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Carter Stevenson: Bradley’s hometown kid continues to make strides

Carter Stevenson poses for men’s golf media day. Photo via Bradley Athletics

Every athlete has a dream of what they want to accomplish in their sport. 

Sophomore golfer Carter Stevenson’s dream was simple.

“My biggest dream growing up was to play Division I golf,” Stevenson said. “If it’s a small school, that’s fine. If it’s Big Ten, whatever. I just wanted to go play Division I golf.”

Stevenson didn’t have to travel far to accomplish his goal. The sophomore hails from Marquette Heights, Illinois, and he played golf at Pekin Community High School. Throughout his career, he won three regional championships and a conference championship, placing 3rd at the Class 3A Illinois High School Association state tournament.

“The fact that I’m 20 minutes from home is just so much better,” Stevenson said. “I mean, right now, I can go home [and] my family is still around and my dad comes to almost every one of my tournaments. It’s everything I could ask for.”

An early bond

Because Stevenson grew up a short drive away, he became familiar with Bradley early on, forming a long-time relationship with head coach Jeff Roche.

“I’ve known Carter for a long time,” Roche said. “He used to come to some of our camps, and we would do drills and other things. You could just tell that his desire to be great was very strong.”

Roche has watched Stevenson improve over the years, but one of the biggest things he sees is how his competitive nature drives him to be successful.

“His competitiveness is probably the biggest thing that would draw me to him,” Roche said. “Just the ability to play, and even if things aren’t going how he would want at the beginning of a round, he will fight tooth-and-nail to make sure the round is the best it could be.”

Transitioning from high school to college golf

College golf is a far different game than high school golf. Stevenson had a strong first year, but he noticed early that the college level was going to be much different from his usual way of playing.

“The first tournament was kind of a wake-up call,” Stevenson said. “In high school, you could miss all over the place and still make birdies. In college, you have to hit the fairway if you want to be good because almost every course has some kind of trouble on every hole.”

“In high school, I used to just get out there and swing as hard as I could, not really caring where it’s going,” Stevenson added. “Now, if you’re in that tree line, you just don’t have a chance to go to the green, and then you’re automatically going to add shots.” 

Carter Stevenson holds a third-place trophy after a competition during his time at Pekin Community High School. Photo via Carter Stevenson / X

Despite the original difficulties with the transition, Stevenson put together a strong freshman year, placing in the top 10 in three tournaments and eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference championships, Bradley’s highest finisher in the 2023-24 tournament.

Mental improvements

Staying mentally focused during a round of golf is critical. Stevenson hasn’t had the ideal season, but he’s improving his mental sharpness on the course.

“The guys are helping me out with stuff to try and develop my game and get into a better mindset because that’s where I’ve been struggling mentally,” Stevenson said.

“I’ve been trying to trust myself because there’ll be a number of times when you make a big number and you just kind of fall apart,” Stevenson added. “I’m just trying to slow it down, take it hole by hole, and just trust my game and know that I’m good enough to get it back whenever I can.”

Putt by putt

With the difference in each green and course, putting can be one of the trickiest areas for a golfer to get the hang of. Stevenson attacked that part of the game in the offseason as he sought to improve this year.

“At the end of last year, I was really struggling with my putting, so I made it a point this summer to go see some people and get different opinions to try and fix that,” Stevenson said. “I’m really just trying to hammer that through now because my putting still isn’t quite where I’d like it to be. I’ve got drills that I’m doing, and then just trying to stay patient and let it come to me.”

Roche has taken notice of Stevenson’s work and improvements.

“The work he did putting wise and being able to assess that this was an area he needed to get better at is going to pay dividends,” Roche said. “The mindset piece, the maturity, sometimes you don’t see the results right away. You just have to stay with it. And I think we’re going to start seeing some really good things come here soon.”

What’s next

The Braves have one tournament left in the fall season, as they’ll travel to Kennesaw, Georgia, for the Pinetree Intercollegiate on Oct. 14-15. 

Stevenson has one goal in mind as they conclude the fall and look ahead to spring.

“I’m just looking to go out there and see how many tournaments we can win because I know we can get them all,” Stevenson said. “Right now we have a solid team; it all looks like it’s going to come together here very soon. I’m excited for what we can do.”

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