew his stuff.
Power told Perry he specialized in growing academies, but Perry wondered if what he was offering was a step down for someone with Power’s experience. However, Power assuaged those worries, saying his interest was spurred by a personal matter. “He had been in Atlanta before and had a son with an ex-wife,” Perry says Power told him. “He wanted to get closer to his son from where he was when I hired him, in Florida.” Perry is a married man with kids of his own and understood the pull Power must have felt. Perry offered Power the job, and within days Power showed up to the gym with a U-Haul of training accessories.
Perry already had purchased a FlightScope launch monitor, a projector, a hitting bay and mat, an iPad, mounts, a computer and putting green turf. Perry also repainted the office, which was where the academy would start, and renegotiated his lease. Conservatively, Perry estimates he invested at least $10,000. Perry also set up a partnership with the UnderArmour Junior Tour so his students had a place to play. The renovation took a month, a stretch in which Perry, Power and Sprague became close.
Power was in his late 40s and balding, yet he had a youthful, frenetic fervor that Perry and Sprague say was contagious. Despite their age difference—Power was 10 years older than Perry and more than 15 years older than Sprague—they already viewed Power as a brother. They talked football; Power was a Chicago Bears fan, and one of Perry’s favorite players was Bears quarterback Justin Fields. They played golf and hung out together and wondered what they would be able to achieve with the team they had assembled.
“He definitely tells you what you want to hear,” Sprague says. Adds Perry: “We loved Scott; he’s so personable. When you talk to him, he gets you.”
Perry and Sprague enjoyed his company so much they were willing to overlook Power’s occasional unsavory side. “He started telling me all these stories about all these messed up situations he had been in. I mean, every story he told me was like, ‘Dude, that sounds like a freaking Netflix documentary, or, that sounds like something you would read in a book,’” Sprague says, claiming Power would tell off-color tales of gambling and benders. Most shockingly, Power said that both of his daughters were murdered by one of the daughter’s boyfriends.
In some tellings, Perry and Sprague say, Power claimed both his daughters had died on the same day, and in others they had died on the same date but years apart. Power was always emotional when discussing their passing, so Perry and Sprague never pressed him on the wavering details, but the particulars did not go unnoticed. “It got me thinking, You don't by chance get involved with all these sketchy situations and all these sketchy people,” Sprague says, “unless you're a sketchy person.”
Problems emerged shortly after the golf academy’s launch in July 2022. The gym had signed up two dozen students for the program, yet a month after its opening a number of parents complained that Power had failed to show up for his scheduled lessons. A handful of clients Sprague had referred to Power relayed similar complaints regarding online instruction courses Power was supposed to manage. There also were accusations that Power was selling golf clubs to kids and parents and not delivering the equipment.
Perry heard the complaints, too, and when he asked Power what was going on, Power responded he had been at a local golf course and the kids were supposed to meet him there. Perry also set up an event to introduce Power and the new program to the community, but Power no-showed. Later, Power explained his absence had to do with “a Zoom meeting he had with the court for the murder of his daughters,” Perry says. Power would later attribute missed appointments, Perry says, to volunteering as a coach for Kennesaw State University’s golf team, helping with hurricane relief recovery efforts and to his mother dying.
Perry and Sprague were concerned, but they gave Power some latitude. “I was, like, ‘He just moved and started here,’” Sprague says. “Maybe he's just discombobulated and unorganized. It didn't seem like he was unorganized. Every time I'd see him work, he was Boom, setting up shop really quick. He was ready to go.”
It’s worth noting that the golf equipment industry battled supply chain issues because of increased demand and pandemic constraints, and the response to the lessons Power gave was overwhelmingly positive. “Scott has taught [my daughter] the technical aspects of golf that most never teach,” says one parent. “I even referred three friends who liked his lessons as well.”
“When he came to coaching golf, [Power] was great, kids loved him,” Perry says. “They drastically saw improvement in their game.” Eventually some of the first members who ordered clubs received their shipments, temporarily relieving Perry’s concerns.
However, more stories of missed lessons and late shipments rolled in, and when Perry eventually checked the internal computer system to see the status of the equipment orders, he found Power had not logged them. “When I asked him about this, he said, ‘Well, the Internet wasn’t up,” Perry says.
