Making a difference since 2014
2023 Season
January 12, 2024: As I “shelter in place” today during a good old fashioned Wisconsin blizzard, I can’t help but reflect on what a wonderful year 2023 was at The Caddie & Leadership Academy. This past summer saw continued growth with two new locations (The Links at Lawsonia and Chenequa CC) and the implementation of a new partnership/mentorship program with the association representing PGA Tour Caddies (APTC). More about this mentorship program later. The Caddie & Leadership Academy continues to provide a path forward for many of the seventy plus students that apply/qualify for the Evans Scholarship over the coming years. This past December 12th, three of the sixteen students selected for the Evans here in WI were from The Caddie & Leadership Academy. As we look ahead and because of our improved recruiting efforts, our pipeline of qualified candidates continues to grow with us anticipating we will have ten plus very qualified candidates apply for the scholarship this Fall.
We are also excited to announce that we will be adding two new chapters to our program this year, one in Madison (The TPC of WI) and one in Racine (Racine CC). We have already started the recruiting process for those two locations and are confident we can find deserving and hardworking students to fill those youth caddie positions.
Below are some of the highlights and successes of 2023.
Asher Patterson from Meadowbrook CC in Racine, Jacob Kaepernick from Westmoor CC in Brookfield and Grace Begotka from The Club at Strawberry Creek in Kenosha were finalists for The Evans Scholarship. Asher, Jacob, and Grace were part of a final interview process that took place on Tuesday, December 12th at Ozaukee CC in Milwaukee. The finalist interviews were attended by multiple members from the clubs where the students caddied (both in-person and virtually), the Evans Scholarship Selection Committee, and WSGA and Western Golf Association Directors. They were three of the sixteen student caddies from across the State of WI, based on their outstanding interviews, awarded this prestigious scholarship. The life-changing scholarship award packages (each award having a total value of over $150K) arrived at the finalists' homes on December 23rd and, as you can imagine, made for an incredible Christmas!
We couldn’t be prouder of their accomplishments. The Evans is a full, four-year tuition and housing scholarship that is awarded to student caddies based on their outstanding academic and caddie records as well as financial need. Grace is the first recipient of the Evans Scholarship from Strawberry Creek!! Asher is the third member of his family from The Caddie & Leadership Academy to receive the scholarship. Asher’s older brother Elias was the first Evans recipient from our Caddie Academy in 2018 and his older sister Kyrie was an Evans recipient in 2020. Jacob was the fifth recipient of the Evans Scholarship from Westmoor in the last two years. None of the successes would have been possible without your continued support. Again, so proud of their accomplishments!
Both Grace and Asher were also selected to participate in a unique mentorship program started this Summer by The Caddie & Leadership Academy and The PGA Tour’s professional caddies (APTC). This mentorship program paired up the top Caddie Academy participants with top PGA Tour caddies. Below is a link to an article highlighting this partnership done by the award winning and current President of the Golf Writers Association of America, Gary D’Amato.
Grace was fortunate to have Jim “Bones” McKay (Justin Thomas’s caddie and part-time NBC/Golf Channel reporter) as her mentor. Asher was paired with Michael Greller (Jordan Speith’s longtime caddie). Michael was able to attend the final interview (virtually) and commented on Asher’s many academic and extracurricular achievements. They both conducted many Facetime calls with their mentors where they talked about a wide variety of topics. Grace and Asher both spoke about how much they appreciated the time Bones and Michael gave them this Summer despite their busy schedule traveling the world with Justin and Jordan. Grace and Jim even spoke while Bones was caddying during The Open in Scotland. She also shared that Jim was very open about some struggles he faced as a young caddie and how she gained so much confidence by spending time with him during the mentorship sessions. There were some poignant moments during Grace’s interview when she described how The Caddie Academy experience at Strawberry Creek and her mentorship from Bones, helped her more than anything she has ever done to overcome anxiety/shyness issues she has deeply struggled with her entire life. When asked by the committee what would it mean to her and her family if she were to be awarded the Evans? Grace responded; “I always just assumed I would go on to UW-Madison because I knew I was gifted academically and that’s were I’ve always wanted to go….until one day I realized it wasn’t in the cards because of family finances”. All three scholarship awards are truly life changing and thanks to everyone’s support in making this a reality.
