For Lauren Epstein '00, golfing began as a convenient way to get out of chores.
"Basically I just wanted to get out of the house and so I'd try to tag along with my father to the range," Epstein said.
Now she's the top player on the Dartmouth women's golf team and golf has changed from an excuse to a way of life.
"It's something you can do for the rest of your life," said Epstein, who says after college she'll continue to play, hopefully in some amateur tournaments.
Epstein, who hails from Syosset, New York, has been golfing since she was nine, but didn't begin playing real rounds of golf until age 12.
When she entered eighth grade, Epstein joined her high school's golf team, which at the time was all men. This wasn't much of a problem for her, but Epstein said that sometimes having her on the team would create some tension for men from other teams.
"I had nothing to lose by losing to a guy, but if he lost to me it could mean trouble on the ride home," Epstein said.
She was captain of the high school team her senior year, and knew she wanted to attend a college with strong academics and where she could still play. Epstein said she eventually chose Dartmouth because of the feeling she encountered when she was here.
"I love the people and the atmosphere," Epstein said of Dartmouth.
At Dartmouth, Epstein has excelled in golf, being named an All-Ivy player twice and leading the team last spring to capture their first league title since 1993. She also broke 80 for the first time last year, and this year has been consistently shooting below 80 at every competition.
"This fall has been an incredible breakthrough for me," Epstein said.
Epstein started the year off by finishing 4th at the Dartmouth Invitational, helping the Big Green to a 5th place finish out of 18 teams as she shot 78-76-154.
She bettered that performance at the Yale Invitational where she put together career-best rounds of 75-77-152 to finish just one shot away from victory. Dartmouth finished sixth of 22 teams.
However, Dartmouth isn't all about golf for Epstein, who is a film studies major and possible geography minor. Although she had not planned to be a film studies major when coming her, Epstein said she discovered she loved it and stuck with it.
She also plays the drums in the Dartmouth College Marching Band, and lists music as her main passion after golf.
Mixing her interests in music and film, Epstein worked as a production intern at VH1 this past summer, seeing how television shows are produced and helping with the actual production. She says this type of work is something she hopes to do after graduation.
During her junior winter, Epstein participated in the University of California at San Diego exchange program. In addition to being able to golf in the middle of winter, she also got to try out a new sport -- surfing.
"That was just awesome," Epstein said.