Whatever benefit of the doubt remained in Perry’s mind was erased in the first week of October. Perry received a call from a parent asking why Power was imploring them to pay their memberships directly to him. Perry tried to explain the gym uses an automated system to handle their billing, but the parent reasserted that Power had asked to be fronted the money. Perry went into his billing to see if there were any issues. Perry says his system had an activity tracker. On the administrative site the memberships were active, but someone had manually changed the members’ billing.
“All the memberships had been changed,” Perry says. “He canceled the memberships, resold them, deleted the prorate, and asked the parents to transfer the money over cash-apps.” On that same weekend Perry received a call from a shaft company, explaining they had been looking for Power and found him on the gym’s website. Power owed them more than $2,600 for equipment he purchased.
Perry confronted Power in a meeting that lasted more than an hour the next week, a meeting that Perry recorded. In listening to the audio, Power attempts to explain why he went into the system, believing he was correcting a mistake. Perry is indignant, retorting there was nothing that needed to be addressed. This back-and-forth continues for about 20 minutes until Power turns the conversation with an offer: What if he just rented the golf space from Perry for $4,000 a month, buys the equipment that Perry bought, splits other services 50/50 with the gym and keeps the lesson profits for himself?
During the next 20 minutes, Power makes the case for why the proposal is in Perry’s best interest, that by allowing him to focus on other parts of the gymgame, it would even make him money. In 20 minutes, Power is able to tear through the trepidation and bring Perry to the same conclusion. Perry agrees to the deal. “He’s so good and so convincing,” Perry says. “I’m busy setting up baseball [for spring], so I was sidetracked. Scott is going to pay a lease, we already changed the memberships back. We still kind of believed in him.”
Perry still had faith. Sprague didn’t, and he and one of his clients began to look into Power’s background. What they saw was a past that mirrored the present.
The business was called “Power Performance Golf,” in Acworth, Ga., but Dr. Wade Port owned the Google domain. Despite Power’s protests to take the domain down, Port kept it up just in case what happened to Port happened to someone else.
Port is a highly regarded chiropractor in Marietta, Ga. He was named 2018 Chiropractor of the Year by the Georgia Council of Chiropractic, inducted into the council’s Hall of Fame and serves on the board of directors for his state’s chiropractic association. Port also runs a golf tournament called “The Cairo Cup” to benefit recovery centers in Marietta.
Port and Power went to school together at Lassiter High in Cobb County, Ga. According to Port, Power reached out in 2020, asking Port if he wanted to run the chiropractic operation of a new golf facility Power was opening in Acworth. “I initially was shy about it,” Port says. “But he was persistent, and I was willing to kind of sit down and entertain it.”
Port originally intended to lease a portion of the 20,000-square-foot facility for his practice, which would be independent from Power’s golf academy. However, Port says Power soon approached with an offer to be a partner in Power Performance Golf. “All I was doing was asking the simple questions that you do for a normal business. What about this permit? What about these certifications? What's the liability there? What's the insurance there?,” Port says. “I had already helped design him a logo because his original logo was horrible. I'm like, Well, I'm already helping him build his company. I might as well benefit from it in the long run.”
Port agreed to a 40-percent ownership buy-in of the company. As part of the deal, Port was responsible for outfitting the facility. That meant buying launch monitors, force plates, fitness equipment, making sure wireless and software networks were in play, right down to how the facility was decorated and styled. Even as he went along with it, Port says the build-out raised his suspicions. “He'd say, ‘Hey, we gotta pay for this equipment tomorrow to save 10 grand,’ ” Port recalls. “‘I need it by tomorrow morning. I really, really need it. Or else we'll lose the deal.’ So I'd bring a check for $10,000. The next day I checked the books and see that only $5,000 of the $10,000 went to the fitness equipment. At least that's what was on the books. Of course, I kept being left with the question of, "Where'd the rest of it go?”
Then, Port says, he started to field phone calls at his office. “‘Hi, Dr. Port, I’m sorry to bother you but I’ve got a lesson scheduled right now, and there’s nobody here,’” Port says. Power also failed to appear at a number of meetings Port had arranged with local golf clubs and prominent contacts in the community. “I take my reputation very seriously, of being one of the best in the business. I’m putting out fires left and right for how he’s not showing up. I feel like a complete idiot; I was able to be so manipulated.”
