Mountlake Terrace golfer earns caddie scholarship

Published 11:03 pm Monday, May 19, 2008

There’s a popular, blunt saying that explains what a golf caddy should do: Show up, keep up, shut up.

Jordan Wall said he never had a problem with the first two rules, but the last one was initially a challenge for the talkative senior from Mountlake Terrace High School.

Wall loves to golf and to socialize. But when he became a caddy at Seattle Golf Club, a private course located near Shoreline Community College, he quickly learned it’s often best to be silent.

“It’s hard to do because you want to talk to the players and help them out,” Wall said, “but once you really start to caddy you realize that there’s going to be some times just to be quiet and watch the ball, especially on a members’ golf course.”

Wall has caddied at public and private courses. The difference, he said, is public-course players generally need more assistance — tips on where to aim and how to read greens, for example — while players at a members-only course already know those kinds of things.

Wall was a Mountlake Terrace sophomore when he started caddying at Seattle Golf Club. In addition to fulfilling basic tasks like carrying clubs, teeing up the ball and carefully watching where the ball goes, he fought an urge to compliment good shots and reveal his boisterous personality.

“As a caddie that’s not your job and that was hard to get used to. I’m kind of an outgoing person,” said Wall.

Wall overcame the challenge and rose through the ranks at Seattle Golf Club, eventually landing a more prestigious job in the bag room. But his biggest achievement was receiving a Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship.

Created by golfer Charles “Chick” Evans Jr. and first awarded in 1930, the full-tuition renewable scholarships are annually given to caddies who have a strong caddy record, excellent academics, demonstrated financial need and outstanding character.

Wall is one of seven 2008 Evans Scholars from Washington high schools. He has been accepted into Washington State University.

“He’s friendly and driven and he always wants to do a good job. He succeeds because he puts forth the extra effort and it makes him looked at very highly,” said Tommy Berg, an assistant professional at Seattle Golf Club.

“Personable” is how Art Lagreid, the club’s caddy master and an assistant pro, described Wall.

Wall said he heard about the Evans scholarship the first day he worked at Seattle Golf Club. He immediately set his sights on getting it.

Wall, who said he has a 3.85 cumulative grade-point average, had extra motivation to get the scholarship because of his family’s difficult financial situation. His dad, Dale Wall, is physically disabled and has been unable to work for about two years, Jordan Wall said.

Dale Wall suffered chronic nerve damage resulting from back injuries, Jordan Wall said. Jordan’s dad, formerly a general construction contractor, was the family’s primary financial provider.

“He’s going to be disabled the rest of his life,” Jordan Wall said.

A mix of loans, smaller scholarships and money from his job could have helped Wall pay for college. But by winning the Evans scholarship he can attend WSU — where he plans to double major in landscape architecture and business, with the eventual goal of developing golf courses — without worrying about going into debt.

“That’s why it was so cool to get that scholarship. For (Dale Wall’s) sake as much as mine, now he gets to see his kid go to college,” Jordan Wall said.

Jordan Wall’s senior year hasn’t gone perfectly. As one of the top two players on Mountlake Terrace’s varsity golf team, he had hoped to qualify for this week’s Class 4A state tournament at Avalon Golf Links in Burlington.

But Wall struggled in the first round at last week’s district tourney and, despite playing much better in the second round, did not advance to state. He is the second alternate and said he plans to root for teammate and close friend Bobby Shoemaker, Terrace’s lone qualifier.

Wall, who missed qualifying for state by two strokes, shot a 74 in his final round at districts. It tied him for the third-best score of the day.

Said Wall, “If it does end up being my last round for the Terrace team I’ll be happy to say I played my butt off. There was nothing to be disappointed about.”

Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.