Former Golfer Finds Success in Another Sport

Corrine Carr helped lead the South Carolina women’s golf team to the NCAA East Regional Title in 2010. Eight years later, she is still bringing home hardware, having won eight major tournaments, but now it’s in another sport: pickleball.

“The game is so much fun,” Carr said. “It’s addictive. Many people who try it just get completely hooked. I just love competing. I’ve been competing my whole life. I played in a pickleball tournament, and I realized how much I missed competing.

“I was introduced to pickleball when I moved to Michigan. I joined an athletic club there because I wanted to get back into tennis. A friend of mine taught me the game, and I was hooked. The game is so much fun. You can play it at all levels, and you can have all ages out there on the court. That makes it sort of unique.”

Pickleball is a game that resembles tennis and players hit a plastic ball, similar to a whiffle ball, over a net. Don’t let the funny name fool you as the sport is growing. The 30-year-old travels around the country to play in professional tournaments for the sport which is sanctioned by the USA Pickleball Association.

“The national tournament was out at Indian Wells in California,” Carr said. “There’s also the Tournament of Champions in Utah, and the U.S. Open is in Naples, Florida. Those are the big ones. Beyond that, the tournaments are spread out. The game started in Washington state, so it’s bigger on the west coast, but it’s growing.

“For women’s doubles, my playing partner and I have won all but one big event in the last two years. We lost at nationals this year, but before that we were No. 1. Now, maybe it’s a toss-up.”

“Everyone is so friendly, and it’s very social.”
– Corrine Carr

Carr is also in the top 5 nationally in singles. It’s not a surprise that she is having success on the court. In addition to a remarkable junior career as a golfer, she was a state champion tennis player during her high school days in North Carolina. Carr played golf for the Gamecocks from 2008-2010 after transferring from Furman University.

“It was the best decision I ever made,” Carr said of her time at South Carolina. “I had the best experience at USC. Kalen (Anderson) is an amazing coach, and (Director of Golf) Puggy (Blackmon) is great. Winning regionals my senior year was a pretty good memory as well.”

After studying math and finance at South Carolina and earning her degree in 2011, Carr later earned her Ph.D. from Michigan State and is now living in North Carolina with her husband, Raphael, where she is a finance professor at Campbell University in Buies Creek.

“The students are so kind and respectful, and they work so hard,” Carr said. “I get attached to them. I went through a phase where I was wondering if I chose the right career, but when I got to Campbell, I knew this was absolutely the right career. I love my students, and the faculty is great, too. They’re so supportive.

“I want to go as far as I can in pickleball, while keeping my job here at Campbell.”

Most of the seven or eight tournaments she plays each year are during the summer, which allows her to enjoy both of her passions without conflict.

“The people in pickleball are just the nicest group of people,” Carr said.  “Everyone is so friendly, and it’s very social.”

Carr wants to keep competing as long as she can, while also enjoying her day job. She would love to see her new sports passion gain more traction.

“It is growing internationally,” Carr said. “There is a big tournament happening in Germany this summer, and there have been big tournaments in Spain. It’s really big in India; even more so than here in the U.S. I would love to go compete internationally. That would be fun. Right now, the prize money isn’t a lot. It will cover your trip if you win.”

Carr noted that she doesn’t play as much golf as she used to, but of course she is still competitive.

“I still play a little, but I’m not as good as I was in college,” Carr said. “I did play in a tournament at my club that I belong to, and I did win, so that was fun.”