Thirty-three present or former Moraine caddies are receiving financial aid during this school year.
Twelve are attending Miami University or Ohio State on Evans Scholarships (valued at $17,500 a year) from the Western Golf Association.
“That is pretty incredible,” said John Kaczkowski, president and CEO of the Chicago-based WGA. “Without question, Moraine is one of the leading clubs in Ohio.”
Twenty-one are attending college while receiving financial aid from Moraine’s unique caddie scholarship fund.
Including nonresidents, Moraine has 260 members participating in the WGA’s Par Club with minimum annual contributions of $250. In return, the WGA awards Evans Scholarships to caddies who demonstrate financial need, outstanding character, excellent academics and a strong caddie record.
Since 1953, Moraine caddies have received 53 Evans Scholarships — 31 in the last decade. This year the WGA awarded scholarships to five Moraine caddies. Only the Beverly Country Club in Chicago (which received six) got more.
Many of Moraine’s caddies have been ineligible for Evans awards because their grades weren’t high enough or their parents had too much income, so the club decided 10 years ago to establish the Moraine Caddy Scholarship Fund for those deserving caddies. It requires additional, but not mandatory contributions from members.
Since its inception, the MCSF (now administered by the Dayton Foundation) has awarded $422,900 to 46 caddies attending 16 different schools. Each recipient now gets roughly $3,500 annually if he or she maintains a 2.5 grade-point average.
Moraine’s program works, in part, because the club requires every golfer over the age of 25 to take a cart or a caddie before 2 p.m. from June through August when caddies are available. When Moraine hosts Monday outings in the summer, each foursome must use a fore-caddie. That assures caddies that they will make some money.
Moraine maintains a roster of approximately 100 caddies. Sipe said only about 50 or 60 are regulars. They are evaluated every time they work, and those with the highest ratings get the highest fees.
Sipe, himself a former Moraine caddie, is willing to give up the $40 cart fees he would receive just to see some caddies get an opportunity.
“This may sound elitist, but it’s true,” he said. “If a club has a caddy program, it speaks volumes about the club.”
Chip shots
• Eleven of 12 players have been selected for the team that will represent the Miami Valley Golf Association in the annual Ohio Intra-state Competition on Sept. 30 at Catawba Island on Lake Erie.
Based on their performances in 2011, Jeff Scohy, Rick Cherubini, Jimmy Henderson, Brian Hodgson, Bob Jones, Keith McGillvary, George Moore, Dave Novotny, Ryan Reichley, John Robertson, Pete Samborsky and John Sherman make up the group that will take on teams from other parts of the state.
• Michael Castleforte made the cut in the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in Houston with a score of 148, but he lost his first-round match to Kenny Cook of Noblesville, Ind.
• In the rain at Troy Country Club on Monday, the NCR Country Club team edged Greene Country Club by one stroke in the 27-hole Miami Valley Team Invitational. Playing for NCR were: Paul Block, Doug Brush, Rick Cherubini, Mike Mefferd, George Moore, Dave Novotny, Jeff Scohy and Brent Wagener.
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