Kelsey Best
Get to know Kelsey
- Major: Event management
- Class: Senior
- Hometown: Waukee, Iowa
- Career goal: Planning major tournaments in the golf industry
- Clubs/activities: Chi Omega Sorority, Communication Studies Club, Big Brothers Big Sisters
- Awards/honors: Dean’s List
- Favorite place on campus: The periodicals in Parks Library
- Most influential ISU mentor: Lisa Dukes
- Favorite class: KIN 399, Recreational Sport Management
- Why Iowa State: Everyone at Iowa State is so welcoming and wants to help you succeed
Kelsey Best finds a new way to fuel her love for golf
When Kelsey Best came to Iowa State University, she was done with golf. She had played all throughout high school, but the love for the sport was gone. She wanted to focus on her career, and at the time, she wanted to be a nurse.
There was only one small problem.
“I decided I didn’t like blood,” Kelsey said.
This revelation led Kelsey to rethink what she wanted out of her career. She found what she was looking for as an event management major.
“I wanted a career that would always keep me on my feet,” she said. “I didn’t want to be a person that was stuck at their desk all day.”
During her sophomore year, Kelsey began to miss golf. As much as she thought she was rid of that itch to get back on the golf course, she still had love for the game.
Because the event management major has such a wide scope of possibilities, Kelsey was able to pursue a career path that would fulfill her passion for golf and being active around people. Kelsey applied and earned a merchandising internship for the 2017 PGA Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina that summer.
After seeing that working in golf fulfilled her, Kelsey went back for an event management internship with the 2019 PGA Championship over the 2019 spring semester. She was in charge of communicating with all the volunteers at the event, coordinating with the food vendors, and ordering clothes for the tournament.
She moved to Long Island, New York in January to begin working on the event. The move came with ups and downs.
“Going from spending so much time with my family and moving out to a place [where] I know no one was the hardest part,” Kelsey said. “But I realized, if I want this career, I’m going to have to do this. This has forced me out of my comfort zone so much and taught me a lot.”
After this experience, Kelsey will continue her love of golf through event management this summer as an intern with the Augusta National Golf Club. For now, Kelsey is enjoying her role with the PGA.
“I couldn’t ask for anything better,” she said.
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