Cyclone Golf Camps
ISU Women's Coach Christie Martens
Through relentless hard work, determination and tireless recruiting, Christie Martens has firmly established the Iowa State women's golf program as one of the nation's best.
The Iowa State administration affirmed Martens' outstanding coaching abilities by signing her to a contract extension through 2015 in May of 2010.
Martens, who is in her eighth season as the head coach with the Cyclones, saw the first signs of her rebuilding project come to fruition in 2009-10, as Iowa State recorded one of its finest seasons in school history. The Cyclones finished fourth at the Big 12 Championships, their best finish ever, and qualified for the NCAA West Regional, the school's first postseason appearances since 1996.
Martens and her Cyclones trumped the 2009-10 campaign with a record-shattering 2010-11 season, as Iowa State achieved its highest ranking in school history (No. 15), won three tournament titles and recorded 11 of the top-12 18-hole team scores in the program's history. The Cyclones as a team averaged 297.6 strokes per round in 2011, an average of over five shots lower than the old school mark set the previous season.
Iowa State was the No. 1 seed at the 2011 Big 12 Championships, qualified for its second consecutive NCAA Regional berth and finished the season ranked in the nation's top-20 to cap off its record-setting season. Martens was rewarded for her efforts, earning 2011 Big 12 Coach of the Year honors and NGCA Central Region Coach of the Year accolades.
A key ingredient to Martens' success at Iowa State has been her ability to surround herself with outstanding players. A total of eight Cyclones have earned All-Big 12 recognition nine times in her Iowa State tenure: (Louise Kenney-2005; Jessica Shin-2006; Pennapa Pulsawath-2010; Laurence Herman-2010, 2011; Punpaka Phuntumabamrung-2010; Prima Thammaraks-2011; Victoria Stefansen-2011 and Sasikarn On-iam-2011).
The Cyclones have broken virtually every team scoring record under Martens' watch, including shattering the school mark for best 54-hole score of 857 at the 2011 Mountain View Collegiate. The top-11 54-hole team scores in Iowa State history have occurred under Marten's tutelage, as well as the top-15 18-hole team scores in the Cyclone record books.
Martens has established herself as an outstanding recruiter on a national and international scale. Martens has been instrumental in getting highly touted international players like Pulsawath (Thailand), Phuntumabamrung (Thailand), Thammaraks (Thailand), On-iam (Thailand), Stefansen (Denmark) and Herman (Belgium) to enroll at Iowa State.
Stefansen and Herman were key cogs in Iowa State's resurgence at the national level after finishing their respective careers in 2011. Stefansen was named Big 12 Golfer of the Month three times in her career, while Herman tallied the best finish ever by a Cyclone in a NCAA competition by placing 12th at the 2010 NCAA West Regional.
Pulsawath, an All-Big 12 recipient, ended her outstanding career in 2010, competing in a school-record 126 rounds and establishing the school mark for career stroke average at 76.3.
Iowa State golfers have also succeeded in the classroom under Martens, as 10 Cyclones have gone on to earn academic All-Big 12 honors 20 times.
As an assistant at Purdue from 2001-05, Martens helped lead the Boilermakers women's team to a 22nd-place finish at the 2004 NCAA Championship. Purdue finished in 12th place in 2003 and 16th in 2002. In Martens' first season in West Lafayette, Ind., the Purdue women's golf team placed fourth at the 2002 NCAA Central Regional and second at the Big Ten Championship. The Boilermakers were fourth at the Central Regional and Big Ten Championships in 2003. In 2004, Purdue finished fourth in the Big Ten and sixth at the NCAA Central Regional.
During Martens' tenure at Purdue, she coached a first-team All-American and two honorable mention All-Americans. With Martens as a coach, the Boilermaker program produced eight all-Big Ten players, five academic All-Americans, three tournament team titles and a pair of individual tournament champions.
Martens earned a bachelor's degree in learning and organizational change from Northwestern University in 2001. A three-time academic all-Big Ten honoree, she captained the 2000 Wildcat team, which was the first NU women's squad to advance to the NCAA Championships. The former Northwestern record-holder for 54-holes, Martens placed among the top-10 finishers at the 1999 Big Ten Championship. She received the Walter K. Smart scholarship at Northwestern, recognizing a student-athlete who achieves in both academics and athletics.
Martens, a native of Dixon, Ill., played in the 2000 U.S. Women's Amateur in Asheville, N.C. The former Christie Hermes, Martens and her husband Bobby, were married in Oct. 2005. Their daughter, Norah, was born on Oct. 17, 2008.