The breaking point came in December 2021. Port received a phone call from Ping. The equipment manufacturer said Port owed them $10,000. Port had no idea what they were talking about. Ping sent over a contract in Port’s name with a forged signature, Port says. Power had bought a custom-fitting cart from Ping and listed Port as the guarantor. Port says Power also attempted to use Port’s social security number to open a credit card in his name.
Port was fed up and was off to let Power know about it. But when he arrived at the facility Port realized his keys no longer worked. Power had changed the locks. Left with no choice, Port filed fraud charges with the police. However, to date Port has not filed a civil suit against Power, believing it to be useless. “It became clear that to recoup or to file suit, I was gonna have to spend tens of thousands more dollars, throwing good money after bad to try to do anything,” Port says. “He's counting on that. He knows that's the case.”
Port felt one way to right the wrong was the company’s Google review domain, which he had registered. “I wanted to protect people from getting scammed,” Port says. “I wanted people who have dealt with him to realize, ‘Hey, I’m not a solo idiot out here. ’” There are just eight reviews for Power Performance Golf. All eight are one-star.
But the reviews provide little solace to Port. The fallout from his partnership with Power took a toll on his finances, marriage and health. “I finally, you know, got out of hypnosis,” Port says. “I had woken up and thought, Oh my God, you know, this is not going anywhere good.”
In total, Port says he lost more than $100,000 in his dealings with Power got him for more than $100,000.
The sublease did not solve Perry’s Power problem.
Complaints about Power poured in daily. He wasn’t showing up for lessons that were already paid for and had charged clients for clubs that never came or were already used. Power had not paid Perry for rent or the equipment he purchased from the gym. Over Thanksgiving break, Perry realized he had no choice but to confront Power again.
Perry went into the golf academy on Dec. 4. Power wasn’t there. Neither was the golf academy. All of the equipment was gone; Power had skipped town. “It was that feeling in high school when the girl you liked doesn’t like you; your heart is ripped out,” Perry says. “How much money we invested, what people had already lost, our name is going to be ruined in the golf community. There’s no coming back from this.”
Perry filed a police report with the Columbus police. It is unclear just how much money Power recounted for police all the money he claimed Power stole. There was $10,000 worth of equipment. For the month of October alone, Perry accounted for $9,100 in stolen dues and claimed another $23,250 in membership that Power canceled. Perry estimates there was at least $100,000 of planned business they were now unable to do. But because Power failed to log in lessons to the system he has no idea how much revenue he lost. Perry also found a personal notebook. Power kept a list of every member’s credit card number and home address, information that was supposed to be restricted to Perry.
Perry eventually got in touch with Tracy Lea Roslund, a woman Power had been living with across the border in Phenix City, Ala. Roslund believed Power might have been deceiving conning her, too, telling Perry that Power had recently left town. Weeks later, Roslund notified Perry that Power would be returning in two days, which Perry then passed on to the police. On Dec. 21, 2022, Power was arrested for identity fraud and forgery, stemming from the 2021 charges brought by Wade Port for the Ping equipment and using Port’s social security number.
The collateral damage was great—financial loss, yes, but also Perry’s reputation, and he feared certain relationships could never be repaired. It could take weeks, months even, to untangle the web of lies Power had laced. Yet as the holidays approached, Perry found comfort that the rehabilitation process could start and that the nightmare was over. He barely made it past New Year’s before realizing the nightmare was just beginning.
According to public records, Power’s father released him on bail on Dec. 29. He wasted little time seeking vengeance. On Jan. 3, 2023, Power sent a mass email to parents of Impact Performance’s junior program, with Perry attached. The letter begins:
Parents,
PLEASE read this email and after reading PLEASE reach out to me separately with contact information provided at bottom of Document. To start I want to apologize to all parents and students that have been involved in the Junior Program at IPRX. A lot of false and harmful information has been provided to all involved by Chason Perry and Kyle Sprague. Parents and students deserved better and I'm embarrassed to also have been a part of this program. I also have to take blame as I had past issues that are embarrassing and I will explain in this email in detail. I will help all parents get a full refund for all of the Junior Program By [sic] letters to CC companies or banks. Just provide me information needed and who I can send documents to for refunds.
Power proceeded to make a number of accusations towards Perry, writing that Perry was denied financing for the golf academy and that Power and Sprague had to front the money; that Perry was behind on his rent; that Perry tried to set up partnerships with local golf courses and was denied; that Perry and Sprague had made false domestic abuse charges that led to Power’s arrest. Power also said the arrest warrants were a misunderstanding. “No money was owed, nobody was stolen from or frauded. Just 2 partners with disagreement on Business [sic] matter. The same county charges were issued as I speak with the same DA each week as it's the same county I'm going through murder trial for my 2 daughters.”
