Jack Druga knows something about youth caddie programs. He helped establish two of them as a head golf professional, first at the Country Club of Fairfield in Connecticut and then at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island, New York. His experience in those endeavors led in part, last year, to his joining the Evans Scholars Foundation as vice president of development and PGA ambassador.
Few people in golf understand that realm as well as Druga, which is why he is a good source of information for clubs looking to start or bolster their own youth caddie programs – and for young men and women looking to work at places that offer that kind of assistance to their loopers.
“For clubs, the key is going where the kids are,” Druga said. “Local First Tee programs are good places to start. Boys & Girls Clubs, too, and YMCAs. You’ll find sports-minded youngsters at all those places, and adults serving as coaches and administrators of programs at those places who are only too happy to help their kids find work. Especially when that work might come with some scholarship money for college.
“High schools are another great resource for youth caddies,” Druga said. “One of the things that made the program at Fairfield get off to a great start was that our caddie manager was also a teacher at the local high school. And he did an incredible job of recruiting really good kids as caddies.”
Druga said that local PGA sections are also good places to contact for possible caddies, given the junior leagues that they operate and various programs they run to promote golf among young players.
It also helps if these sorts of associations educate young men and women as well as their parents and guidance counselors about caddying being a very good summer job, in terms of the money they can earn as well as the contacts they can make looping for members who have enjoyed great success in business and the scholarship money they might be able to secure as well.
“The more we can make youngsters understand that caddying is a really good option for summer work, the more easily we can bring them into the game,” Druga said.
As for their youngsters, the best way to find out about what caddie scholarships might be available, and where, is to contact the head golf professionals or general managers of an individual club to see if they have trusts of their own. It also makes sense to reach out to caddie trusts that operate on a more national or regional level, such as the Evans Scholars Foundation, the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund, the J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust and ones run by organizations such as the Long Island and Westchester Caddie Scholarship Funds as well as the Western Pennsylvania and New Jersey State Golf Associations.
As Druga knows all too well, the opportunities that caddying and those trusts provide can be life-changing.
Top: Jack Druga spends a moment with caddie Jimmy O'Shea at Beverly Country Club in Chicago.