If there were only one word to describe Ashley Barton it would be determined.
As a junior on ETSU’s golf team, Barton finished the fall campaign with the team best stroke average of 74.55, including a low round of even-par 72 in the Taco Bell Intercollegiate. She also tied for first in the Jacksonville State Gamecock Classic during the same month.
Barton moved to Tennessee from Steffner, Fla., where she played golf for two and a half seasons at Armwood High School. Here, she lettered twice and had the lowest stroke average in Hillsborogh County, both seasons.
However, she took up golf later in life than most women her age and this hindered her ability to find a college that would allow her to play.
“I didn’t have much experience playing (golf), so no schools would really look at me,” said Barton. “I came to ETSU with a friend from high school, Jeremy Hobson, and they let me play. Sometimes I look at the inexperience negatively but it also motivates me more to practice longer and harder. It’s a mixture of feelings.”
Golf was not always her only passion. Prior to playing the sport for school, Barton competed in gymnastics competitions, including the Junior Olympics in 1996, where she placed 6th overall.
She now uses the gymnastic skills she has learned to mentally push herself to place higher in golf.
Barton also enjoys most all outdoor activities, including paintball and snowboarding.
She describes herself as being a little bit tomboyish and explains that one of the reasons she took up golf was to be able to hang out with her guy friends.
Although still living in Florida, Barton’s family of two parents, one sister and two step-siblings, continues to support her, without pushing her into the sport excessively.
“They help me, but they are not like most parents,” said Barton. “But I still pretty much keep the game to myself.”
As the women’s golf team continues moving forward this year, going up against such schools as Wake Forest and Texas in the upcoming months.
Barton will be right in the midst, giving her all to each and every match.

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