Oklahoma State golf has been a big a part of the Solheim household for many years, and Cowgirl golfer Jenna Solheim is the newest member of her household to participate within the custom, but is discovering methods to go away a singular legacy of her personal in Stillwater.
The lineage all began with Karsten Solheim, Jenna’s great-grandfather, who made his mark on golf and revolutionized the sport when he based the golf membership firm PING again within the Sixties.
Karsten was fascinated by designing the world’s first heel-toe-balanced putter, and in doing so, he modified the sport of golf perpetually.
Over the years, one in all Karsten’s most vital rules was giving again to the sport that meant a lot to him. He supported collegiate golf and made it a precedence inside his firm, making contributions to many athletic facilities at universities, together with Oklahoma State. After opening in 1994, Karsten Creek Golf Club, the house course for each the lads’s and girls’s packages, was named in Solheim’s honor for his generosity and dedication to Oklahoma State golf.
The legacy continued with Jenna’s father, Andrew, a profitable golfer at Oklahoma State and teammate of present Cowgirl golf head coach Greg Robertson within the Nineties.
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Jenna was born in Stillwater whereas her dad was nonetheless ending up his graduate diploma at OSU. Soon after, nonetheless, her household moved to Phoenix, Arizona, the place she spent nearly all of her childhood and teenage years.
Despite the transfer, Jenna nonetheless stayed linked to Oklahoma State whereas rising up, supporting and cheering on her household’s college from afar. No quantity of distance was going to hinder her loyalty to the college.
Her household took benefit of any likelihood they acquired to see the Cowboys and Cowgirls in particular person, even touring to and from Stillwater through the years.
“Any time that OSU was in Arizona, we went and watched them play football or golf,” Jenna recalled. “We came to Stillwater at least once a year, but usually twice for both a basketball game and a football game. Then, in the last few years before I went to college we always went to Homecoming… So, I grew up always coming to Karsten Creek and being a part of OSU.”
Even although Jenna shared an affection for Oklahoma State together with her mother and father, she didn’t all the time envision attending OSU and even enjoying golf competitively. Instead, she typically thought-about creating a completely new journey for herself.
“For the longest time I didn’t want to come to OSU, because it was my parents’ place,” she defined. “It was fun, but it wasn’t really where I saw myself, especially coming from a big city.”
While rising up, Jenna performed golf right here and there, primarily simply as a passion for enjoyable. She loved enjoying rounds together with her dad and took some classes, however was additionally fascinated by experiencing different sports activities like basketball, swimming and monitor and subject.
“My parents never forced me to play golf and it was always there if I wanted it, but to me it usually sounded boring as a kid,” Jenna mentioned.
It wasn’t till Jenna’s freshman 12 months of highschool when her complete outlook on the long run modified.
Jenna traveled to Stillwater to attend a golf camp with the Cowgirls, getting the possibility to apply and hang around with the crew. The camp was her first alternative to actually envision what life might be like at Oklahoma State in her personal manner, quite than simply as a fan or supporter.
She cherished all the pieces concerning the expertise, and made her fall in love with the sport that had all the time meant a lot to her household.
“Getting to hang out with the college players and really see what it’s like to be in Stillwater on my own is when I really started to get the idea of wanting to play here and wanting to attend school here,” she acknowledged. “After that summer, I was pretty set on coming here.”
From that time on, Jenna had her thoughts made on what she wished her future to appear like. She started to apply significantly and invested extra time into golf, decided to make her new aim a actuality.
Jenna’s highschool didn’t have a girls’s golf program, however she was in a position to be part of the lads’s crew as a junior, affording her further expertise and time on the course. As a senior, one other lady from the college determined to play alongside Jenna, permitting the 2 to type their very own girls’s crew and compete in tournaments, even when it was simply as people.
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Following her commencement from highschool in 2019, Jenna joined the Cowgirl golf crew as a walk-on, including yet one more part to her household’s connection to the sport that began over 60 years in the past.
Throughout her life, Jenna had all the time felt pleased with her household lineage and the monumental impact that they had in Stillwater. When she joined the crew, nonetheless, these emotions definitely hit house at a complete new degree, experiencing that influence first hand each single day whereas enjoying on the course honoring her household.
