About Us

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Carolyn is a Life Member of the PGA of America, with forty years of competitive, teaching and golf development experience. Ninety-one of her players moved on to play college golf, with Carolyn helping them navigate the recruiting and academic processes,

as well as honing their golf skills.  USA Kids (National Magazine) recognized her as a Top 50 teacher for junior golfers. Competitively, Carolyn competed at the University of New Mexico on their nationally ranked Women’s Golf Team from 1980-1985. 

As a young professional, Carolyn was the only female in the Wisconsin State Open field, having qualified 16 times. She is a four-time Wisconsin Women’s State Open Champion and a two-time National PGA Women’s Stroke Play Champion. Twice, she has qualified for the USGA Women’s US Open. She won three mini-Tour events in Central Florida and recently, finished 19th at the USGA Senior Women’s Open. Carolyn was the first female to be acknowledged as “Athlete of the Year” by Appleton East High School; she was inducted into their Hall of Fame with the first class. 

Steve began his career as a muni player.  After a second-place finish at the Minnesota High School Tournament, he was invited to join the University of Minnesota Men’s Golf Program.  An accomplished amateur player, Steve qualified for the National Public Links tournament at the age of 16 where he finished a respectable 5th.  He has numerous NEWGA and PGA stroke Play titles, qualified for the National Club Professional Championship 16 times and competed on the Nelthorpe Cup team 21 years straight.  He has the distinction of beating JP Hayes, Steve Stricker and Skip Kendall in individual matches when they were the representing amateurs.  

He was honored by the Wisconsin PGA Section as Professional of the Year, twice as Junior Leader of the Year and twice as Merchandiser of the Year.  He was the head golf professional at Ridgeway CC for 25 years where he held the course record, shooting 61.  

Before finishing his career, Steve stepped in to resurrect the Xavier Hawk High School golf programs for boys and girls.  After 10 trips to the State tournament and one team championship, he passed the coaching mantle to a new generation.  

If asked, Carolyn would say she is very proud of the work she did on behalf of the USGA, the PGA and the Community Foundation to create a in-school golf program for over sixty schools in the greater Fox Valley area. The project spanned seven years, involved working with and training of over 60 educators, while purchasing equipment for each school. The goal of the program was to give each child, regardless of socio-economic background, a chance to experience golf. 

 Having started her career as a club professional at two municipal golf facilities, Carolyn teamed with her brother, Steve Barnett, and his company Orthopedic and Spine Therapy, to complete a four-year study of the bio-mechanics of the golf swing. Their findings were presented to the Wisconsin PGA in a seminar. Carolyn and Steve have used this knowledge to help folks return to golf after injury, in a safe and productive manner. Armed with this knowledge and her own competitive experiences, Carolyn felt it was time to use her knowledge to train the ‘complete golfer.’ In 2000, Carolyn started focusing solely on golf development and established Swing Solutions.