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Chattanooga: Hollister takes local route to advance as golfer

By: David Uchiyama
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Tyler Hollister

The American Junior Golf Association does a wonderful job of connecting high school golfers with college coaches and easing youngsters into the competitive college atmosphere.

Tyler Hollister has proven that playing on the AJGA circuit is not necessary to get a scholarship.

He’s done it by playing in the Chattanooga area and spending countless hours at Valleybrook Golf and Country Club with friends and at Chattanooga Golf and Country Club, where his father is the greens superintendent.

“I thought that I needed to be scoring well here in Chattanooga and playing to my potential here before traveling out of city and out of state,” Hollister said. “I think I’ve accomplished what I wanted to do.”

The CCS senior is expected to sign scholarship papers with Lee Universitythis week and take classes that will line him up with a job in law, journalism or pharmaceuticals.

He had a successful summer that culminated in winning the CDGA Junior Tour championship at The Honors Course earlier this month. He tied for 44th in the Ringgold Telephone Company Junior Classic during a convenient foray into the AJGA series in June.

“He’s definitely gone about earning a scholarship a little bit differently,” CCS coach Don Holwerda said. “He wasn’t spending his summers on the road. He played in tournaments that were local and played well in them.”

Hollister, now a lean 6-foot-1 former baseball and basketball player, took advantage of the range and twilight hours available at CGCC through his dad, Jeff.

But he didn’t spend loads of time with the staff getting lessons. He learned the hard way by playing veteran golfers and members and taking his lumps.

“He took in a lot of golf incidentally just by being out there, whereas other college golfers of mine did it through the AJGA,” Holwerda said. “He played against competition better than him all of his life, but not necessarily in a tournament format.”

The elder Hollister, who declined a invitation to walk on and play for Michigan State — “I knew I wasn’t good enough,” he said — chose a different avenue within the industry that landed him in Chattanooga. Despite his love for the sport, he encouraged his son’s interest in other sports.

“I didn’t want him to get burnt on golf,” Jeff said, “and anyway, I’d come home from spending 10 hours on a golf course, so he played a lot of baseball and basketball and just swing a club around the yard. Once he got into middle school, he couldn’t stay away.”

Hollister and CCS teammate Blake Davidson chose golf over other sports in their summer before sixth grade. They spent a lot of time playing and practicing at Valleybrook, near Davidson’s home.

It’s all paid off.

“I don’t know if it’s sunk in quite yet,” Jeff Hollister said. “My wife (Kim) and I knew Tyler wanted to play in college, and we bounced back and forth whether this would be a reality or not.

“When Coach (John) Maupin offered the scholarship, Kim and I looked around and said, ‘Wow, this is a reality.’”

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