That evening, Perry sent his rebuttal. “Scott was caught changing our billing system and telling you all that he needs to take money from you through cash app and venmo payments,” Perry wrote. “This was NEVER part of our agreement, and I assure you our system never had any issues with billing if you were told otherwise.” Perry also implored everyone to reach out to Detective Julie Johnson of the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office regarding any issues they had with Power. Perry finished by calling Power a pathological liar.
But Power persisted, reaching out to Perry four days later with a list of demands. Power wanted almost two dozen pieces of golf clubs returned or reimbursed (for an asking price of more than $3,000) by the end of the week. He asked that Perry contact the police and say the matter between them was resolved. Power also wrote that Perry made a sexual advance on Roslund, who he said was his girlfriend, and that Perry was to never contact Roslund again. Perry denies the accusation; Roslund did not respond to requests for comment for this story. “If you have an attorney you can have your attorney contact Scott Power's attorney listed below. Attorney will not speak with Chason Perry personally for any reason,” the email stated.
Perry became worried on Jan. 10 when Power reached out again, this time listing Perry’s wife’s work address in the email:
Chasen, Tomorrow my Lawyer is contacting Julie Johnson at 2:00 to make sure you have notified her that we have handled all matters. Also have not received any tracking numbers for my personal belongings that must be returned by Friday 1/13/2023. You should have been able to mail all items Monday as you should have all in your possession. If not, you have sold stolen property and should have funds in mail for reimbursement to me for all items on the list. You need to provide tracking tomorrow if items will arrive Friday. Then we all move on with our lives as planned. If not, your wife will be contacted and provided all details by Tracy and myself and listen to voice recordings of you. Do not contact Tracy, myself or my family or we will move forward immediately. We also have several people that will reach out to her by social media to explain she needs to call us. Send tracking numbers and have all arrived by Friday. Move on with your wife and kids and we wish you the best. I'm embarrassed for you man.
“You realize this guy could hurt your family,” Perry said. He forwarded the letter to Johnson and waited for the police to nail Power for what he did against his gym and membership. As Perry waited, his concerns grew that justice would not come.
Fraud cases that result in charges take time to build and coalesce. When asked for comment about the case of Power, John Wade, director of community affairs for Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, responded in May, “We do have an active investigation involving a subject with that name. The investigation is ongoing at this time. Therefore, we are refraining from commenting on that investigation until it is completed in its entirety.”
The truth about fraud in the United States is its prevalence. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there were more than 2.4 million causes of consumer fraud in 2022 totaling $8.8 billion. Most police departments in this country have fraud divisions, yet the problem is ubiquitous and extensive. Perry’s case, while totaling tens of thousands of dollars, was nothing more than a speck of a systemic issue.
“It's not that he stole from the small business. I am the small business, I'm the sole proprietor,” Perry says. “When he stole all that money, he stole all my money. If he went into a bank and stole the money from the bank, he'd already be in jail locked up and the key thrown away. But because it's a ‘business,’ it's just like, ‘Oh, well they'll be OK. and they'll figure it out.”
Perry became frustrated at the inaction, especially when he heard Power was back in action. In January 2023, Power received a new job at the Fields Golf Club in LaGrange, Ga. According to Perry, Power attempted to sell Perry’s golf academy equipment to Fields for a discount price. Not long after, a number of individuals reached out to Perry, saying that Power had sold them equipment on Facebook Marketplace that he never delivered.
“I bought a TaylorMade Stealth driver online,” says Jason Shelnutt of Kennesaw, Ga. “Never came. Everytime I asked where it was, it was, ‘Oh, I’ll have my wife ship it to you.’ Then it would be silence. I would ask for a refund, and he’d say it was coming, but it never did.” Another man, Nolan Hughes, had the same tale. Eventually, the men were on a text thread titled, “Scott Power Support Group.”
The chain did not lift Perry’s spirits. He was faced with the real threat of closing down his gym because of the money lost and reputational hit. He has become jaded toward a judicial system that, in his view, can’t defend those in need of defending. Perry hoped that if Power was eventually caught, perhaps he could recoup his finances, so he tried to go back through Perry’s résumé to see if he left a trail.
