Four years ago, Heather Elenbaas faced an important decision.

Elenbaas had been a successful figure skater when another sport caught her fancy: golf. Because of monetary and time constraints, Heather learned that she would have to choose between the two.

With an eye toward the future, she chose golf. Four years later, she is ready to step up and become an integral part of the Iowa State Women’s golf team.

After Elenbaas, who hails from Shawnee, Kansas, made the decision to concentrate solely on golf, she began to see immediate results. After working hard the summer before her senior year of high school, a year in which she won the midwest section of the Maxfli tournament, she had a sterling conference season. She won her conference title, and following a strong performance in the regional, placed in the top ten in state.

Elenbaas did not spend all of her energy on the golf course, however. She graduated in the top 10 of her class and soon after faced another important decision that would have a large impact on her future.

As Elenbaas looked into different universities around the country, she concentrated on several different factors.

“First of all, I was looking for a good academic school with a solid meteorology program. Also, I was looking for a place where I could play golf.”

Elenbaas also took a look at some other schools across the country where these options seemed plausible, such as Oklahoma and Arizona. However, Elenbaas was able to choose Iowa State with little heartache.

Once she got to Ames, she set her sights on playing immediately.

“I always have high expectations, and I guess this was no different. I hoped to play right away.”

Although she fell short of her lofty goals that first season, she took her redshirt year in stride and worked hard to improve her game.

The summer after her freshman year, she became the youngest champion in the history of her prestigious country club. She also traveled around the midwest competing with some of the best college golfers in the nation. She came back ready to play.

It was in the fall of 1997 when Elenbaas faced her greatest challenge. That challenge was working through the disappointment of narrowly missing a spot on the travelling team again.

“I was really disappointed at not being able to compete. For a long time, I struggled with the idea that I didn’t have anything to work for. But once I woke up and realized that I still had plenty of chances to compete, I really had a whole different attitude. [Senior captain] Fiona Watson really busted my butt in the weight room and helped a lot.”

Elenbaas came back from winter break with a new lease on her golfing life. She continued to show progress in her game and presented a work ethic that impressed the coaching staff enough to name her Most Improved for the 1997-98 season.

“It was really rewarding to receive the award because it showed that my hard was paying off and being appreciated.”

The huge commitment of playing a collegiate sport has not affected Elenbaas’ performance in the classroom. She sports a 3.7 GPA in her recently changed major, Management Information Systems.

This past summer was the most successful in her golfing career. She won her club championship for the second year in a row, placed 14th out of over 120 golfers at the Missouri Amateur, and shot a personal record even par 72 at a tournament in Witchita.

Elenbaas looks forward to this season with a great deal of enthusiasm and excitement.

“I can’t wait for this year to begin. I’ve gotten to be really close with the other girls, and we are all looking forward to making each other better players.”

If Elenbaas continues to improve at this rate, we may soon be hearing a lot more about this walk-on from Kansas.