Katie King '14 Recruiting Profile

I have decided to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where I plan to pursue a degree in Pharmacy.  Thank you to all the coaches who have shown interest in me as a potential member of their team.

As a child, I was regularly involved in athletics and was often complimented for my “natural athletic abilities.”  I excelled in t-ball, swimming, soccer, tennis and later fastpitch softball.  My love for golf began when my parents enrolled me to play in a junior golf league at our local golf course.  I played two summers and really enjoyed it.

In the fall of my freshman year in high school, I chose to play tennis since our school had no women’s golf team.  Our team finished the season as the state 2A runner-up.  In the spring I chose to play golf on our high school’s men’s team and managed to qualify for the 2A regional competition.  Playing against the boys was a great experience.  I liked the distance they got when driving the ball and playing from the mens’ tees forced me to work on my distance.

Realizing how well I played on the men’s golf team, I really wanted to compete in high school women’s golf my sophomore year.  But our school still had no women’s golf team.  In addition, due to budget cuts our school system had decided to cut the golf program.  However, my parents lobbied for me to be able to play as an individual and since there were only two women’s golfers in our entire conference, our school system granted us permission to shadow a neighboring 3A conference as long as our parents provided our transportation.  Though my father has limited golf experience, he agreed to fill the role of coach so I could participate. I averaged 85 my sophomore year and although I shot the lowest score for the majority of those matches, my scores were not recorded since I was not a 3A conference player.  However, my scores and play allowed me to qualify for our regional 1A/2A tournament where I placed 6th, and then went on to place 18th in the state 1A/2A tournament.  Interestingly, I was chosen as the All-Area Women’s Golfer of the Year by the coaches of the 3A conference that I shadowed.

Having performed so well at my first regional and state women’s tournaments, especially while playing on longer and mostly unfamiliar courses with a lot of elevation and without much professional golf training, gave me the drive to work harder to improve my game for my junior year.  The following summer, I attended the Tarheel golf camp at UNC-Chapel Hill.  The coaching staff there did not necessarily change any of my swings, rather they taught me about course management during play.

My junior year, I was once again granted permission to shadow the same 3A conference from the previous year in order to qualify for regional and state tournaments.  At the 3A conference play, I scored the lowest score every match, but again my scores were not recorded since I was not a member of their conference.  And again, I was awarded the All-Area Women’s Golfer of the Year by the 3A conference coaches.  I averaged a score of 80 my junior year, finishing 2nd in the Regionals and 7th in the State 1A/2A Championships.  

My senior year, our school moved from a 2A conference to a 1A conference.  Still the only female golfer at Tarboro High, I was again granted permission to shadow the 3A conference from previous years.  Although practice time was very limited for me this year due to my responsibilities as both Yearbook Editor and National Honor Society President, I again managed to shoot the lowest score every match, averaging a 78.  However, at the Regional Tournament, I shot a disappointing 88, and tied for 4th.  And although I improved my overall 2-day score by 8 strokes at the State 1A/2A Championships, I placed 6th.  Not a bad season with so much going on. I am proud of the fact that I managed to reach my personal goal to shave more strokes off my game this year.

In addition to womens’ golf, I have also competed on our high school’s women’s tennis, swimming and soccer teams, all while maintaining a 4.74 weighted GPA and #1 class ranking.

My goal is to compete at the college level and improve my play with the help of a professional coaching staff.  In addition, I hope to be awarded an academic and/or athletic scholarship to help my parents bear the costs of having three children in college at once.