It’s open to debate, but American author and humorist Mark Twain is generally credited with the line, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.”
After completing her first round as a caddie at Naperville Country Club following her freshman year at Metea Valley, Jenna LaVine very likely would have agreed with him.
“It was really hard,” LaVine said. “I got home after finishing that first loop and could barely walk. I remember collapsing on a couch in the basement.”
That came as a surprise to her mother, Jill, since Jenna had been taking dance lessons since she was 2 and was in pretty good shape.
“She kind of made fun of me,” Jenna said. “I remember her saying, ‘You didn’t run a marathon.’”
Now that she’s a senior at Metea and set to begin her fourth season as a looper at the club, would Jenna agree with Twain?
Metea Valley’s Jenna Lavine poses alongside the Naperville County Club’s iconic red cast-iron water pump, that served members for decades, on Friday, March 20, 2026. (Rick Armstrong / The Beacon-News)
Not so much.
In fact, LaVine wouldn’t agree with him at all.
She learned this winter the summer job she grew to love helped her earn a Western Golf Association Chick Evans Scholarship that will pay for college housing and tuition for four years.
And last week, she learned it would be at Illinois, one of several schools that she had been accepted to.
“My mom has a video of when we got the news, but it’s not going anywhere,” Jenna said. “That’s because she’s in the background crying.”
Jenna tried several sports growing up but stuck with dance. She has been a four-year member of Metea Valley’s Orchesis, a performing arts troupe that performs in a variety of events throughout the year and holds one main stage show in late winter featuring several forms of dance.
For the past three years, LaVine has also helped choreograph performances in that show. She carries a 4.0 GPA and is a bronze and silver star girl scout who is one project away from earning her gold star ranking.
Metea Valley’s Jenna Lavine, a Western Golf Association Evans Scholarship winner, stops outside the Naperville Country Club’s bag room on Friday, March 20, 2026. (Rick Armstrong / The Beacon-News)
Her late father TJ, who died from a pulmonary embolism when she was in sixth grade, loved to golf but Jenna had never tried it when she joined a friend looking for a summer job.
“I had heard of caddying,” she said. “I think because people mentioned it to my older brother Jake, so I knew about it.”
They took the caddie test at Naperville Country Club, passed and went through the training. Jenna has stuck with it, also working in the club’s bag room the past year.
Matt Gebhardt, a first assistant pro, confirmed the club annually has about 120 teens taking part.
“We have about 40% of our rounds are walking and of those walking, about half take caddies,” he said. “It was something like 3,500 to 4,000 caddie loops last year.”
“My dad was a golfer,” Jenna said. “He wasn’t a member of a club but he loved it. I wrote about it in my essay for the scholarship application. I’ve felt like I was able to get closer to him by working here.”
Metea Valley’s Jenna Lavine, a Western Golf Association Evans Scholarship winner, gets ready for work as a caddie on the practice green at Naperville Country Club on Friday, March 20, 2026. (Rick Armstrong / The Beacon-News)
She isn’t a regular player herself, but did pick up a set of clubs last summer at the caddie banquet and has ventured to the driving range. She has yet to go out on caddie Mondays when caddies are allowed to play the course.
She hopes to use her interest in helping people to pursue a career in physical therapy.
“Dance has always been in my life,” Jenna said. “My mom said I would always move to the music when I was little. I tried a bunch of other things, but dance was a constant. But I’m done now.
“Looping got a lot easier. I might end a day with 30,000 steps. The best thing is you’re working outside and you set your own schedule. That and meeting all the news people has been fun.”