Anstiss (19) has signed up for a golf scholarship at Southeastern Louisiana University with up to three years of eligibility.
The Queenstown player will leave for the United States in mid-January after studying finance and economics at the University of Otago for the past two years.
''It is an awesome opportunity and I look forward to mixing it with the big boys over there,'' Anstiss said.
''I have talked to Duncan Croudis about scholarships after he spent the last three years at Iowa State University. He told me it was a great experience and he learned a lot and so I am keen to follow in his footsteps.''
Anstiss was born in Christchurch and was introduced to the game playing mini-golf with his grandmother.
The family moved to Queenstown 10 years ago when his father, Craig, took up a position at Queenstown Airport while his mother became an interior designer at the Millbrook Golf Resort.
He has two younger brothers and one younger sister but none of them have become as serious about golf as James.
It was not until Anstiss celebrated his 15th birthday that he became serious about the game playing, at the Frankton golf course with his first handicap of 25.
Anstiss has had a meteoric rise to top provincial golf and, just four years after beginning, he has had a season to remember this year.
He leaves behind two course records having set a Kelvin Heights record of 66 on his home course when he won the Otago age-group title in March.
In the Central Otago men's championship at Alexandra, he set a record of 65, birdieing the last six holes to achieve this feat.
He won the 36-hole Chisholm Park Open in September but is most pleased with his results in two of the Charles Tour events against the best amateurs and professionals in New Zealand.
He posted top-20 finishes at Tauranga and Harewood, finishing as the sixth-best amateur in each event.
With his top form this year, the selectors placed him at No 2 for the interprovincial tournament played two weeks ago.
Anstiss finished with two wins, three halves and three losses which helped Otago finish second.
''I will miss the Otago golf scene, the events and the lads but this is too good an opportunity to pass up,'' he said.
''I have enjoyed playing in Dunedin while at university and, in particular, representing the Otago club's successful Bombers pennant team which has been lots of fun.''
