By:  Guy Dossi (Calaveras Enterprise)

Taylor Robinson no longer does anything just for herself. So when the 2014 Calaveras High School graduate signed to move her golf career from San Joaquin Delta College to Menlo College, her main focus sat gleefully on her lap.

Robinson, a 20-year-old single mother, received a full athletic scholarship to play golf at Menlo College. As she signed her name to the paper, she might as well have written "Everything I do is for him."

"This is all for Callen," Robinson said of her 2-year-old son. "It's all about his future. I don't want us to ever struggle. The reason I'm playing golf is to get school paid for, so I'm not in debt. But it's all for him.

In her senior year at CHS, Robinson thought she had her life figured out. She planned on playing golf in college in Southern California after graduating from Calaveras in the spring of 2014. But her plans quickly changed when she found out that she was pregnant.

At that moment, Robinson put her golf career on the back burner. At 18 years old, she knew that she had to make her newborn son the main focus in her life. Golf couldn't get in the way of being a good mother.

"I come from a Christian family and I just knew the first thing to do was to cross (golf) out," Robinson said. "I knew I was eventually going to go back to school and get a degree. If I was going to play golf, great. If not, no big deal. But my son was going to be my first priority."

Before Robinson had Callen, her main concern was figuring out what sport she enjoyed playing the most. She played travel softball and volleyball and continued to play both sports in high school. In her junior year, Robinson hit .321 with 15 RBIs, 12 runs scored and five doubles for the CHS softball team.

Heading into that junior year, Robinson decided that volleyball just wasn't for her and replaced it with golf. Although Robinson had never played golf, it was a sport that her grandfather had been nudging her toward since she was 6 years old.

It didn't take long for Robinson to feel right at home on the golf course.

"I fell in love with it," Robinson said. "It's nice because it's an individual sport. For women, there aren't that many individual sports around here. If you do well, it's all on you. If you do bad, it's all on you."

The more she played, the more it became clear to Calaveras golf coach Rick Behler that he had a special player on his hands. Robinson finished her junior season as the Mother Lode League's top new player.

"Taylor came out for the team as a junior with no experience and immediately showed she had natural ability," Behler said. "Very few people have that. So right then I knew if she worked hard, she could be really good. Her senior year she really improved and got a lot more consistent."

By her senior year, Robinson was named captain of the CHS girls golf team. Under the tutelage of Behler, Robinson started to believe that playing college golf was more than just a pipe dream.

"After my first (high school) season, I just automatically put my head toward playing college golf," Robinson said. "Then I got pregnant."

With a new addition in her life, Robinson took a year off from school. After being away from school and the golf course for a year, Robinson was ready to return to both. She enrolled at San Joaquin Delta College and made the women's golf team.

Playing a college sport as a single mother hasn't been a walk in the park. Robinson has a support group surrounding her that has immensely helped her along the way. And just because she was a mother, didn't mean that she would use that as an excuse to not succeed.

"That's the way I am," Robinson said. "I always find a way to get everything done. My coach at Delta was very flexible. If I had to miss practice for some reason, he was OK with that."

Robinson and Callen live in Stockton, while her parents live in Valley Springs. Robinson's parents, along with Callen's paternal grandmother would help babysit any time that there was practice or a tournament that required her attendance.

In her sophomore year at Delta, Robinson finished with an average stroke of 87 and earned all-conference honors. In the 2016 NorCal Regional Finals, she shot a 92 on the first day and an 87 on the second for a score of 179.  Taylor Robinson follows the flight of her shot during a tournament with Delta this past fall.

"I felt pretty good about the season," Robinson said. "I had my lowest round ever, so I felt pretty good about that. I put in a lot of time getting lessons. It felt good to have my hard work pay off."

Regardless of the success that Robinson had on the golf course, she was still not the most recognized member of her family out on the links.

"Everyone loves Callen," Robinson said. "All the girls want to take pictures with him. He's probably more popular than I am."

After her season came to an end in November, Robinson started to figure out what her next step would be. She narrowed her choice down between Sonoma State University and Menlo. It took Robinson a while to figure out which would be the right fit, but as long as she had a golf club in one hand and Callen's hand in the other, she wasn't worried.

Robinson ended up choosing Menlo because of how much it reminded her of Calaveras County. She felt like she was home with the small community aspect Menlo offered.

Robert Jan, the head golf coach at Menlo, was also happy when he heard that Robinson would be joining the team later this fall.

"Taylor Robinson will be a great fit here at Menlo College as she possesses extreme athletic ability and has the experience that we need to assist us in our rebuilding process," Jan said. "Taylor's excitement, knowledge of the game of golf and strong academic background also aligns perfectly with Menlo College."

For some, the challenge of playing college golf may be too daunting of a task. But for Robinson, she is ready to prove what she can do.

"I'm feeling confident about it," Robinson said. "I hope that I live up to my own expectations. I'm always used to being on top. Transferring to a four-year is a lot different. I met some of the girls on the team and they are a lot like me. It's nice to have those girls to practice and play with."

In August, Robinson and Callen will pack their stuff and move from Stockton to their new home in Atherton. The change in location will not be without sacrifice. Robinson will be further away from her family, but her lifeline will remain by her side.

"We are in it together," Robinson said. "He goes with me wherever I am. My goal is to be done with school by the time he gets to kindergarten. I feel like I've been doing everything to do the right thing for him."

Robinson hopes to follow her father's footsteps and one day be a business owner. But she will also be someone who can be looked at as an example. Robinson is a woman who thought she had her life figured out. But what she ended up with was far better than anything she could have ever imagined.

"It wasn't my plan, but it turned out the best way it could," Robinson said. "It changed me for the better. It shows that things do happen and sometimes they don't go as you plan. But that doesn't mean that you can't follow your dream, even if you are a single mom. You can do it."

http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/sports/article_76099a68-3037-11e7-b05b-37d722b82cf5.html