If you’re not yet familiar with the name Emma Carpenter, chances are you soon will be.
The 25-year-old is a rising star in the sports media world, with appearances on Golf Channel, PGA Tour Live, the 5 Clubs Podcast and the Big 10 Network, where she covers both golf and football.
Carpenter grew up in Dekalb, Ill., but played collegiate golf at the University of Minnesota. So on this week’s episode of Subpar, hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz had an important question for their guest: Which area has better golf?
For reference, Illinois has 4 courses in GOLF’s most recent ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the U.S., while Minnesota has two.
But rankings aside, Carpenter said she actually prefers the offerings in Minneapolis to Chicago.
“Chicago’s are well known, but what’s cool, I mean, I would actually be interested to know which has more championship golf because there’s a lot of championship golf in Minnesota,” Carpenter said. “The Ryder Cup’s going back to Hazeltine and personally, I wouldn’t even say that Hazeltine is in my top three of courses around that area, and they’re all within like 30 minutes of each other.
“Chicago, there’s lots of great courses. You’re talking Chicago Golf, Butler National, like tons of really, really crazy good places, but also not as easy to get to. They’re all in way different areas,” she continued. “Minneapolis, in right around the Twin Cities, you got Hazeltine, you got Spring Hill, one of the best courses I’ve ever played. Interlachen, Olympic Hills, one of my favorite places. You got Golden Valley. You got Minneapolis Golf Club. I mean, lots of really good golf.”
For more insights from Carpenter, including what it’s like working with names like Matt Every, Gary Williams and Brandel Chamblee, check out the full episode below.
