Dating back to rounds with his family as a 7-year-old at Elgin Country Club, golf has been 17-year-old high school senior Liam Lodding’s “favorite thing.”
“[Golf] is the thing I love the most and the thing I love doing the most,” Lodding explained.
Two years ago, his favorite thing – and almost much more – was taken away from him.
In the summer of 2023, Lodding was a 15-year-old getting set to enter his sophomore year at Harvest Christian Academy in Elgin. He was making the rounds on the junior summer circuit, traversing nearly five hours south from his hometown of Huntley to play in the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Junior All-Star at Quail Creek Country Club & Resort in Robinson, Illinois.
“I had been playing some really good golf leading up to that, and I was really excited to play,” Lodding recalled.
This level of excitement could not be tempered by lingering stomach issues in the days leading up to the event. Lodding teed off for his practice round, only to encounter “one of the worst stomach pains” he’s ever had.
“I woke up the next morning and I had terrible, terrible chest pains, and I could barely breathe,” Lodding recalled. “I knew something was wrong.”
He was taken to a nearby hospital in Indiana where it was deemed that his troponin levels were severely high – often a symptom of a heart attack.
Lodding was helicoptered to UI Health, where he spent seven days undergoing an exhausting variety of tests. He was diagnosed with myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart muscle. He was released from the hospital with a treatment plan that included rest – and no golf.
“The doctors were like, no way you're going to touch any golf clubs,” Lodding said.
All in all, it wound up being three months away from the course. When he was given the clear to return to competitive golf, he needed to use a cart and was granted a special exemption by the IHSA. He finished tied for second as an individual in that fall’s Class 1A individual championship.
Returning to a high level of competition so quickly is an impressive feat in its own right, but the way Lodding transformed off the golf course due to the ordeal is even more admirable.
It began with his mindset when entering the hospital. While others would potentially sulk at the misfortune of having your passion ripped away for months, Lodding took the opposite approach.
“I just remember thinking that, you know, this is something bad that's happening – I know that – but I’m going to try to be as positive as I can because I know it's not going to get me anywhere if I'm ‘Woe is me,’” Lodding said.
Lodding channeled this positivity, downtime and newfound appreciation for his lot in life into action.
“I was walking around and I was seeing kids with stage four cancer and things that were going to affect them the rest of their life,” Lodding recalled. “And I was someone who had just had a heart problem which was going to set me back, maybe four months. There’s no way that I'm not going to do something to be able to help in some kind of way.”
He and his family researched various charities they could fundraise for, eventually finding the AJGA’s affiliation with the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation. He began reaching out to his network and quickly raised an impressive total of $40,000.
“I was blown away because I never thought that I could ever do that,” Lodding said. “From there, I just wanted to keep doing it because I loved being able to help people so much.”
He has continued to fundraise ever since, setting a goal of $77,777 for 2025. This high character and dedication to his community earned Lodding the USGA-AJGA Presidents’ Leadership Award in August, which is nationally bestowed upon one boy and one girl each year.
“I wasn't chasing this award. I wasn't chasing recognition,” Lodding said. “I was just chasing to help people out.”
Lodding hopes to one day play golf professionally. If he doesn’t, however, a harrowing ordeal taught him how can use his “favorite thing” in a different way.
“I am hoping to play college golf and the ultimate goal for me is to go pro and golf,” Lodding said. “But if not, I would love to stay fundraising and helping people. That's what's really important. I would love to keep playing golf and keep that as a platform to be able to give back.” —Casey Richards
CDGA Member Spotlight articles are a partnership between the CDGA and Wintrust to highlight an individual, group or program making their underrepresented community Better Through Golf. Individuals with CDGA Member Spotlight ideas should reach out to magazine@cdga.org.
