Cyclone Golf Camps - Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

Cyclone Golf Camps

ISU Women's Coach Christie Martens

Christie Martens is entering her fifth season as Iowa State’s head women’s golf coach, helping establish the Cyclones as one of the top collegiate programs nationally.

In 2007-08, Martens’ team found itself ranked among Golfweek’s top-30 teams, the highest ranking for an Iowa State team in over a decade. The Cyclones posted an outstanding 2007-08 season, setting many team and individual records. The team carded three of the school’s top-10 18-hole rounds and three of the top-12 54-hole totals in school history. Pennapa Pulsawath, one of Martens’ first recruits, has thrived under her guidance, already etching her name as one of the best golfers in school history. Pulsawath’s season stroke average of 76.5 during the 2007-08 season ranks second in the ISU record book.

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), Laurence Herman (Belgium), Victoria Stefansen (Denmark) to enroll at Iowa State.

In her first season as the Cyclone coach (spring 2005), Martens helped mentor two of the best players in ISU history in Louise Kenney and Lisa Meshke. Kenney established the school-record in stroke average, compiling a 74.9 strokes per round clip. Kenney ended her career by qualifying as an NCAA Regional competitor for the second time in her career, tying for 13th and finishing one stroke shy of advancing to the NCAA finals.

Martens tutored an extremely young team in 2005-06 that improved immensely throughout the season. ISU recorded its second highest finish in Big 12 Championship history behind Jessica Shin’s eighth-place finish, the highest placing for a Cyclone individual in a Big 12 Championship.

As an assistant at Purdue, 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 Northwestern record-holder for 18- and 54-holes, she 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. They have one daughter, Norah, who was born on Oct. 17, 2008.