We look forward to continuing our partnership between The Caddie & Leadership Academy and The Association of Professional Tour Caddies next Summer.
Phil Poletti, Executive Director and Grace Begotka, Evans Recipient at The Evans Selection Meeting on Dec 12th, 2023 at Ozaukee CC in Milwaukee, WI.
2022 Highlights
2022 Evans Recipients from Westmoor; Front Row L to R are Amyra Larry, Tony Galusha, Kosta Tourloukis, Keagan Schmitt and Phil P. Back Row L to R (Westmoor Staff and Volunteers) Vince Pulizzano (Head Pro), Mike Schmidt (C&LA Board), Daniel Morn (Westmoor GM) Barry Hentz (WGA Director and C&LA Board) and Kevin Frisinger (WGA Director and Volunteer)
Zindzi Frederick in front of Caddie House after receiving the good news on Christmas Eve
Evans Recipients L to R; Chloe Fritz and Zindzi Frederick
As we begin 2023 and reflect back on our 2022 program, it's hard to describe the joy and pride our team feels for the seventy students who participated in our five program chapters across Wisconsin. The students worked hard, engaged with their caddie clients and joyfully participated in the weekly leadership training classes. Our dedicated volunteers put in countless hours recruiting, training and mentoring these young people over the Summer. This activity culminated in nine of these students (HS Seniors) applying for the Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship which is a full, four-year tuition and housing college scholarship.
I am thrilled to announce that six of those students were finalists and, as a result of their outstanding in-person interviews on December 13th, all six were unanimously awarded the scholarship. Many of our volunteers were present for the interviews. It was a day filled with joy, tears and pride as we listened to the stories of how the finalists overcame the challenges of becoming outstanding caddies, with little or no knowledge of golf, and then thrust into a completely new and, safe to say, intimidating environment. It was especially gratifying to hear how the students relied on the leadership principles we teach weekly to help them overcome those fears as well as the many other challenges young people face today. The life-changing scholarship award packages (each award having a total value of over $150K) arrived at the finalists' homes on December 23rd and, as you can imagine, made for an incredible Christmas!
Our Evans Scholars for 2023 are: Zindzi Frederick, Chloe Fritz (both started their caddie careers at our Brown Deer Chapter), Tony Galusha, Keagan Schmitt, Amyra Larry, and KostaTourloukis from Westmoor CC. Please see the pictures below from the Selection Meeting/Interviews at Nakoma CC in Madison. We will have many more students applying in the years to come as our pipeline of student participants is growing with qualified applicants.
On a personal note, I wanted to let you know that I was recently asked to serve as the new President of the WI State Golf Association. In short, I am honored and humbled, and it was a privilege to accept. My journey with the WSGA over the last 14 years led me to the formation of The Caddie & Leadership Academy. The ongoing support of our mission from the WSGA Foundation has been critically important to our growth and success. The WSGA is an incredible organization, led by a "best in class" staff and volunteers, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve in this role and for their partnership.
As we look ahead, we are already beginning to plan for another chapter location in Central WI for the Summer of 2023.
None of these outstanding and life changing results would have been possible without the ongoing encouragement and financial support from our partners, and we are truly grateful and blessed to have it.
The Caddie & Leadership Academy is a 501C(3) non-profit organization founded in 2014 that’s dedicated to establishing Caddie and Leadership Academies that create personal growth opportunities, bring diversity to the game of golf through an inspired program of leadership development and mentorship with the goal of having students qualify and participate in caddie related university scholarship programs.
Recap of 2022 Caddie Academy Fundraiser
Congratulations
Elias Patterson!
Elias Patterson began attending UW-Madison in the Fall of 2019 on a Chick Evans Scholarship. Elias is the first graduate of the Caddie & Leadership Academy of SE WI to receive this full tuition/room and board scholarship.
We are so proud!