Ainslie Woodward, the young shy caddie, spent the summer schlepping golf bags around a golf course, trying to earn some extra money.

Woodward was being raised by a single mom after his father was murdered in Detroit, so he started working as a caddie.

College was the furthest thing from his mind. He had never heard of the Evans Scholarship, a national program that supports nearly 1,000 caddies in college every year on full-ride scholarships and one that will add 23 more from Michigan this fall.

Since 1930, when the first two Evans Scholars enrolled at Northwestern University, more than 10,400 outstanding young men and women have been awarded Evans Scholarships.

In Michigan, scholarship winners can attend either the University of Michigan or Michigan State and stay at an Evans Scholar House at either school.

Woodward didn’t know the opportunity even existed. Not until he started caddying for David Robinson, a member at Red Run Golf Club in Royal Oak.

“I remember Ainslie when he was in the eighth grade,” Robinson said. “He was an overweight, shy, not very confident young man. I remember he caddied for me, and I got to know him a little bit. We were done with a round, and I held his face in my hands. I said, ‘Ainslie, if you like to caddie, work hard, stay in school and get good grades. There is going to be an opportunity for you that is going change your life.’ ”

Robinson told him about the Evans Scholarship, and it was like an opportunity cracked open right there on that golf course.

Every year, the Western Golf Association awards a couple dozen full-ride, four-year scholarships to caddies across Michigan.

Seriously. You have a shot to go to school for free, just because you are a caddie at a local club. It's like a modern-day version of "Caddyshack," a scholarship program for caddies, minus the dancing gopher and explosions.

“When I explained what the Evans Scholarship could do for him, he just took it and ran with it,” Robinson said. “Every spring, he would tell me what his grades were.”

Woodward followed Robinson’s advice. He worked hard and stayed in school and kept caddying, and graduated last spring from Cass Tech with a 3.9 grade point average.

“He was so enthusiastic about life, and he introduced caddying to other kids at Cass Tech,” Robinson said. “He has been just a remarkable young man, and someone I’m quite fond of.”

Last winter, Woodward applied for the Evans Scholarship, and there was a familiar face on the interview panel. It was Robinson, who is now the chairman of the Western Golf Association, the first Michigan director elected to the position since 1997.

Amazing, how life works out, right?

“I almost got teary-eyed when he won the scholarship,” Robinson said. “He broke down toward the end of his interview. When he was done with that interview, he knew what the implications of that interview were for him and his family. His father was killed when he was young. His mother has made a big impact on his life.”

Woodward is one of 270 new Evans Scholars from across the country who will enroll at colleges or universities this fall.

“I didn’t even know there was a scholarship until they told me,” Woodward said. “Basically, a group of our friends, before we came to high school, knew we needed money for high school, just to take weight off of our parents. We heard caddying was a great way to make money for a young teenager, so we just started.”

Woodward plans to study biology or psychology at U-M. Eventually, he wants to become a dentist.

“He wants to help people in the inner city,” Robinson said. “He’s a remarkable young man. I’ve been at Red Run for 35 years, and he’s my all-time favorite caddie there.”

How it works

This scholarship program was started by Chick Evans Jr. “He was a famous amateur golfer from the Bob Jones era,” Robinson said. “He had to drop out of Northwestern University because he couldn’t afford it.”

To make sure that didn’t happen to other young caddies, Evans started a scholarship program, which was taken over by the Western Golf Association in 1929.

Now, the scholarship is funded by donations from 30,000 golfers from around the country, as well as by proceeds from the BMW Championship, the third of four PGA Tour playoff events for the FedEx Cup competition.

“Caddying is a great summer job for young men and women in high school,” Robinson said. “You can establish your own hours. You can interact with successful people, who then sometimes act as mentors. You can make some money and the opportunity to win this scholarship, which can be a life-changing opportunity.”

To be considered for the scholarship, caddies need to have a strong caddie record, excellent academics, demonstrated financial need and outstanding character.

The thing that makes this scholarship unique is that scholarship winners live together in a house on campus. In the 2016-17 academic year, there were 935 Evans Scholars enrolled at 20 universities.

The house at U-M has been completely rebuilt.

“Approximately 67 scholars will live there this fall,” Robinson said. “The one at Michigan State is 25 years old, but we spent a lot of money to renovate it. This fall, there will be between 135 kids at both schools, combined.”

