By Casey Richards, CDGA Foundation

As an elementary schooler, San Francisco native and current Lake Forest College golfer Elijah Collins almost gave up the game for good. It would have been hard to blame him. “It was a freak accident, but someone’s driver flew out of their bag and clocked me right in the head,” Collins recalled of the injury he suffered at an instructional clinic. “I needed five staples.” The understandable trauma from the incident resulted in Collins not touching a golf club for the next several years.

However, the influence of a burgeoning youth golf program eventually resulted in numerous opportunities and a career path for Collins. “I wouldn’t be doing anything I am doing without Youth on Course,” Collins said.

For an example of the type of impact the program can have, Adam Heieck, executive director of Youth on Course, says to look no further than Collins. “Elijah is emblematic of everything we want a Youth on Course member to be,” Heieck said. “He’s got the personal character traits that you look for in any young person. He’s faced adversity in his life. Despite all of that, he’s an amazing student who really took to the game.”

Helping to fuel the reignition of Collins’ passion for golf was Youth on Course. After learning about the program from his mother, Collins and his high school friends utilized Youth on Course to create lasting golf memories and abilities. “All my friends were Youth on Course members, so after school, we would jump in someone’s car or someone would pick us up and head to a course and play,” Collins explained. “Saturdays and Sundays, we would go out all day. Play somewhere, have lunch and then go play somewhere else. That’s what we did, and it was because of Youth on Course. We weren’t going to pay $200 green fees just to try to get a little better, but with Youth on Course, you pay $5 or less and play all day, every day.” The more Collins played, the better he became.

One day when playing a Youth on Course round at Mariners Point Golf Center, south of San Francisco in suburban Foster City, Collins met golf professional Mick Soli, the 1975 Illinois State Amateur winner. The two quickly struck up a partnership that took Collins’ golf game to the next level. “I think that’s when everything kind of clicked,” Collins recalled of meeting Soli, who was an All-American at Northern Illinois University. “We’re very, very close. He’s definitely one of those father figures in my life. I still talk to him every day.”

When it came time to consider colleges, Collins had two distinct advantages working in his favor. Financially, he was awarded a $10,000 scholarship from Youth on Course, allowing him to explore Division III athletic opportunities not featuring financial aid. Athletically, Collins was a standout at soccer and golf, and had multiple opportunities to play both sports at the same school. However, in the final soccer game of his senior year, Collins tore his ACL for the fourth time. With his soccer abilities hampered by another debilitating injury and long rehab process, many schools retreated from offering him a place on campus. Only Lake Forest stood firm in their commitment to Collins. “Lake Forest was the only school that said, “You can still come here and play golf and don’t have to worry about your commitment to the soccer team, because you obviously can’t play,” Collins said. “I found that to be really, really inviting. I needed that.”

Collins worked on his chipping and putting during the early stages of his rehab before making a full recovery in time to play the 2015-16 season for the Foresters, where he participated in seven of the team’s 12 events. In 2016-17 Collins tallied three top-25 finishes as Lake Forest placed second at the Midwest Conference Championships. Playing on the team has provided Collins with countless unique golf opportunities. He is able to play some of the Chicago District’s prestigious private courses such as Onwentsia Club, Knollwood Club, Merit Club and Conway Farms Golf Club. The team has taken trips to Pinehurst, NC and Lake Nona, Fl., where he had the chance to meet the likes of PGA TOUR pros Graeme McDowell and Gary Woodland. “These are experiences that I would have never had anywhere else,” Collins said.

Moving forward, Collins plans on turning his passion for golf into a career, either as a player or on the business side of the game. This summer, he’ll be working at the immaculate Roaring Fork Club in Colorado. After playing one more year at Lake Forest, he plans on giving the Gecko Tour, a mini-tour in Spain, a try before eventually finishing school and deciding between turning professional or working in the golf industry. Golf has played an integral role in Collins’ life and will continue to do so. His skills and work ethic have set him up for success, in addition to the assistance provided from Youth on Course. “Everything positive that has happened in my life in relation to golf wouldn’t have happened without Youth on Course,” Collins said. “I can say that firmly.”