Watershed Moment

Kyle Vance and his brother, Brandon, were on the ground floor of their grandparents' home, frantically trying to move their belongings to higher ground and safe from the rushing flood waters from Hurricane Ida. Kyle had just turned pro and had played in his first event three weeks earlier, finishing second and cashing a $6,000 check. 

"The next thing I know, I look at the glass door, and the water is like six feet high,” Vance says.

The glass door could not contain the rushing water, and it shattered. The couch, buoyed by the rushing water, swept Kyle under. A table did the same to Brandon. The brothers went from hoping to save a few belongings to fighting for their lives. 

They scrambled to their feet and made their way to the other side of the ground floor, hoping to get out through the garage. But the flood waters had collapsed the garage door, and the brothers were underwater for the second time in just a few minutes. 

They scrambled to their feet and attempted to make their way to the stairs on the main floor. Now the water was nearly to the ceiling, so the brothers rushed up the stairs and narrowly escaped. Once on the main floor, Sue and Jeff Vance told their sons to grab whatever valuables they could and get out of the house. Jeff carried his 81-year-old mother. Kyle made his way to his car, which was submerged, and grabbed his golf clubs. Everyone escaped to safety, but for the second time in eight years, the family had lost their home. 

Jeff and Sue Vance owned a building renovation business. Jeff did carpentry work, and Sue was a licensed electrician and plumber. The business's name is "Footprints." When I asked where the name came from, Vance told me, "When things are easy, you see two sets of footprints in the sand because God is walking with you. When times are hard, there is only one because God is carrying you." The family leaned on this a lot. 

Like most kids, Kyle played many sports growing up. The family enjoyed middle-class living until Kyle's freshman year of high school, when their world crashed.

In the winter of 2014, Jeff Vance was diagnosed with Amyloidosis, a rare, life-threatening disease that attacks the organs. Unable to work and with mounting medical bills, the family lost its home to foreclosure and filed for bankruptcy. The Vances moved in with the boys’ grandparents, who lived in the area.  

Jeff endured numerous hospital stays and treatments, including a three-month ordeal at Boston Hospital, where he received a bone marrow transplant. Kyle would talk with his dad daily, and the conversations often centered around golf. 

"You and your brother playing golf is keeping me alive," Jeff told Kyle one night. At the time, Kyle was outside the top 1,000 in the junior world rankings. "When you hear something like that, you gotta go out there and win,” Kyle says. By the time he graduated from high school, he had ascended to 17th. 

The bone marrow transplant didn’t work for Jeff Vance. "He was part of the 1 percent it doesn't work for," Kyle says. Luckily, a trial drug did. For the time being, the Amyloidosis was in remission. He was able to come home, and the family crammed six people into the four-bedroom home of the boys’ grandparents. 

Jeff and Sue restarted their business and Kyle headed to Kansas State on a nearly full ride. But adversity would follow. 

Kyle struggled badly in his first two seasons. Maybe it was the culture shock of moving from Philadelphia to Manhattan, Kan. Maybe the coach and the swing changes he made weren’t the right fit – but for whatever reason, he struggled. 

After his sophomore season, during which he played just two events and averaged almost 78, Covid shut down the world and Vance got to thinking about his future. The highest-ranked player to sign with Kansas State wouldn't play another round for the Wildcats. He did stay in school and earned his degree in business marketing in 2021. 

Kyle continued playing golf independently throughout his time in Kansas, and the magic returned. After graduation, he turned pro and thanks to a sponsorship from club members back in Philadelphia, entered a mini-tour event in Pittsburg. The entry fee was a steep $3,000, but he collected the $6,000 check. Things were looking up.

Then Ida hit. The house was basically a complete loss. In and out of remission, Jeff lost his work truck and all his tools. To make matters worse, three years prior, the insurance company told the Vances flood insurance wasn't necessary after a dam was removed along the Perkiomen River. The family stayed in a hotel for the next two weeks and spent most of their days at their flooded home to see what they could recover. There wasn’t much to salvage.

A GoFundMe campaign organized by the community and a small check from FEMA helped Jeff and Sue rebuild their lives. This time, they bought a home in Georgia, and for the third time in the last eight years, they worked to rebuild their business. 

