Meet Ben Carberry, an international transfer from Bonnybridge, Scotland, to the ETSU men’s golf team. A sophomore in accounting, Carberry is wrapping up his second fall season at ETSU.
“It’s a good golf program we got here,” said Carberry. “I mean, we’re usually top 25 in the country, so we’re pretty good, so that was the main reason that I came here. And they’ve got a good coach as well, who’s young, who’s got high expectations for the team, so it was just like a good fit for me, really.”
Carberry has represented his country of Scotland several times in tournaments and made the SoCon Honor Roll in his freshman year. His team at ETSU has good chemistry and a lot of international players like himself, exposing him to new cultures. According to Carberry, the team has high expectations of themselves and is always striving to move forward. “I think we’re ranked like 25 at the end of the fall. We know we can be a lot better. We always just keep saying that there’s 24 spots to go,” he said.
Although wedge plays are probably Carberry’s biggest strength, he always tries to excel all-around. “I feel like I just want to keep improving everything, and not let one thing get better and then let another thing suffer, almost. It’s just like trying to improve everything together.”
Carberry has adapted well to balancing school and competition, even with the constant and distant travel of the sport. The golf teams travel farther than most other teams at ETSU because they are not confined to conferences in the South. The team has played in Wisconsin, Georgia and the Bahamas this season, and they will kick off the spring season on Feb. 13 with the Puerto Rico Classic.
“Our coach has built a really good schedule for us where we get the experience of travel all over the country and playing against the best players and teams in college,” Carberry said, looking forward to the next season.
