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<p>To this day, Carole &#8220;Sis&#8221; Ertley doesn&#8217;t exactly know why her father first put a golf club in her hands.</p><p>Paul Schalm was a self-taught golfer who had a deep love for the game. It was that love which drove him to take his daughter whom everyone called &#8220;Sis&#8221; thanks to a pair of older brothers, to Irem Country Club to learn.</p><p>The two spent hours on the links perfecting the skills that have come in handy for Ertley over the 50-plus years in the sport.</p><p>&#8220;The greatest gift my dad ever gave me was to teach me to play golf,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Ertley played field hockey, basketball and swam, but she had an early knack for golf.</p><p>There was just one problem. Outside of her dad, Ertley had no one to play with.</p><p>&#8220;Once and a while (I played) with one of the boys from school,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But I used to play alone. There was no competition that I was allowed to be in.&#8221;</p><p>Old golf club bylaws written long before Ertley was born, forbade women from playing in competitive matches until the age of 21.</p><p>So the Forty Fort native bided her time, honed her craft and when she was finally able to compete at the Irem Country Club, she delivered.</p><p>&#8220;In 1965 I was allowed to play in the club championship and I won it the first year,&#8221; she said.</p><p>The mother and grandmother of four has been winning ever since. Though it&#8217;s hard to pinpoint an exact number of victories, Ertley said she&#8217;s won 25 club championships at three different clubs and would put her overall tournament wins at well over 200.</p><p>&#8220;But that&#8217;s a rough guess,&#8221; she said.</p><p>The only thing that overshadows Ertley&#8217;s reputation as a talented athlete is what friends call her unwavering support of fellow golfers.</p><p>&#8220;She&#8217;s the epitome,&#8221; friend and fellow golfer, Julie Conklin said. &#8220;She&#8217;s the female golfer who truly has a love of the game and shares it.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;For as good as Sis was and still is, it doesn&#8217;t matter who she plays with,&#8221; said Paul Roman, PGA golf professional at Irem Country Club. &#8220;The person can be a mid handicap to a high handicap and she&#8217;s always welcomed whoever wanted to play with her. She always wants to give back.&#8221;</p><p>Wednesday night, close to 30 people from the Irem Women&#8217;s Golf Association came together to celebrate Ertley&#8217;s 50 years at Irem. There was food, drinks and even gold golf balls.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m very humbled by it,&#8221; Ertley said. &#8220;I&#8217;m just a regular golfer who&#8217;s lasted a long time. I&#8217;m flattered that my fellow golfers would even think to do anything. It flew by in a heartbeat.&#8221;</p><p>Ertley has won 16 club championships at Irem and as of Sept. 18, 2014, she&#8217;s recorded seven hole-in-ones. But it&#8217;s contributions outside of the game that have had a lasting impact.</p><p>&#8220;She was instrumental in start the Northeast Women&#8217;s Golf Association,&#8221; Conklin said. &#8220;She was a founding member of the Northeast&#8217;s Golf Association. It&#8217;s an association that 12 private clubs up here belong to in the northeast. She was instrumental in starting the women&#8217;s league out in Huntsville Golf.&#8221;</p><p>Among the changes the Wyoming Seminary graduate was a part of &#8212; getting rid of those pesky age restrictions.</p><p>At 71 years-old, Ertley is still a fierce competitor. The drive to win comes from trying to keep up with a pair of older brothers as kid.</p><p>&#8220;When you have older brothers you grow up different,&#8221;she said. &#8220;They taught me to water ski when I was 9 or 10. When they needed a pinch hitter in baseball they came and got me.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t go for the kill, but I certainly go out to win.&#8221;</p><p>But on those rare occasions when the shots aren&#8217;t falling and the frustration mounds, Ertley still finds joy by simply walking the course.</p><p>Over the years, the greens have become the place Ertley retreats to when the weight of saying goodbye became a little too heavy. The quiet moments in between shots provides a clear space for reflection and even happiness when things are at their most difficult.</p><p>The winning is always fun. But it&#8217;s the love that her father passed to her and she&#8217;s passed on to her middle daughter, Traci, the only family member to have stuck with the sport that keeps Ertley coming back to the links.</p><p>&#8220;Golf has given me a lot of peace,&#8221; Ertley said. &#8220;Losing my parents, my husband, my brother. There&#8217;s a lot of solace going out in nature. Just you and the little white ball.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The Irem Women&#8217;s Golf Association celebrated Carole &#8216;Sis&#8217; Ertley&#8217;s 50 years with the Irem Country Club on Wednesday. Pictured (left to right): Bill Mattoli, assistant pro at Irem, Trudy Matlem, Sis Ertley, Julie Conklin, Paul Roman, PGA golf professional at Irem. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Ertley11.jpg</photo0><caption0>The Irem Women&#8217;s Golf Association celebrated Carole &#8216;Sis&#8217; Ertley&#8217;s 50 years with the Irem Country Club on Wednesday. Pictured (left to right): Bill Mattoli, assistant pro at Irem, Trudy Matlem, Sis Ertley, Julie Conklin, Paul Roman, PGA golf professional at Irem. </caption0><photoCredit0>Alicia Johnson | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Ertley21.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">One of the table decorations marking Carole &#8216;Sis&#8217; Ertley&#8217;s 50 years at Irem Country Club. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Ertley21.jpg</photo1><caption1>One of the table decorations marking Carole &#8216;Sis&#8217; Ertley&#8217;s 50 years at Irem Country Club. </caption1><photoCredit1>Alicia Johnson | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Alicia Johnson</p><p>ajohnson@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Alicia Johnson at 570-991-6397 or on Twitter @TLsports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

IWGA celebrates Carole “Sis”Ertley’s 50 years at Irem