Rachel Turk Headshot Westlake High School

My Story

Hi, I’m Rachel Turk, a proud member of the Class of 2029. I am an honors student at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas.

When I was four years old, I liked to pet my neighbor’s huge poodle, Blanco. Back then, he was bigger than me! Blanco belonged to Ms. Lee Kinser, who managed Butler Pitch and Putt, a locally famous short par three course down the street from my house in Austin. One thing led to another, and pretty soon, I met my first coach, Nick Trice, who put a club in my hands. My grandmother, who we call Nan, bought me a handful of ancient men’s clubs, including actual wooden woods, at a garage sale and I was off and running.

My parents didn’t know anything about golf at all, including even how to sign up for a tee time, so we mostly played a few times a year in Zilker Park, making up shots and holes along the way.

A couple of years later, when I was about six, Butler Pitch and Putt had a junior competition. I played with my friend Ryan in a scramble. We came in third, and I was hooked. But still, I also played tennis, and basketball, and volleyball, and played the clarinet at the highest levels available to a middle school student, and am active with Girl Scouts, and just did a lot of other things. And then came Covid. The city took down the tennis nets, and my tennis coach quit. All the other camps closed. And I started playing more golf. I played my first “real” tournament in STPGA Little Linksters when I was ten. And I was hooked instantly. I’ve been playing progressively more competitive golf ever since. I’m blessed to live in a community of golfers. Some of my best friends, boys and girls, have won world championships, and they have invited me to play on their teams. Two girls at my high school have already committed to D1 college golf programs. Today my goal is to play high level D1 college golf, while also receiving a great, well-rounded education (I am also an honors student taking two APs as a freshman.) Outside of golf, I’m still in Girl Scouts, I’m a member of National Junior Honor Society, where I volunteer, I’m interested in social causes, and I enjoy playing with my friends, especially Isabel Emanuels, who is going to play for Georgia next fall. If you are interested in following my progress, please follow me @rachelbaileyturk on Instagram!