Caddie Spotlight: Nate Jones of St. David’s Golf Club

By John T. Iswalt

St. Davids Golf Club has been a caddying haven for Nate Jones since 2017.

Golf wasn’t always a part of Jones’ life, though. He grew up playing football, baseball and basketball. His dad, Mark, was an avid golfer and even spent time working in the pro shop at Cobbs Creek Golf Course. During the summer of 2017, Nate played his first round of golf at Cobbs alongside his father and “got the bug.” He stared taking lessons from Rob Jeffery, the then assistant St. Davids pro. That same year, Jeffrey encouraged Jones to caddie at St. Davids.

Jones enjoyed looping while keeping his own game in shape. For him, golf was both personal and professional.  

Times were great until the Jones family received bad news in 2021.

“[In March of] my senior year of high school, my father got sick with [Stage 4 bladder] cancer,” Jones, a 2021 graduate of Archbishop John Carroll High School, said. “The following January he passed. I didn’t go to [college then], which I think looking back was a good decision.”

Caddying at St. Davids filled the void. 

“I was pretty lost after he passed. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” Jones said. “Being out [at St. Davids] definitely gave me something to do and gave me a path to follow … I don’t think I would be in this position without that.” 

Golf was a tie that bound Jones and his father. Even after his death, the invisible string remains.

“He always played golf, and he was the one who introduced me to golf.” Jones, who recently became a 2024-25 Platt Scholar, said. “It’s hard not having a father figure, but I know if he was here he would be very proud of this because he had big aspirations for me in golf.”

With Platt’s aid, Jones started at Penn State University’s Professional Golf Management program this August.

“I relied and had faith that the Platt would take care of [me] and it did,” Jones, 21, of Wayne, Pa., said. “I would say without their help, I probably would not be going to Penn State.”

Jones is the current recipient of the Robert M. Aiken, Jr. Endowed Scholarship, which is presented to a caddie from St. Davids Golf Club, or who attends the University of Pennsylvania. Jones became aware of Platt Scholarship opportunities after several of his peers at St. Davids became Platt Scholars. Buddy Aiken, the Trust’s Secretary and longtime St. Davids member, and Trust Chairwoman Tina Gregor encouraged Jones to apply.

“Nate’s story is such a terrific one on so many levels. It is demonstrable of everything that we have been trying to achieve through the J. Wood Platt EMPOWER program. Our members at St. Davids have truly embraced the importance of having a thriving caddie program and the genuine benefits and opportunities it creates for young men and women like Nate to be successful as they navigate through the challenges they face and prepares them to be successful in college and beyond,” Aiken, 58, of Exton, Pa., said. “We are proud as a club of how courageous Nate has been in dealing with the challenges he’s been through and excited about the opportunity of going to Penn State. To embrace it and lean into it were the key messages that so many members of the club, Tyler [Santacroce] and Tina helped consistently deliver to Nate. Having a strong network there for our young men and women to fall back on is an essential component of the EMPOWER program.”    

“[Being a scholar] is a point of pride,” Jones said. “It teaches you to always be professional. It’s always there to fall back upon if you ever need assistance or advice on anything. There is a wide community there that will help.” 

Jones also attended the Trust’s EMPOWER Leadership Summit at Union League Liberty Hill. He said it was a great opportunity to meet other scholars and to grow professionally. His aspirations following graduation include becoming a golf professional and working in club management. 

“The past three years [caddying has] been full-time. It’s exposed me to the outside side of things while still interacting with the pro shop guys,” Jones said. “Then I got into Penn State and I talked to Tyler Santacroce, our head pro who went to Penn State for PGM, and he told me about it. It caught my attention. A week later, [my application] was in.” 

“It’s always one of the more rewarding aspects of the job, when someone is involved in a golf operation and suddenly identifies themselves as a candidate to be successful in that line of work down the road,” Santacroce, 33, of Philadelphia, Pa., said. “Nate approached me and wanted to pick my brain about it, and I shared with him some of the experiences I’ve had.” 

Santacroce, whose golf roots began in Lawrence, Mass., is an alumnus of the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund. Ouimet is the equivalent of the Platt Scholarship in Massachusetts.

“For me personally, I ended up going to Penn State for the golf management program. That wouldn’t have been a reality or even a possibility if it wasn’t for the Ouimet Scholarship, so I am forever indebted to them,” Santacroce said. “We were excited and fired up that [Nate] was going to pursue going back to school to study anything, but the fact that he has a good golf game and he’s enjoyed his time here at St. Davids really speaks to the culture that the membership has established over the years.”      

Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The Association’s 288 Member Clubs and 75,000 individual members are spread across the Eastern half of Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey and Delaware. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.

The J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust was created in 1958 and is the charitable arm of GAP (Golf Association of Philadelphia). The J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust’s mission is to financially aid and empower qualified caddies and those working in golf operations in the pursuit of higher education. Along with aiding caddies financially, J. Wood Platt’s EMPOWER program strengthens scholarship investment dollars by providing caddies with exceptional benefits and leadership training through access to the wide network of J. Wood Platt donors and alumni. To date, more than 3,700 young men and women have received $25 million in aid from the Trust.