Robinson said that 950 Evans Scholars will be at different schools around the country this fall. “Our goal is to get to 1,000 by 2020,” he said.

As chairman of the WGA, one of Robinson’s priorities is to expand the Evans Scholarship program in the Pacific Northwest and on the East Coast.

The scholarship program has been widely successful, not just for getting caddies to college, but getting them to graduate. Robinson said that 95% of Evans Scholars get a degree and have a combined 3.2 grade-point average.

Robinson feels a connection with these kids.

Because he did not come from a country club background.

He grew up in Detroit.

“I grew up at 6 Mile and Van Dyke, near City Airport,” said Robinson, who now lives in Troy and works as a manufacturer’s rep in the auto industry. “I lived there until I was 14 years old. I never really played golf as a kid. When I started playing golf and I became acquainted with the people playing golf, I was totally smitten with the game. I sometimes have to pinch myself. How did a kid from 6 Mile and Van Dyke become the chairman of the Western Golf Association? It’s been just one of the great honors of my life.”

'A game-changer for me'

Every one of these caddies has a story.

The day Arianna Barnes was hired as a caddie at the Lochmoor Club in Grosse Pointe Woods, she went home and did some important research — she watched “Caddyshack,” of course.

“Cinderella story. Out of nowhere. A former greens keeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac… It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole!”

Barnes just wanted some cash. It was the summer before her senior year at Regina High School, and she started working as a caddie to make extra money.

But there is a sliver of truth in "Caddyshack." There can be a special relationship between young caddies and the golfers.

“The people that we work for are so nice,” she said. “It’s kind of a social job. Yeah, you have to carry the bag and clean their clubs, but you meet a lot of amazing people. It’s also a great job for connections. I know some older caddies who get jobs or internships, just by carrying somebody’s bag for four hours.”

Barnes, who grew up in Detroit, never dreamed of what would come next: a full-ride scholarship to U-M.

And unlike in the movie, she didn’t have to win a tournament to get it.

“I was a unique case,” she said. “I started caddying my junior year in high school, so I didn’t have two years under my belt when I headed off to college.”

So she wasn’t eligible for the scholarship for her freshman year in college.

She had to pay for her first year at Michigan, taking out loans. “I took out between $10,000 to $15,000,” she said. “I paid for my school straight off loans.”

But now, after being a caddie for two years, she was eligible for the scholarship and won one of them.

“Without the scholarship, I’d be like so many other students in college, in serious debt, when I graduated,” she said. “I think I have a different perspective on this scholarship because a lot of students get it their freshman year and don’t have to worry about taking out a loan.”

This fall, Barnes will live at the Evans Scholars house in Ann Arbor, along with others who have won the scholarship.

“It’s kind of set up like a frat or sorority house,” she said. “A lot of members at my club donate money every year to the scholarship fund. It’s a national scholarship. A lot of people donate a lot of money so that the people who are caddying for them can get a free education. For me, having to take out that loan, and getting that scholarship is such a game-changer for me.”

This summer, she is caddying about three or four times a week. “I also picked up a job at the halfway house where people stop for food and drinks,” Barnes said. “I caddie and then head out to the halfway house. I love it. It’s the best summer job for someone in high school or college. You get to make connections with all of these people who have these amazing jobs, doctors and lawyers and businessmen. And you make good money, and you could get a full ride to Michigan or Michigan State.”

Circle of help

Jared Ingram, who graduated from Cass Tech, also won an Evans Scholarship and plans to attend Michigan State. “It’s truly a blessing,” Ingram said. “It’s a huge burden off my mom.”

This is the sixth summer that Ingram has been a caddie at the Country Club of Detroit.

“The actual country club environment is pretty good,” Ingram said. “I mean, you are always meeting all of these successful people, meeting different people every day, and it gives you a different perspective on what you can do in life and what your future is going to look like.”

Ingram wants to study accounting, get a master’s degree in finance and go into venture capitalism.

He grew up in single-parent house in Detroit. Sometimes, he puts money he earns as a caddie into his mother’s purse.

“She doesn’t like when I do it, but I will slip some money in her purse when I get a chance,” he said. “Whenever I get a chance or she’s not looking. I like to help out. She has worked her whole life to help me, it’s my turn to help her.”

In essence, that’s the spirit behind this scholarship.

Golfers giving back.

And trying to kill that gopher. No, whoops. I mean, trying to help others.

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel/.