For Andrew Price, the best part of golf might not be the pars and birdies — it’s where the game takes him.
Price, 44, grew up in Lake Forest, Ill., playing just about every sport he could. Basketball, baseball and golf among them. By the time he reached high school, though, it was clear golf was the sport that would take him furthest. After a successful junior career, Price played collegiately at Kansas, competing for a top-25 program and building friendships that have lasted a lifetime.
But the real journey was just beginning.
After college, Price spent a couple of years in Arizona before returning home to Chicagoland, where he eventually settled back in the suburbs, joining his family’s fourth-generation insurance business, leaving him time on the side to get his game in shape for amateur events. What started with events like the Western Amateur and USGA qualifiers gradually opened doors to the highest levels of mid-amateur golf. And with each new opportunity came another unforgettable experience.
There was Brookline, where Price played the U.S. Amateur in 2013. There were trips to Ireland and Scotland, including a buddies trip to Trump Turnberry that gave him a taste of what the famed links had to offer. There were rounds at National Golf Links and other courses that once existed mostly as names on a bucket list.
Chief among them? Pine Valley. Price first visited the legendary New Jersey club in 2012, when he went with his father and some friends for a father-son event. They played roughly five rounds, giving Price the chance to experience a course he already knew would be special.
Thanks to his stellar play as a mid-am, Price eventually got an invitation to the prestigious Crump Cup, and Pine Valley became an increasingly familiar destination. Price won the championship in 2024 and has remained a fixture near the top of the leaderboard since. This year, he reached the final yet again before falling to Stewart Hagestad, 3 and 2.
For Price, though, the appeal of returning to Pine Valley isn’t simply competitive. Over the years, he has gotten to know the staff and members, making each return feel a little more like coming home. That combination — competition, camaraderie and remarkable places — is what makes the next stop particularly fitting.
Now, golf is taking Price to Scotland for the Bridges Cup, where he will represent the United States in the international mid-am team competition at Trump Turnberry. The event brings together elite mid-ams from the U.S. and around the world for a three-day competition, with this year’s matches taking place at Trump Turnberry Monday to Wednesday.
Price has played team events before, including the Concession Cup, a U.S.-versus-Europe competition for mid-ams and seniors.
“I just like team golf,” Price said. “It’s good to hang out with some fun guys and knock it around.”
It seems appropriate, then, that another chapter of Price’s golf journey will take him back to Trump Turnberry. He has already played the course on a casual trip with friends. This time, though, he’ll see it through a different lens.
