Changing the Course

Sea Trail Assistant Golf Professional Cameryn Smith grew up on Brunswick County fairways. Now she’s helping golfers find confidence on the course and creating space for more women in the game.

In Brunswick County, golf is part of the landscape. Fairways weave through neighborhoods, courses anchor communities, and the sport draws residents and visitors alike to the coast.

For Cameryn Smith, 28, golf has shaped more than the place she calls home; it has shaped her life. Now the Ocean Isle Beach native and first assistant golf professional at Sea Trail Golf Resort is bringing more than two decades of experience to the course, helping golfers sharpen their skills while encouraging more women to find confidence in a game long viewed as a male space.

Of course, it took many life lessons and lots of encouragement for Smith to reach this season of her life, especially as a young woman in a sea of male golfers.

“You hit good shots, you hit bad shots, but you still have to get the ball in the hole,” Smith says. “Same thing with life.”

Smith started playing golf when she was 7 years old through the First Tee Program, a nonprofit youth development organization that teaches kids life skills through golf. She was a member of the Coastal Carolinas chapter, which disbanded in 2024. She said she only tried golf because it seemed like “the laziest sport.”

She would be proven wrong fairly quickly and spent much of her childhood squashing the stereotype when talking with her peers.

“It was a joke, for sure. That goes back to the stigma that golf has, that it’s just an old man’s sport. Like, what kid plays golf?” Smith says.

Her peers thought she was just driving around in a golf cart the whole time.

“And I’m like, ‘No, I have to carry my golf bag, and I have to practice, and I hit golf balls. I hit, like, hundreds of golf balls.’”

What Smith loved most about playing golf as a kid was how it felt like a “home away from home.” She could spend hours on the golf course, not only playing but reflecting on life. Being on the course gave her freedom and safety, especially on her hardest days.

She continued playing golf, joining her high school team after much encouragement and winning a golf scholarship at Queens University of Charlotte, where she played until 2019.

Post-graduation, Smith took some time off of training to work with First Tee and teach junior golfers how to improve their skills. She started out at the Coastal Carolinas chapter before moving to the Charlotte chapter for a few years. She returned home to Brunswick County in 2024 and accepted her current position at Sea Trail that April. She said she chose to work at Sea Trail over other golf courses in the area because of the growth and development they were undergoing.

“I just saw so much potential for this property,” she says. “I’m from the area, I’ve seen this property my whole life. To see it get the attention and stuff so that it could grow into exactly what you’re seeing now … I wanted to be a part of that, so it really was just a fortunate opportunity.”

Smith’s presence on the golf course once meant hours of training. Now, it’s all about teaching golf. She says teaching is her favorite thing to do, from working with the junior golfers at First Tee in her early twenties to working with adult golfers today. She describes her teaching style as “one hundred percent vibes based.”

“With golf, you can say the same thing in so many different ways, and that’s what makes it confusing,” she says. “That’s what kind of keeps money in pros’ pockets because what I say to you might click in your brain, but it might not click for your mom.”

The way Smith teaches adults at Sea Trail is similar to how she taught juniors at First Tee — very basic, very fun, no attempts to rebreak a swing. She uses funny phrases, such as describing a successful follow-through — with the belly button facing the target — as a “belly button toe tap,” and a successful chipping of the ball as “giving the grass a haircut.”

In addition to utilizing an accessible teaching style, she speaks up for female golfers who feel insecure on the course, especially if a nearby male golfer makes inappropriate comments.

“I don’t tolerate that in my environment,” she says. “If I see it, I snap. I’ll say something.”

For Smith, the history of golf as a once “ladies forbidden” environment makes her efforts to empower women to play golf all the more important. Teaching at Sea Trail means she can pass on that encouragement she received as a young female golfer to adult women who need it.

LEVEL UP
Smith teaches both men’s and women’s clinics and private lessons at Sea Trail Golf Resort.
Sea Trail Golf Resort
75 Clubhouse Road, Sunset Beach
(800) 764-6070
seatrail.com