Unfortunately for Perry, he was chasing a ghost. Power had concocted a past that never occurred and erased what he was trying to escape.
Scott Power’s impeccable résumé was mostly a work of fiction. Power did not spend four years working for Jim McLean in China. “Scott was never actually employed by our golf school,” says Jon McLean, vice president of McLean Golf School. “We had a short-lived satellite partnership with a club in Shanghai, and Scott worked for the club, not directly for us. We spoke with Scott on the phone a few times, and he did come over for a couple of days of in-person instruction training before starting his job in Shanghai. Things didn't work out for him there, though.” According to McLean, the club let him go after a month “because he wasn’t showing up for work.” McLean says that was the last he had heard of him. “If he was saying three years on his résumé, that is most definitely not true,” McLean adds.
Power was not an assistant coach at Berry for a national championship. “We’ve never won an NCAA, not yet,” says Brian Farrer, who has been the head golf coach at Berry since 2002, “and he did not work here in any official capacity.” According to Farrer, Power did work at a course Berry practiced at, but Power was not part of the team.
Power did not work for John Hughes Golf for three years before arriving in Columbus, Ga. According to Hughes, Power was there only three months and owes Hughes $5,000 for equipment.
Officials with Kennesaw State confirmed Power was never a member of the program.
In his correspondence with Perry, Power listed Matthew F. Enslein as his attorney. Enslein says he has met Power but never represented him.
Power did work at Ocotillo Golf Club in Chandler, Ariz., which Phil Mickelson bought in 2017. However, the club claims impropriety in his time at the club. “Scott was stealing clubs from our Callaway demo program and selling them to his students,” says Mark Bakeman, general manager of Ocotillo. “He also took money for orders on clubs he never fulfilled. Finally, he was taking money ‘under the table’ for lessons and not having the students pay through the golf shop.” According to Bakeman, the club was short $35,000.
Aside from his “Power Performance Golf” in Acworth, Ga., background checks indicate Power had companies named “Power Golf Academy USA” and “Trophy Golf Lab” in Arizona and Georgia. He had a number of LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram pages listing different companies, but they are filled with inconsistencies. Public records show Power has filed for bankruptcy several times in Georgia in 2023 and 2007. In addition to the 2022 charge, Power was arrested for unlawful possession of a controlled substance in 1995, then violated his probation later that year. He was also charged with account fraud in Cobb County, Ga., in 2020, although the case was ultimately dropped by the prosecutor after he returned the money for passing on a bad check written in his name.
Mostly there’s a void that cannot be filled by public records or digital footprint. Those who have worked with Power would rather not talk about him, and those who do retell the lies he already told. Tracking him down proved problematic, as most of his listed phone numbers were no longer in use. Perry did his best to keep tabs on him, keeping an eye on social media and warning those in the golf industry anytime Power’s name would pop. Eventually, Power went dark, with rumors that he fled to Illinois.
That is, until August, when an Instagram page under the handle “power_golflab” appeared. Power was opening a new golf academy in Georgia. A former acquaintance found a new working number. On Aug. 4, Power agreed to an interview with Golf Digest.
Power provided some background. He worked for Jim McLean and opened McLean’s first school in China. He went to Arizona and then to Georgia, working with some tour pros along the way. His new facility in Acworth would focus on fitness but also feature a junior program. It's working with kids that he really enjoys, Power said.
“There's a couple things to it for me,” Power said. “I opened an indoor facility three years ago with my daughters, and the day that we opened, I lost them both. So for me it’s a huge way to give back.” When asked to clarify what he meant by “lost them,” Power confirmed they died. “Going to the murder trial on Monday, actually,” he said.
Power transitioned to discussing his work with Berry College and Kennesaw State. He was asked if he worked with Chason Perry. “I would say that me and him had a partnership,” Power said. “I provided everything for the facility. When we separated ways, I took over 100 percent, and we had our miscommunication about that. I would say we didn't agree on things at that time.”
The subject of Wade Port came up. “He was going to open a chiropractic center inside my building, OK? He signed a lease on that, and then he realized what the buildout costs would be, and he decided to try to become a partner with me,” Power said. “He had 90 days to fulfill his partnership, and he didn't fulfill his partnership part, so he removed himself from the business. Two days after my daughters died is when he did that.”
