How many teenagers have a summer job that’s worth a cool $100K+ ?
Meet Macy Hall and Owen Weisensteiner. They’re living proof that, if you work at it, a job at your local golf course can have an enormous payoff.
Owen and Macy are both seniors at Springs Valley — our local high school that’s a stone’s throw away from French Lick Springs Hotel — and both have been named Evans Scholars for 2023 by the Western Golf Association. The Evans Scholars Foundation rewards high schoolers with a strong caddie record, excellent academics and outstanding character with full tuition and housing scholarships.
That’s more than $125,000 over four years. The type of scholarship kids (and parents) dream of.
It’s big, considering just 18 students in the state of Indiana received an Evans Scholarship this year.
Even bigger, considering French Lick Resort is represented by two Evans Scholars in the same year — just the third time that has ever happened.
And it’s not the scholarship itself that’s been transformative. Owen and Macy both laugh a little bit describing how caddying at The Pete Dye Course at French Lick brought them out of their shell.
“It started out, I was not a people person, I could not talk to people very well,” recalls Owen, who’ll be heading to Purdue University this fall and entering the exploratory program. “But after caddying and after my first couple times, I started to be able to have normal conversations with people, because I’m talking to people from all around the world and I get to talk to them and hear their stories. It became a lot easier to talk to people after caddying.”
“Honestly, I was the same way,” adds Macy, who plans to study nursing at Indiana University. “I was a pretty shy person and I’d get really nervous talking to new people. So caddying allowed me to step out of my comfort zone. After a couple rounds I got used to it, and it was really fun meeting different people.”
You truly never know what each caddie shift brings and who you might accompany on the course.
Owen has caddied for guests from Korea, India and Australia who’ve made the trek to French Lick. Then there was the morning he showed up to find one of his idols was tackling the Pete Dye Course.
“I got the chance to meet Carson Wentz, who is the quarterback for my favorite NFL team. All the people at the golf course know I’m a Washington fan because I get teased for it a lot since they’re not always the best team. They all told me he was there, so I got a picture with him,” Owen says. “I saw the IU coaching staff for basketball, their head coach and some of their players were there. It was just fun to be able to see them in real life.”
Macy, meanwhile, actually caddied for an Evans Scholar alumni last summer. And if you’ve ever been humbled on the Dye Course, don’t feel bad. Macy has witnessed firsthand how brutal the course can be.
“I’ve had so many different people, and I had this group of guys that were the most outgoing people ever,” Macy recalls. “One of them actually overswung when he was on one of the hills and he rolled down the hill. That was probably the most memorable person I’ve had. His friends were laughing — I didn’t know if he was OK at first — but fortunately he stood up and started laughing.”
Macy and Owen will be caddying again at the Dye Course this season (and Owen is also training to be a server at the West Baden Springs Hotel restaurants), so give them a golf clap if you see them around the resort.
And for anyone with an interest in caddying — even if you don’t have as much golf experience — our newest Evans Scholars have some advice.
“I’d say just get up here and caddie and have fun with it,” Macy says. “You’re going to meet all kinds of new people, you’re going to have so much fun, and it’s worth it.”
Maybe even “full college ride” worth it.
