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Desert Forest Golf Club caddy wins scholarship

BY BRENDAN MAU

Foothills Focus Staff Writer

Jeremy Dreher has been golfing since sixth grade and started caddying his sophomore year of high school at Desert Forest Golf Club in Carefree.

“I’ve always had passion for golf. My dad introduced me to caddying sophomore year (after getting an) email from the Junior Golf Association of Arizona, asking players to start having a Desert Forest (job),” Dreher said.

“He called me up in the middle of fourth hour, and I was like, ‘OK, sweet, I’ll do it.’ And then went up two weeks later, did the training and it was all history from there.”

After a lot of hard work, two years later, Dreher, a student at Moon Valley High School in Phoenix, has become the second consecutive recipient from Desert Forest Golf Club of the Chick Evans Scholarship, a full, four-year tuition and housing college scholarship after a lengthy application process.

“I got the scholarship on Christmas Eve. So, you can probably say that was the best Christmas present ever.”

“When we got the letter in the mail, I was just ecstatic and called my parents up, they were at work. But I was just really excited and happy when we got the letter in the mail. When I opened it and it said ‘Congratulations, you got the scholarship,’ it was one of those moments where you almost just dropped down to the floor. It was a pretty awesome experience.”

The Evans Scholars Foundation “seeks students who show academic strength, financial need, outstanding character and a strong caddie record” for the scholarship, according to the Western Golf Association, which supports the foundation. This year, around 300 students were awarded the prestigious scholarship, which is valued at over $120,000 for four years.

Dreher has applied to Penn State University and the University of Colorado, and he will use the scholarship for his education at one of the schools. He would prefer to attend Colorado and plans to major in accounting and finance.

The scholarship was always on Dreher’s mind once he heard about it from his caddy masters and was his “biggest motivating factor” to continue caddying. He added that he has learned a lot from the past caddy it was given to from Desert Forest.

“When I was in my training, the former scholarship recipient, Evan Johnson, he was one of my biggest inspirations because I saw that he was applying for the scholarship, and he was a go-getter. And so, that just made me want to excel,” Dreher said.

“Since Evan was the first recipient in Arizona, it kind of gave me a window to think like, ‘hey, you know what, if he can do it, I can do it.’”

Desert Forest Golf Club is a 45-minute drive for Dreher, but he was

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willing to make the commute every weekend because he loves caddying. He said his dad is his No. 1 supporter.

“He’s a self-employed business owner, so he doesn’t have necessarily that much time to go out,” Dreher said.

“Yet, he was still, he still had enough time to take me out to go every weekend who drove me up when I didn’t have a car.”

“I thank him for that so much, because I know how long of a drive it is and how much of it is a burden to him because he’s a self-employed business owner. We try to play as much golf as we can, but it’s usually not that much, around at max once a month, but it’s those moments I’ll spare forever.”

Dreher said he likes every “loop” because it educates him. A loop is when a caddy is assigned to a golfer and heads out with him or her. Dreher said he looks forward to completing these loops whenever he is on the job.

“I always found valuable information from every group I go to,” Dreher said. “And it’s nice how every single person is unique. So, they have their own lives and experiences. Just hearing their stories around the world and where they traveled, it’s really fun and some of the cool golf stories and tournaments they’ve had, it’s a really neat experience to kind of meet every new person every time.

“Caddying put a new perspective not just on the course, but off the course, too, like learning to converse with adults. I know it’ll help tremendously when I’m in that job interview or something like that. And then with golf, it gave me a different perspective on how I should play the shot and how I could have the greatest outcome when I go play.”

Dreher plans to continue golfing on the side in college and beyond and potentially caddy at a local golf club if he can. He hopes younger caddies will be inspired by his scholarship.

“It’s nice to know I’m proof of a Jeremy Dreher is the second consecutive caddie from Desert Forest Golf Club in Carefree to win the Chick Evans Scholarship. (Photo courtesy of

Jeremy Dreher)

success story that could happen to literally anyone that caddies,” Dreher said.

“And so, going to those trainings that I used to go to and meeting some of the new caddies and telling them, ‘Hey, I can get the Evans Scholarship, you can do it too,’ and they’re really excited about that.”

He said he wants to thank the golf club for having him.

“What they’ve done for me is just amazing because all the members there, they just want the caddies to succeed,” Dreher said.

“They like the kid caddies because they want to connect with them and kind of shape out our future. So, seeing them with the smiles on their faces when I tell them I got the scholarship, it just makes me feel even better. And the work they put behind it, you know, helping me out with the emails and all of that, it’s just awesome. So, I want to give big thanks to the club and Brandon Rogers, the head pro, for just believing in me the whole time and my parents too.”

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