Power claimed Port was supposed to take an equity loan out on his house to pay for the facility and didn’t tell his wife about it. “When it came time to get the funding, she wasn't signed on the loan,” Power said. “Two days after my daughters passed, he walked in with his wife and removed his chiropractic.” The bad Google reviews stemmed from his daughters’ passing because, Power said, he “disappeared” for a month.
Power returned to the matter of Perry. “I brought $100,000 worth of equipment and then came to find out he wasn't even paying the lease,” Power said. “He had a good staff there, and they do a lot of good stuff on the baseball side, but he wasn't honest with me about his financial situation.”
Power was asked again about China, and when informed that Jon McLean said he wasn’t employed there, Power responded, “Well, you can look it up. I was the only coach that they sent there. They would be untruthful if they told you that.”
Power said after China he worked for Phil Mickelson’s golf academy, but could not identify the name of the club. Later asked about the stolen clubs from Ocotillo, he said there was missing inventory and it was blamed on him.
The interview was seemingly over after 20 minutes, only Power went on attack. He said that Perry locked the door to the golf studio and he couldn’t get in, and he missed lessons because of it. He said Perry’s baseball program was a financial disaster and that Perry needed Power and his golf venture to bail him out. For 40 minutes, Power contended that whatever happened at Impact Performance RX lies at the feet of Perry.
“There's no way I would ever move myself to Columbus, Ga., as the pit hole of hell. Outside of junior golf, there is nothing there from, you know, coming from Fort Lauderdale,” Power said. “It could have been amazing. Unfortunately I was just lied to. If he would've provided the equipment we needed, we would be sitting there right now and probably had the biggest junior program in Georgia.”
Power ended by saying thank you for getting a chance to tell his side of the story. “I appreciate you reaching out to me. I hope that gives you a good perspective on things,” Power said. “No matter what story you run, I'm still going to . . . it's my passion. It's what I love. It's the only thing that gets me through the day, especially after losing my daughters. I'm not gonna stop doing what I love. You guys will never take that from me.”
Hours before the conversation with Power, Golf Digest conducted two separate phone calls with Ashley Stose and Jennifer Gleaves. Both women are former wives of Power.
Stose politely declined to participate in an on-record interview. Asked why, she cited pending litigation. Three days after the phone conversation, Stose filed a domestic complaint against Power. Because of the sensitive nature of domestic cases, Cobb County digitally seals complaints.
Gleaves, however, is not as civil when hearing Power’s name.
“That mother—--r did everything he could to destroy us,” Gleaves said.
What followed is a stream of profanity and derogatory remarks toward Power, and the stream is broken only when she’s asked about the daughters she raised with Power. Specifically, about her daughters’ deaths. Power was not lying when he said his daughters were deceased. But they did not pass on the same day or the same date, Gleaves said. Baylee Power died on Sept. 19, 2020, at age 19. Her older sister, Talley Power, died on May 24, 2021, a month before her 21st birthday. Both died “making a mistake,” from a fentanyl overdose, Gleaves saif. Recently, the man who gave Tally the drugs pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
On Aug. 10, six days after our conversation, Power was arrested in Cobb County on charges filed by Perry. Among the charges were theft by deception, theft by taking, computer theft and financial-transaction card fraud. Additionally, Power’s trial for identity fraud and forgery filed by Port—both felonies—is set to begin later this month.
As of writing, Power was being held in Marietta, Ga., awaiting transportation to Muscogee County.
As fallout from his experience with Power, Perry lost his partnership with the UnderArmour Junior Tour, potentially a six-figure financial hit. The ordeal has put a weight on his family life, and he concedes he can’t envision a future in which his gym continues. “The hardest thing about this whole situation isn't the money loss, it’s the people in your community who you've built trust with. You work with their kids,” Perry says. “You feel like you hurt them.”
Perry knows what you’re thinking, and he agrees. How could he have not done a background check into Scott Power, something so simple that could have saved so much hurt? “I fell for him. He had this magnetic personality,” Perry says. “I’ve wondered if he was too good to be true, that I wanted him to be true. He was the most confident man I ever met, and I put my faith in him.”
Perry is ashamed of his blindness and perhaps some blame is warranted. He is also not alone, and his circumstances are not the consequence of weakness or naivety. Perry’s troubles are the price of doing business with someone who relies on others to not call his bluff. And for all the things Scott Power was not, his confidence was never in doubt.
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