If you were to ask someone what comes to mind when they think of the term "caddy," there's a good chance their answer is the movie "Caddyshack."

But ask any of the 60 or so caddies at the St. Charles Country Club that same question and the answer is likely to have a much different slant.

Tyler Chiapecka might tell you about how caddying provided him a chance to pursue a college education.

For John Kinsella, it might be how valuable the hard work of caddying is proving to be now that he's in college and looking at a professional career down the road.

And in Bennett Fitzmaurice's case, what stands out most just might be the interesting people he gets to talk to and learn from as a caddy at the St. Charles club.

These three are part of a special program and living examples of what a country club and its caddy program can offer.

In the past 26 years, the St. Charles Country Club has been home to 26 recipients of the prestigious Evans Scholarship – a semi-national caddy scholarship. Chiapecka, 18, received the scholarship this year and will attend University of Wisconsin-Madison and pursue an education in journalism.

Kinsella, 19, received the scholarship last year and will be a sophomore finance and accounting major at University of Illinois. Fitzmaurice, 17, plans to apply for the scholarship next year.

At 14 universities, mainly in the Midwest – including Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana – Evans Scholars live and work together in a house owned by the Evans Scholarship Foundation. But this is the end of the process. To appreciate all that goes into the scholarship, it's better to start at the beginning.

Joe Liquori, caddy master at St. Charles Country Club, coordinates about 60 caddies during the golfing season for the club's 200 golfing members. While most of the caddies are male, Liquori said, recent years have seen an increase in female caddies, and the club has nearly 10 now. Caddies are asked to show up at 6:30 a.m. to sign in for the day, and they're asked to work at least two days a week.

Caddies range in age from 14 to 21 and must be full-time students. Unless they opt for a second round, carrying bags that weigh about 40 pounds, they're done by 1 or 2 p.m.

"I like working outside," said Kinsella, who's caddied for five years and still does during his summer break from college. "A lot of my friends that work at Target or Jewel, they're stuck inside all day and they're working a lot longer hours for less money, too."

Chiapecka worked his first job that wasn't caddying at Best Buy last winter and gained a new appreciation for the job he's done for six years now.

"The time went by so much slower ... on the golf course you're moving around, you're seeing new things," Chiapecka said. "You're out in nature and that really helps time just pass by. You're actually having conversations with people instead of the same old trying to sell someone an iPod all day long."

While the job and responsibilities aspect of being a caddy are important, it's the educational aspect that comes first at the St. Charles Club.

"We don't even talk about carrying a golf bag until the next day or the following week," Liquori said of the program's first day of orientation, when the Evans Scholarship opportunity is the first and major aspect introduced to new and prospective caddies.

The Evans Scholarship has been awarded to deserving caddies since 1930. About 200 Evans Scholarships – which include payment of tuition and provide room and board at one of the 14 participating schools – are awarded each year. That makes for about 800 Evans Scholars in the country in a given year. About 2,500 applications are received each year.

St. Charles is one of the only Fox Valley-area clubs that are very involved with the Evans Scholarship program, according to Carmen Dodaro, a member of the club and Evans Scholarship program director. Since financial need is considered, clubs that draw caddies from lower-income areas – such as those in and near Chicago – can produce several Evans Scholars each year. Other clubs produce none.

Besides the chance to send a caddy to college, there's a mentoring aspect that is just as important and available to all the caddies, not just the Evans Scholars.

"Part of the caddy program gives them an opportunity to get a scholarship, but it also gives them an opportunity to meet guys that are very successful in business," said Jim Sutherland, head golf professional at the St. Charles club.

"When you're a kid, 14 years old, carrying a bag for a CEO of a major corporation, you would normally be intimidated; you wouldn't talk to that person," Dodaro said. "But on the golf course, everybody's just an ordinary guy."

Chiapecka doesn't golf and doesn't necessarily see himself as a future country club member, "but knowing them and just talking to them about their work ethic or how they got where they are, regardless of what they're doing, it is very influential just to be able to see these people who've made it for themselves."

Kinsella, on the other hand, enjoys golfing and would love to one day be on the other side of the program, as a one-day mentor to caddies as a dues-paying country club member and golfer. But for now, the young business student is enjoying and taking advantage of the chance to network with and pick the minds of professionals at the club who already work in the fields he may one day go into for himself.

But the network doesn't end when the Evans Scholar leaves the club. Moving into the Evans Scholar house on campus can be like moving in with a house full of counselors and mentors, Dodaro said.

In his first visit to the house he'll move into later this month in Madison, Wis., Chiapecka said, the guys in the house already told him that no matter what classes he'll be taking, there's definitely someone in the house who's taken it too and can help the younger guys out.

"Everyone was looking out for each other there," he said.