Who says being a caddy doesn’t pay?

It paid pretty well for Alana-Marie Brahler.

Brahler, a 1989 Moniteau High School graduate, turned being a caddy into a college scholarship at Slippery Rock University.

That in turn has landed her a job as a golf professional at one of the newest and spiffiest golf courses in the Mecca of resorts: Myrtle Beach, S.C.

“When you are a 13- or 14-year old and you see your cousin come home after caddying with cash in hand, you ask ‘Caddying? What is that and I’m with you,’” Brahler said. “At that age, you can’t get a job because of labor laws. It was something to do.”

Brahler served as a caddy in North Hills.

“Some of those bags felt like they were 6-feet tall and had all of that Rodney Dangerfield equipment in it,” Brahler said.

It wasn’t for several years after she began caddying that she started playing golf.

She got old clubs handed down by the members she caddied for. It didn’t take long for her to get quite good.

Brahler golfed for the Moniteau High School boys golf team her junior and senior season.

When it came time to go to college, she received a caddy scholarship from the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association. SRU matched it.

Brahler graduated from SRU with a sports management degree.

“My first love was always sports,” Brahler said. “I always played football, basketball and everything else.”

Her caddying experience and her natural golfing ability has led her to become the head golf professional at the Grande Dunes Golf Club in Myrtle Beach.

The resort opened in 2001 and Brahler was there from the beginning, working her way up to her current position.

There is little time to play golf, however.

When she does play, she still posts low scores on each of the two 18-hole courses at Grand Dunes.

“I shoot in the high 60s to mid-70s,” Brahler said. “It depends on how I’m playing. I had my first double eagle recently.”

But her busy schedule precludes her from playing a great deal of golf. In addition to her duties at Grand Dunes, she is also the National Technical Delegate for the Special Olympics Golf tournament, which is being held in Ames, Iowa in September.

She always finds time, though, to talk to the members.

“I like to talk. They call me ‘jabber jaws’ around here,” Brahler said. “It’s one of the friendly reminders of my gift of gab.”

Through her mingling, she comes across a lot of people from Butler County.

“I’ll see people with Pittsburgh Steelers stuff on,” Brahler said. “It reminds me of home.”

Nick Price was one of the designers of the two Grand Dunes courses, which are unique because they feature a few more rolling hills than some of the other courses in Myrtle Beach.

It is also among the longest courses in the area — about 7,600 yards from the furthest tee boxes. The greens are also spacious, about 10,000 square feet.

“It’s bent grass greens and we have eight rotating pin placements,” Brahler said. “That’s big and challenging.

And it’s home to Brahler now.

“I call myself a misplaced Pennsylvanian,” Brahler said. “This is my adoptive home now. It’s kind of small like back home. It’s just like Norm from Cheers. Everyone knows your name.”