Irvine in South Carolina’s Watson Cup Tournament last season 
Courtesy | Andrew Irvine

Andrew Irvine might be the only man on campus who owns a kilt — and wears it proudly. 

Irvine is a transfer student from Scotland and who arrived on campus spring semester of 2025. Now in his sophomore year, Irvine has forged an identity on campus as a Hillsdale Charger and an avid golfer.

While he has not yet competed in a tournament with the golf team, Irvine  averaged a 77.29 in last semester’s qualifier. Additionally, the team benefits tangibly from Irvine’s presence and personality, according to head golf coach Luke Kelly. 

“Andrew has been great on the team,” Kelly said. “He sets a really good example during practice, works hard, and really gels with the other guys.” 

Born in Dunbar, a small town east of Edinburgh along Scotland’s North seaside, Irvine came to Hillsdale for one reason: to play golf. Since then, he says he’s found many reasons to stay. But until his senior year of high school, Irvine said he never even considered the thought of studying in America. 

“I didn’t think it was a possibility,” Irvine said. “But then my friend I went to high school with, who was a runner, got accepted into Wake Forest University, and he encouraged me to look into it.” 

Irvine had not heard of Hillsdale before he began his American college search. In late 2024, his recruiter in Scotland pitched him to Kelly, and he was admitted with the spring 2025 transfer class with 11 other students. 

“It was kind of strange to end up at the only college you talk to,” Irvine said. “But it has worked out great. I wanted somewhere that was going to challenge me academically and also have golf, and Hillsdale seemed like the perfect fit. It was nice straight away.” 

Irvine’s first time in America came a few months before his acceptance to Hillsdale, when he played in a golf tournament and visited Hillsdale’s campus. 

“I looked around and I really liked the place,” Irvine said. 

Irvine credits his father, a shot put contestant in Scotland’s annual Highland Games, for instilling in him the athletic spirit that has fueled his love for golf. 

“My dad got me started playing golf when I was 11,” Irvine said. “My dad is someone I definitely look up to in most things, but especially in athletics. He’s very dedicated to his sport, which is very different to golf, but his work ethic is definitely something I look up to, and I hope that translates a little bit into golf.” 

The community at Hillsdale has been a particularly high point, Irvine said. Between the pace of classes and his athletic requirements, he said he hasn’t had much time to miss home. 

“Right now, we’re not properly in season, but I still try to get in two or three hours of gym practice every day,” Irvine said. “During the season, it’s about 20 hours per week we spend on golf alone. So between that and studies, I haven’t found that I’ve been too homesick. I think the people here are so kind and so welcoming that that has really helped as well.”

Kelly said he was initially unsure of how well Irvine would fit with the team since he was the first international athlete he had ever worked with. But since Irvine’s arrival, Kelly said all his hesitancies have evaporated.

“For me as a coach, he’s a pleasure working with,” Kelly said. “He always accomplishes what’s asked of him, and he does so competently and with a smile. So it’s been great having him here.”

Sophomore Theodosius Santalov, one of Irvine’s fellow transfer class admittees, said he recalled meeting the Scotsman for the first time and immediately gaining an appreciation for his character.

“I have so much respect for those individuals who don’t just explore their opportunities but actually follow through with them,” Santalov said. “Andrew could have gone to a school with favorable rates like St. Andrew’s back in Scotland. But Hillsdale saw something in him and offered a deal to him that he took, and I’m grateful that he did.” 

Santalov said he thought that both Irvine and Hillsdale were the better for the arrangement. Not only was Irvine being immersed in the best of American literature and intellectual culture, Irvine was also able to experience a small-town American culture that many travelers from the U.K. simply aren’t able to. 

“There’s a lot of blue collar people out here in Hillsdale,” Santalov said. “Hillsdale will get an ambassador to Scotland and to the world, and Andrew will receive the best of both an American education and a localized cultural experience that we can offer.”

And as far as the kilt goes, for Irvine, it’s become something of a staple. 

“I’ve worn it twice,” Irvine said. “To the President’s Ball and to the Garden Party last year — I love wearing the kilt, but it’s the flood and tartan pattern, which is not my family’s ancestral pattern. The Irvine plaid is blue and green, and I will be receiving that privilege and honor when I turn 21 next year.” 

Regardless, the kilt will stay in Hillsdale — even if the pattern is subject to change.