Choice of summer job is life-changing for Downers Grove North senior

After his freshman year of high school, Colin Finn was looking for a summer job.

Several friends worked as caddies at local golf courses. They spoke highly of the work.

”It was a toss-up between being a caddy and a lifeguard. I chose to be a caddy and it ended up changing my life,” Finn, 18, of Downers Grove said.

He’s not kidding.

Little did he know when he started that all those loops – the term used to describe a round of golf carrying clubs – would pay such a great dividend.

Finn is one of the chosen few caddies who get full rides in college when they are named Chick Evans Scholars. Recently, 83 Chicago-area students were awarded the Western Golf Association’s Chick Evans Scholarship, a full housing and tuition college scholarship for golf caddies.

Finn, who has carried countless golf bags the past three years at Hinsdale Golf Club, will be heading to the University of Illinois for a free college education.

”It’s very exciting,” Finn said in a recent phone interview.

After he graduates from Downers Grove North High School, Finn will spend his fourth summer as a caddy at Hinsdale Golf Club.

“I love being outside on the course, being with other guys, being able to talk with and meet new people, hearing all their stories. It’s so interesting to me,” Finn said. “I’ve never been someone who can sit inside and work at a desk. ... I just like being outside and moving around. It’s the best job I can think of. That includes soggy days. Those guys at Hinsdale, they’ll go out rain or shine. I’ve caddied many times in downpours. If there’s no lightning siren, they’re out there.”

Finn began thinking about the Evans program early in his caddy career.

”I started getting familiar with it when I was meeting some of the caddies who were Evans Scholars and also talking with some of the [club] members,” he said. ”It was to the point where I’d meet a new member and they’d ask me if I was applying [for the scholarship.] They were so encouraging. I thought then maybe I could do that.”

Finn especially enjoys the Hinsdale Golf Club.

”It’s short. The layout of it is tough, though. The fairways are really narrow. The rough is really long. It’s not a long course by any means. They’re landlocked, but it’s super nice. I love caddying there,” he said.

He said his scholarship application was assisted with letters of recommendation from his caddy master, a club member and his cross country coach.

Finn learned he was a finalist in mid-November.

He joked his parents, Kristen and Kevin, may be more excited.

”I was in first period. My mom texted me and said, ‘Check your email.’ I was so excited. I had a test the next period and I couldn’t focus,” he recalled of being a finalist.

When he’s not working as a caddy, Finn enjoys playing golf.

”It goes along with caddying. Being able to get outside. Fresh air. Walk around. Being with some friends. Let loose a little bit. Just have some fun,” he said.

Being a caddy “for sure” has improved his golf game, he said.

”After I caddy a round, I’m like, ‘I want to golf now.’ I’ve also learned a lot from the golfers there,” Finn said. “There’s always something that keeps you coming back.”

His best score is 43 for nine holes and 90 for 18 holes. The latter was at one of the Cog Hill courses. It was not Dubsdread, former home of the Western Open, but “that’s on my bucket list.”

In college, he plans to major in sports management but also is considering medicine and physical therapy.

“It just seems like a really cool job, manage a golf course or work for a professional sports team,” he said.

Asked for his favorite story, Finn fondly recalled his first round.

”I was terrified,“ he said. ”I was a small little kid. All I could think about was going home. We’re walking down the first hole. He could tell I was shook up. He told me he was a caddy when he was a kid and it was the best job I could have and that I was going to have the best time doing it.

”He gave up his round, took me through the motions, taught me when to talk, where to stand and what to do and not to do. ... I got back to the caddy shack and made sure I was free the next week to go out,” he said.

And Finn made sure he’s available to caddy ever since.

Caddies earn the scholarship by meeting its four selection criteria: A strong caddie record, excellent academics, demonstrated financial need and outstanding character, according to the WGA.

Currently, a record 1,190 caddies are enrolled at 24 universities across the nation as Evans Scholars. More than 12,285 caddies have graduated as Evans Scholars since the program was founded by famed Chicago amateur golfer Charles “Chick” Evans Jr.

This year, an estimated 360 caddies are expected to be awarded the Evans Scholarship. Funds for the Evans Scholarship come mostly from contributions by more than 36,000 supporters across the country who are members of the Evans Scholars Par Club program. Evans Scholars Alumni donate more than $15 million annually, and all proceeds from the BMW Championship, the penultimate PGA Tour playoff event in the PGA Tour’s FedExCup competition, benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation.

This year, the BMW Championship will be Aug. 12-17 at Caves Valley Golf Club near Baltimore, Maryland.

Chick Evans was a prominent American amateur in the 1910s and 1920s. Evans, who won the 1910 Western Open, became the first amateur to win both the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in one year in 1916. He won the U.S. Amateur again in 1920 and was runner-up three times.

Evans competed in a record 50 consecutive U.S. Amateurs in his long career. He achieved all of it while carrying only seven hickory-shafted clubs. A former caddy, he founded the Evans Scholars Foundation.