That historical past nonetheless evokes her, even 4 years later now as a senior on the crew.
“I’m very proud of the legacy that my great-grandfather has left,” Jenna defined. “It actually motivates me and evokes me to be like them.
“This is a really special place and getting to come out [to Karsten Creek], it’s motivating to me to see my family’s name out here and know that we’ve invested here because my family believes in what’s happening here… That’s definitely motivating and inspiring, and a legacy that I want to help contribute to.”
During her time in Stillwater, Jenna has used that inspiration so as to add to her household’s legacy, whereas being assured sufficient to take action in her personal private manner.
Since her freshman 12 months in 2019, she has improved tremendously purely by onerous work and an unbelievable dedication to getting higher. Jenna has certified to play in 4 totally different tournaments as a person in her profession, together with one simply this previous fall on the Grace Shin Invitational.
It’s simple to see how far Jenna has come throughout her time in Stillwater, having shaved almost 30 strokes off her scoring common since her arrival on campus 4 years in the past.
Jenna has additionally made an influence off the course, getting concerned with quite a few management teams and organizations round campus. She has all the time been a standout within the classroom as effectively and graduated after the 2022 fall semester with levels in advertising and marketing and administration.
“I found a big community in Stillwater that I don’t think I would have found elsewhere,” mentioned about her involvement all through the college. “I have a lot of family roots here and that probably makes it feel like home in a lot of ways, but it’s the people here that really make it feel like home and part of a family.”
Along together with her sturdy work ethic and successes off the course, Jenna’s chapter in her household legacy will probably be concerning the particular relationships she has shaped together with her teammates and the immense influence she has had on them.
As a senior, Jenna is without doubt one of the most revered leaders on the crew. She is dedicated to bettering each herself and the crew, whereas additionally forming bonds that can final a lifetime with every of her teammates.
“I get to be a part of something bigger than myself,” Jenna mentioned. “I get to play with all these ladies and have an effect on them, they usually have an effect on me too. We all have the identical targets. We’re all attempting to win, however we’re additionally simply greatest buddies, which is the very best half.
“I’m proud to be a friend of my teammates. Obviously, I don’t play as much on the team, so I wanted to make sure that I am the best teammate I can be. I’ve always had a very positive attitude and outlook on life, and it helps that all my teammates are my best friends. It’s easy to be a teammate to them. It’s easy to cheer them on. I try to do everything I can to put them up and encourage them.”
Jenna’s fixed positivity and encouragement is without doubt one of the issues that makes her such a memorable teammate, whether or not she travels to tournaments or not.
“She’s a breath of fresh air,” Maddison Hinson-Tolchard mentioned about her teammate. “She’s all the time optimistic across the course. She loves golf.
“When you go out and play with her it’s always a good time. Before we play tournaments, she always sends a message from back here in Stillwater saying ‘good luck and go get them today’ and stuff like that. It’s just a really positive and uplifting thing, which is part of why we do so well.”
The pre-round messages an ideal instance of Jenna’s infectious angle. In every textual content, she sends the women an inventory of 5 affirmations to uplift them, ending each message with “You’re a winner.”
Regardless of her deep connections to this system, Jenna has no sense of an ego or entitlement. Instead, only a fiery ardour to do all the pieces in her energy to assist the crew win and see these round her succeed.
“I want to do anything I can to serve them as a teammate,” Jenna acknowledged. “Just trying to be the best that I can be for them is something that I’ve always strived for.”
The impact Jenna has had on this system didn’t go unnoticed by coach Robertson, as she was awarded a scholarship for her efforts initially of the 2022-23 season. It was a particular second for Jenna to see how far she’d come each as a participant and teammate.
When requested what her favourite a part of her time at OSU has been, Jenna as soon as once more talked about the relationships which were the muse of her Cowgirl profession.
“My teammates for sure. It’s hard work to be a student-athlete, wake up for 6:30 a.m. workouts and be out [at the course] every single weekend. That’s a lot of hard work and discipline, but getting to do it with my teammates and having them to lean on throughout all of it makes it all worth it.”
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