Saskatoon’s Caden Loeppky has signed a commitment letter to play collegiate golf in the United States.
Loeppky, 18, will attend Waldorf University in Forrest City, Iowa next fall. Despite only playing competitive golf for one summer and taking lessons for a couple years Loeppky said he has always enjoyed the sport.
“Honestly it’s hard to say what I like about the game because I like every aspect about it,” he said to Golf Saskatchewan. “I like that I’m in full control of every shot and you can’t put the blame on anybody else but yourself.”
Loeppky did play some golf when he was “super little” but it was on the advice from a friend in 2019 that he get involved in lessons with Clinton Schmaltz at The Willows in Saskatoon. The grade 12 student at Centennial Collegiate was a quick learner and he said Schmaltz sensed that and pushed him to pursue a spot on a college team.
“Clinton saw potential with me immediately after I started to take lessons with him,” he said. “I was super new to competitive golf, but I knew that I had a chance and that’s when I started to take it seriously. I was at the course everyday.”
Loeppky set up a profile on the recruiting website Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) and coaches started to reach out to him. After several discussions with coaches it was the talk with Mark Clouse at Waldorf that he decided to commit to.
“When I had that talk with Coach Clouse at Waldorf I knew immediately. Everything he had to say lined up perfectly with what I wanted. I knew immediately when I was talking to him,” Loeppky said.
He will enter his final year of junior golf this upcoming summer and will expand on his career tournament rounds. Loeppky said he will work hard to improve his game ahead of heading south in August.
“My goals for this season is be as consistent as I can be on the course and continue to work on my mental game as that’s a huge part of golf,” he said.
In the classroom Loeppky is going to study Exercise Science with the plan to become a physical therapist.
“I want to thank my parents for supporting me and encouraging me in this process and I want to thank Clinton for pushing me and believing in me,” he concluded.