Dunlap’s Eccles wins 2025 CSM Boys Golfer of the Year

Jonathan Michel
5 minutes ago
4 min read

Nolan Eccles did what no Central Illinois boys golfer has done since 2019: finish the season on top of the state.

The Dunlap junior set records, earned all-conference honors in one of downstate Illinois’ most competitive conferences and is the 2025 CSM Boys Golfer of the Year.

Eccles shot a 69 in the first round of the Class 2A State Finals at Weibring Golf Club, sharing the top spot with West Chicago’s Wheaton Academy Owen Coniaris after 18 holes. The Eagles’ top golfer broke free in the second round with a three-under 68 for a 36-hole score of 137 (five-under) that beat out Normal U-High’s Brody Allen and Belleville Althoff’s Carson Tribout by three strokes.

In doing so, Eccles became the first Central Illinois-area boys golf state champion since Peoria Christian’s Weston Walker in 2019 and the first Dunlap boys golfer to win a state title since Tony Turner did so in Class A in 1993. It marked Eccles’ second top-10 finish in two trips at state after tying for seventh as sophomore in 2024.

During the season, Eccles finished T4 at the Class 2A Bloomington Sectional and was the runner-up at the Class 2A Macomb Regional. He earned first-team all-Mid Illini honors, leading Dunlap to being the Mid-Illini runner-ups by one stroke and finishing eighth individually at the conference tournament.

Eccles was in the mix for winning each tournament he played in, including finishing 11th at the 30-team Pekin Dragon Classic, in the top 10 at the Coyote Creek Classic and tying for third at the PND Invite. He won IVC Invite at Arrowhead Country Club on Sept. 4 with a 69, leading Dunlap to winning the team title and won CSM Boys Athlete of the Week for the week of Sept. 1-7. He also set the new course record there with an 11-under 61, which included 11 birdies and seven pars. The Dunlap junior teamed with Nick Herget to win the Unit 5 Better Ball tournament with a 62 and helped lead the Eagles to a win at Monmouth-Roseville’s Titan Invite and Bloomington’s Raider Cup.

Eccles was one of six golfers to earn CSM Boys Golf All-Area First Team honors. Hear from Eccles in our interview with him below. Some responses have been minimally edited for clarity.

What have you been able to reflect on in the days since the season has ended?

“I’ve been working and setting new goals for this spring and next summer. I've just been working on my game indoors. I have a swing coach up in Chicago, he's been helping me every Saturday, so that helps. I'm working on some recruiting stuff as well, and just putting myself in the best spot for spring and summer.

What inspired your love for the game?

“Mostly my dad, he’s been my life coach, just with everything. He taught me how to swing a club and [taught me] the mental part of it too. I've moved states, so I've had to kind of adapt. I feel like that's helped me with golf and just helped me as a person. He just always encouraged me to play all the sports and he realized I was pressing golf, so he made me focus on that. I’ve been practicing every day ever since.”

Where was your favorite place to play?

“I would say my favorite competitive [tournament] would be the Illinois State Junior Amateur at Makray Memorial. That’s been the hardest tournament the last two years because all the super good people are there.”

What’s a motto or mindset you take when you’re competing?

“Everything happens for a reason and putting myself in the best positions for my next shot. And if I have a short putt, I'm not afraid of the next putt after that. It's either you make it or you don't. Overall, whether [I] have a bad round if [I] have a good round, like I still have so many friends and so much family and the love of my life that I can happy no matter what.”

Aside from winning, what was your favorite memory of the season?

“I would say, all of my friends that came to watch me, I had like, five or six friends that came to watch me hyping me up, and I was laughing during the round, just having a good time. At the end [of state] it was funny because I had no idea where I was at on the leaderboard at all and I was mad after hole 18 and had no clue [that I won] and I saw everyone crying happy tears so I was like, ‘Oh gosh.’ I had a lot of fun moments but I’d say the most fun was having my family and friends all being there and hyping me up.”

What are your future plans?

“After high school, I want to go to a Division I school. I just want to go to a school that wants me, and I would like to play in the top four and I know with how hard I work, that it could be any school. My friends and family ought to be a super, big factor in my life just overall. I want to major in sports management and see where that will take me if being a golfer doesn't work out. But for now, I want to be on the PGA Tour and get a Division I scholarship for golf.”