Who golfs? UTC biology major Dylan Highsmith

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

photo Dylan Highsmith

Dylan Highsmith

Red Bank

Dylan Highsmith has learned of the perks that come with working at a golf course: free golf.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga biology major has been spending his summers at the Signal Mountain and Chattanooga Golf and Country clubs.

He’s worked and played at both.

“If I’m lucky, I get to play two or three times a week,” Highsmith said. “Free golf is a major factor, and in fact about 50-50 with the paycheck.”

He grew up in the Knoxville area and played baseball at Bearden High School. He chose to pick up the crazy game of golf to keep competitive athletic juices going.

“Any sport that I played, in almost anything I do, there has to be some competition,” Highsmith said. “The competition can be with yourself, or in golf with the course.”

He chose UTC for its biology program — from which he will graduate next spring — but hasn’t quite figured out the perfect way to apply it to golf.

“If my degree had to do with some kind of environment or land management, but I don’t think there’s much I can do with it in golf,” said Highsmith, who set a personal record of 6-over-par 77 in the last month. “I’ve thought about it before.”