INTRIGUING IMMIGRANTS BY HILTON
HEAD MONTHLY
Andrew Summers
The Golf Entrepreneur
BY MARCO FREY
FOR ANDREW
SUMMERS,
LIFE IS ABOUT
THE LONG
GAME. During a
Thanksgiving round of
golf with students from
International Junior Golf
Academy, he described his swing as “lousy. And
yet I probably scored better than all of them.
A lot comes down to course strategy,” a fitting
metaphor for a well-lived life. Summers was born
in Nigeria and brought up in South Africa, where
his father led a missionary. The family moved to
their home in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1971. His
father encouraged Summers to find what made
him unique and use it in the service of others —
and it was that advice that led Summers to quit
a 22-year career in investment management to
pursue a career that blended his two passions:
golf and education.
“Finance was never my natural home; I always
imagined a life after,” he said. “I’m
pleased to have had that foresight 30 years ago. I
retired at age 50 from finance to do
something I’m passionate about.” A lifetime
golfer, Summers was immediately struck by the
natural beauty of Hilton Head Island during a golf
getaway to the island. When he married his wife,
Didi, they knew the Lowcountry would be an ideal
location to raise her three children, balancing
academics with quality sports opportunities.
They moved to the island in 2008 and enrolled
their eldest son at a tennis academy, their middle
son at a golf academy, and their youngest
daughter in an equestrian training program. In
fact, they helped create the International Riding
Academy at Lawton Stables. Thanks to his
background as a hard-driving change manager
at finance firms, Summers was asked to be
chairman of Hilton Head Preparatory School in
2008 — the school knew he would have the grit
to make unpopular decisions. Despite some initial
resistance to his initiatives to open the school
to a sports academy and international boarding
students, many now applaud this new student
body who bring diversity to the school and win
awards, and the school stabilized financially.
But he didn’t stop there. Summers established
a junior golf academy in Florida and in 2014
purchased the International Junior Golf Academy
on Hilton Head. While single-sport boarding
schools were a rarity at the time, he saw golf as a
way to help students from around the world test
their perseverance, grit and determination. “It’s
very courageous on their part — some arrive with
just a smattering of English and must adapt to
American culture,” he said. Once here, they spend
20 hours a week on golf and 20
hours a week on school. “The challenge is to
get the message out that golf boarding schools
exists,” Summers
said.
IJGA now has on the two campuses a total of
about 150 teenagers from over 40 different
countries who have left their homes and families
behind to pursue their dreams of becoming
champion golfers. Many go on to professional
golf careers or earn top scholarships to university
golf programs. For many of these students IJGA
can change their lives.
Summers couldn’t hide his pride when discussing
one former student’s success. “I have just
watched one of our alumni, Pablo Larrazabal,
win the Alfred Dunhill in South Africa— perhaps
the most extraordinary victory on any PGA event
in the world— playing with amazing courage
and heart, epitomizing what we are seeking to
achieve in our students,” he said.
But Summers’ philanthropic efforts aren’t limited
to golf or to the U.S. He also co-founded the
Calabar Foundation, which funds educational
projects in rural areas of South Africa that
use technology to support math and literacy.
“Providing these opportunities to develop our
wonderful teenagers inspires me each and every
morning,” he said.
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