Better than par for the course

Maddie Wilke nervously stood before 80 people at Nakoma Golf Club in Madison last month with a full ride to college on the line.

She remembered some advice she received about interviewing for the Chick Evans Scholarship given to select golf caddies.

“I was told if you could make them laugh it was good,” Wilke said.

“I joked about how some of the golfers at my club aren’t very good and I could beat them.”

Everyone laughed, but Wilke wasn’t kidding. The Town of Saukville resident who is a senior at Cedarburg High School was named North Shore Conference Golfer of the Year last fall and qualified for the state tournament twice.

She received perhaps a bigger honor months later, albeit after a nerve-wracking waiting game.

Evans Scholarship winners began being announced  online and Wilke hadn’t seen her name. She wasn’t aware that different states release winners at different times.

One week before Christmas, she received a package from the Evans Scholars Foundation.

“It was a pretty big envelope,” she said.

Inside was a packet of rules for the scholarship and a giant form to submit in order to accept it.

“I was crying. I was so happy,” Wilke said.

She is one of 19 students across the state to receive the scholarship.

Wilke plans to attend either the University of Wisconsin-Madison or Marquette to study business. She likes accounting.

Both are among 18 Evans Scholar schools in the country and have scholarship houses The scholarship covers tuition and housing.

Wilke’s caddying career at Ozaukee County Country Club in Mequon, about a 25-minute drive from her home, began the summer before she started high school. She set a goal to earn the scholarship right away.

Caddying, she said, is a great gig, especially compared to other typical jobs for a teenager.

While her friends wash dishes and do related work, “I get to be outside with my favorite sport,” she said.

Wilke works from May through October. She usually learns the night before if a player requests a caddy, although she has caddied with five minutes notice while working in the bag room.

That’s when Wilke got her largest tip — $200 — and all she had to do was drive a cart.

Usually, she carries her player’s bag. Some are heavier than others, but she said her own bag might be the heaviest, packed with golf balls, “lots of golf balls,” she said.

Wilke hasn’t witnessed or had a hole-in-one yet. She said players’ skills run the gamut. One even occasionally missed the ball.

She has seen a player in another group break a club out of frustration. That, she said, helps remind her to remain calm while she is playing.

She offers encouragement when her player hits a bad shot.

“It’s OK. It’s just one shot. It happens,” she said.

Wilke remembers being “terrified” during her first round caddying in a group with more experienced colleagues. The players, she said were understanding.

Most, she said, are out to have a good time.

“It’s more important to have a good relationship with the player than reading the greens,” she said. “They want to talk to you and get to know you.”

Sometimes, they ask Wilke to hit a shot for them. She said she usually does well.

Wilke caddies as early as 6:30 a.m. and in all kinds of weather. Once during a rainstorm, her group took refuge in one of the player’s homes located on the third hole.

Wilke once caddied for John Kaczkowski, the president and CEO of Western Golf Association, which supports the Evans Scholarship Foundation. She said Erin Hills golf pro Richard Tock and Green Bay Packers radio announcer Wayne Larrivee sometimes play at the Ozaukee County Country Club.

For Wilke, golf is her kind of activity. “I don’t really like the hard-hitting sports like basketball. I like how calm golf is,” she said, adding that “it’s still intense.”

While some don’t consider golf to be intense or even a sport, Wilke said a round can take five to six hours — one round at the Washington County Course lasted  seven — and “that whole time you’re laser focused.”

Wilke uses clubs made by Cobra, which she says makes the best women’s clubs, and uses a Chrome Soft Callaway golf ball.

Her drives travel about 215 yards, which she said is a little shorter than other players at her level. She is known for her accuracy and direction.

Wilke is the epitome of the cliche coined by former pro golfer Bobby Locke — “Drive for show, putt for dough.”

“Chipping and putting,” she said, “has saved me multiple times.”

Her low round is 81 at Washington County Golf Course.

For golf meets, she often leaves right after school. If she forgets an item, “It’s not good,” she said, and usually results in a freak-out text to her mother and a request to bring it.

She once forgot her putter. She was loaned one by a competing coach who happened to be the sister of pro player Steve Stricker, an Edgerton native.

Her favorite pro golfer, she said, is Bryson DeChambeau. She likes his uncharacteristic style and how he uses math and science to improve his game.

Caddying, she said, has helped her become a better golfer. When she sees players throw temper tantrums she is reminded to remain patient on the course.

Wilke also works at Christ Church in Mequon as a staff assistant and helps in the early childhood area, but during summers for the next four years she is locked in to caddying, an Evans Scholarship requirement. She’s just fine with that.

“Even if I didn’t get the scholarship I’d go back to caddying,” she said.

For more information on the scholarship or The Western Golf Association that supports the program, visit wgaesf.org.