Minnesota Golfer - Directory 2023 - 28

Emma
Carpenter
I
n the age of social media, there are
" influencers " in all areas of fashion,
comedy and sports-and golf is no exception.
Emma Carpenter, a senior on the
University of Minnesota women's golf team,
has used social media to open doors she
never thought were possible.
Carpenter grew up in Dekalb, Illinois,
60 miles west of Chicago. She played soccer
and volleyball and was also interested
in singing and theater. When she was 12
years old, her dad took her to the local
golf course to compete in a Drive, Chip
& Putt local qualifier without her ever
having swung a golf club-she ended up
winning the event. From then on, her golf
career took off.
Carpenter immediately started taking
lessons and playing in junior golf tournaments.
In high school, she was the first
girl to play on the boys' varsity golf team
in school history. She started to attract
the attention of college golf programs
around the country and ended up deciding
between the University of Minnesota and
Southern Methodist University in Dallas,
Texas. Carpenter chose the University
of Minnesota.
" What stuck out to me the most was
that I really loved that the coaches were
recruiting me, I loved the girls that were on
the team, I loved the academics the school
has, and I loved the state of Minnesota, "
says Carpenter.
Once she arrived on the U's Minneapolis
campus, her social media following
grew organically.
" How I got involved with social media
was an accident. I didn't purposefully, at
the start, grow my social media into what
it is now, " Carpenter explains.
28 MINNESOTAGOLFER Directory 2023
She began with a few hundred
followers in high school and now
boasts nearly 65,000 followers on Instagram
alone. With the introduction of NIL (name,
image, and likeness) into college sports in
2021, she was able to partner with more
businesses to leverage her social media
following to help market their brands.
Carpenter is currently partnered with
the popular golf brands Peter Millar, Golf
Pride, 2nd Swing Golf, and GOLFZON,
creating content celebrating women in golf
and targeting a highly desirable younger
demographic. According to Google, influencers
with 50,000 or more followers
typically earn $200 per post.
She is also a podcast host for the multimedia
golf platform 5 Clubs, which was
created by Golf Channel's Gary Williams
and ESPN's Jay Bilas. As a podcast
host, she has had the opportunity to interview
many intriguing guests. One exceptional
interview was with LIV golf star,
Bryson DeChambeau.
" I was really nervous for that podcast
because I knew it was an amazing opportunity
to get a one-on-one with Bryson, "
Carpenter says. " Once we started, the
nerves went away, and it was like we were
having a normal conversation. Bryson was
super interesting and nice for coming on
the show. It's hard to pick one guest as my
favorite because I have a special place in
my heart for every one of them, but it is
hard to top Bryson. "
Beyond golf brands and podcasts,
Carpenter participates in Gopher athletics
by singing the national anthem at
sporting events, a practice she carried over
from singing it at Dekalb High School and
Northern Illinois University and continues
My favorite thing
about social
media is when
I get a message
from a young girl
who plays golf
that says she
looks up to me.
-Emma Carpenter
at the University of Minnesota. She has
sung for every Gopher sport other than
the football team-maybe next year!
Carpenter has also become involved
in sports broadcasting with the likes of
Gopher Digital Productions and Big Ten
Network+. She has done everything from
working in the control room to doing playby-play
and sideline reporting for multiple
different sports, ranging from baseball
to basketball. In late 2021, she made her
ESPN+ debut, doing play-by-play for the
NCAA Volleyball Tournament games that
took place in Minneapolis.
Carpenter says it's not easy being a studentathlete
while building a career with her
mngolf.org
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Directory 2023

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