Not only are junior Brittany Kelly and senior Kirsty O'Connor teammates on the women's golf team, they are also roommates who have shared the experience of playing in different countries.
While visiting O'Connor in England during her summer vacation, Kelly noticed one major difference between London's golf courses and those in the United States.
"Their courses don't have golf carts and they walk everywhere." Kelly said of her visit to a northern England golf course.
Since there is no use for golf carts in Burnley, Lancashire, where O'Connor grew up, she doesn't often get the pleasure of driving one in America.
"The team never lets me drive because I'm lethal," O'Connor commented on her skills behind a golf cart.
The courses don't have cart paths and are mostly hills and farm land, not to mention the different weather conditions and constant wind. Combining the difference in courses with the different climate means that the courses are as unalike as they are far apart.
O'Connor said she rarely plays without the interference of wind at home, so that aspect of the game in Indiana has made her feel at home. There is also a lot more water on American courses than English courses.
Besides hitting a few strokes on the golf course during her vacation, Kelly went to London, Manchester, Pool and Blackpool. Seeing Big Ben was among her favorite parts of the trip.
"Just seeing the culture, it's so much different there," Kelly said. "Everything is so old and the buildings have so much more meaning to them. It was pretty cool to see how different their architecture is from ours because everyone is so young in the U.S. that people like to renovate all the time."
O'CONNOR LANDS ON BSU
Team sports are not as popular in England where O'Connor is from. While in high school she was on an all-boys golf team which consisted of her and three male teammates. The team would only play two tournaments in the fall and two in the spring.
"It was more about individual performance than counting a team score," O'Connor said.
O'Connor started playing at the age of 13 while she was caddied by her parents. She said having a close family friend who is a golf pro didn't hurt either. To this day, nine years later, O'Connor is still coached by him.
"One day I went for a lesson with him and never looked back," she said.
To decide where she would go to school, O'Connor sent out a profile to different college coaches, narrowing her search down to five schools, and going on college tours at these five institutions in a stretch of 10 days.
"In England we have no college sports, so I knew that if I wanted to play golf I had to come to the States," O'Connor said.
Ball State stood out to her because it was good for her German major and she loved the team, the coach and the overall feel of the campus, O'Connor said. The team had a family atmosphere - something she knew would be key, being so far away from home.
One weakness O'Connor wants to improve on is her distance. Since coming to Ball State, she has constantly been working hard on gaining more yardage on each type of shot. Since her freshman year, O'Connor said she's probably gained 20 or 30 yards, which she considers to be a drastic improvement.
"Working in the weight room with our strength coaches is definitely the reason behind my improvement," O'Connor said. "Before coming here, I had never lifted a weight."
KELLY FULFILLS HER PASSION
Influenced by both parents when she was seven years old, Kelly played with and learned the game of golf from them while growing up. At nine years old she started playing competitively. Kelly said golf offers her more than just a game. She said playing gives her a way to get away from everything, a mental sport that makes you think at all times, a stress reliever as well as a way to help mentally to prepare for school.
Kelly said her biggest golf accomplishment thus far through her Ball State career has been winning the Indiana Women's Amateur Championship.
"Going into the season it gives you confidence to play with a win like that under your belt," Kelly said.
Kelly has a passion for two other sports - soccer and basketball. Even though she plays golf all year long, Kelly also likes to play on the intramural basketball team to keep from getting burned out on one sport.
"I love to go play a game with a member of the women's basketball team because I need a little break here and there," she said.
Kelly said she enjoys other sports from time to time, golf is her main passion.
"[Golf] looks better than you think it does," Kelly said. "And it's a lot more fun than people perceive it to be on TV."
THIS YEAR'S TEAM "BEST YET"
As personal goals, O'Connor wants to keep her scores in the 70s and have a better scoring average than last year. She thinks this year's team has the chance to break school records and show other teams exactly what they are made of.
"I am so excited for my last year," O'Connor said. "I feel that it could be the best yet. This team is definitely the best yet."
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