Kyle went to Florida and found a job caddying at Calusa Pines, saving some money for his playing career. In March 2022, he went to Canadian Tour Q school and earned conditional status for the upcoming season. He made just one start that year, missing the cut by one stroke. Twice he missed Monday qualifying by ... one stroke. 

Again, facing adversity, Kyle went home to the Philadelphia area to prepare for Korn Ferry Q school. Two weeks before the first stage, he encountered another setback. During a swing while playing a practice round at Metedeconk in New Jersey, he heard a loud pop. "The guys I was playing with heard it, too,” Kyle says. “It was like the sound of hitting the ball, but we knew it wasn't." Almost immediately, he experienced shooting pain down his leg. He had torn the labrum in his hip. 

He had already sent in his $5,000 entry fee for Q school, so he delayed surgery and opted for a cortisone shot and the prospect of a miracle. No such luck. Hardly able to walk, let alone swing, Kyle struggled and missed advancing. In December 2022, he had surgery and penciled in Canadian Q school the next year as a goal to return. 

Last June, Kyle traveled to Prince Edward Island for Canadian Tour Q school. He had only been playing again for a few weeks and would tee it up without having played a competitive round in more than seven months. 

Q school when you have practiced and been healthy is difficult enough; coming off a six-month layoff and surgery, the task is nearly impossible. Kyle shot a second-round 77, and even after a third-round 67, he was seven shots out of securing a full card heading into the final round.  

And then he shot the best round of the day by three shots. Thanks to a bogey-free 64, he rocketed 34 spots into a tie for sixth and gained a full Canadian Tour card. 

During the 2023 season, Vance made three of seven cuts, all top-30 finishes, and headed into the final event before the Tour Championship ranked 71st in points. The top 60 would make it to the Tour Championship and, more importantly, retain their cards for the following season. 

On the par-5 5th hole during the first round, Kyle heard an all too familiar sound on his downswing. "I knew what it was but didn't want to believe it,” he says. 

He tried to walk but fell to the ground, unable to put pressure on his hip. A cart rushed him to the clubhouse. He had torn the labrum in his hip for the second time. Ten months after having the first surgery, Vance went in for another. 

The financial help Kyle received from friends and members of the club where he practiced had dried up, and he was facing another three to six months of rehab. "I Doordashed, I did Shipt (grocery delivery), gave some lessons on the side, and anything I could do to stay afloat, pay rent and keep my dream alive,” he says.

For months, Kyle circled April 1 on his calendar. It was the Monday qualifier for the Korn Ferry Tour event in Savannah, Ga., about an hour from where Jeff and Sue Vance had moved to restart their lives. Footprints had found its footing again in Georgia. 

After months of rehab, Vance was once again healthy enough to start playing again. A few days before the qualifier, he played in a two-day mini-tour event and finished T5. There were signs the game of old was coming around. 

At the Birchwood Golf Club, one of the two sites for the Club Car Championship, 130 players teed it up in hopes of securing one of the four spots in the field. The odds of making it through a Monday qualifier are slim on a good day. Throw in two hip surgeries in 10 months, and those odds get even longer. But long odds have never bothered Kyle Vance. 

Again in remission, Jeff Vance was on the bag for his son. It was the first time he had caddied for Kyle since he was 12. 

Kyle turned in 31, and the outstanding play continued on the back nine with five more birdies and just one bogey. Throughout the round, Jeff kept saying, "Praise Jesus.” “After I made a birdie, while we were walking up the fairway, he said it a lot,” Kyle says. The 8-under 62 was his lowest competitive round ever, good enough for medalist honors, and it earned him a Thursday tee time. It would be his first career Korn Ferry Tour event. 

Jeff remained on the bag, but an opening 75 left the Vances far down the leaderboard. There would be no miracle comeback this time. A second-round 71 left Kyle three shots outside the cut, so he headed to his parents’ home to rest. 

Still, a missed cut and the disappointment that came with it felt good in a way. Things felt normal, in fact. Jeff was on the bag, the family business was rebuilt, and Kyle was healthy. 

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For the first time in a long time, there were two sets of footprints in the sand.

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