North Carolina State University Athletics
Q&A With A "Couple" Of Golfers
1/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Jan. 26, 2005
GoPack.com had a chance last week to sit down with NC State women's golfer Lorraine Ballerano (Jr., Myrtle Beach, S.C.) and Banks Wood (Sr., Charlotte, N.C.) from the men's team. It was an opportunity to catch up with the Wolfpack couple, and take a peek inside the lives of two outstanding student-athletes.
GoPack: How was winter break?
Lorraine: It was good. Played some golf, in fact we actually went down with Chase Duncan on the men's team and former teammate Courtney Pomeranz to the Dixie Amateur in Ft. Lauderdale.
GoPack: How did you do?
Lorraine: Ummm, not as well as I would have liked.
GoPack: Banks, did you play in that as well?
Banks: Yes. I was just hoping to go down there and to get a little competition, but I wasn't too concerned with how I was playing to be honest. I was just glad to get down there where it was nice and warm, have some fun and see some people I hadn't seen in awhile.
GoPack: Who hadn't you seen in awhile that was there?
Banks: Guys I played junior golf with, guys from schools that we don't play with much.
Lorraine: I have family there, so it was nice for me to get away for a little while and see some of them too.
GoPack: What else did you do over break?
Lorraine: I worked for my Dad some.
GoPack: Doing what?
Lorraine: I did some of the office work, end of the year closeout stuff. I'm a finance major, so it was stuff that I'm interested in, like payroll and things like that.
GoPack: Impressive, you actually got out of bed and did some things over break.
Lorraine: Well I actually only worked a couple hours a day and I was mainly there to get in on lunch that they order.
GoPack: Ah ha. What you Banks?
Banks: My father and I have started a little tradition the last few years where about four or five other father and sons that we know from around Charlotte go down to Secession, which is in Beaufort, S.C. It's really nice. We go down for a couple days and nights and just play 18 to 27 holes of golf each day, go out to eat each night. It's a lot of fun.
GoPack: How long have you two been seeing each other?
Lorraine: Since the beginning of my freshman year.
Banks: Yeah, it was the beginning of my sophomore year.
GoPack: Did you guys just meet through playing golf here, or is there more to it than that?
Lorraine: We actually met in junior golf. Being from sister states, there are a lot of tournaments that play at the same times and places. We knew of each other, but we really weren't that close until I got to school here. Our teams hang out together a lot.
GoPack: Do you guys ever play golf against each other?
Banks: Sometimes, it's usually just friendly stuff though. The way I look at it is that we're not dating just because we both play golf. That just happens to be a hobby we share and how we got together.
GoPack: But you guys have played?
Lorraine: We go down to the Country Club of Carolina in Pinehurst where his family are members, and we play sometimes.
GoPack: Have you ever beat him?
Lorraine: Maybe once or twice. It doesn't happen very often.
GoPack: Do you two have many chances to watch each other play?
Banks: Last year I had a chance to watch her play a couple days in Columbia, S.C.
Lorraine: He came out to the last day of ACCs.
Banks: I watched one day at Chapel Hill last year.
Lorraine: I went to one round of his tournament here last year. I really wanted to go to the Carolina Am, but as always, I had a tournament of my own.
GoPack: Do you play any better or worse when he's in the gallery?
Lorraine: No, it's nice to have somebody out there supporting you, but that's about it.
GoPack: What about you Banks?
Banks: It's not a factor really. I'm always glad that she's out there, but once she's out there I really don't think about it anymore.
GoPack: Do any of your teammates give you guys a hard time about dating each other?
Lorraine: There's friendly stuff said, but it's in fun.
Banks: I'm usually too busy dishing it out, to take any grief.
 Lorranie Ballerano has played a vital role in the Wolfpack's success as of late  |
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GoPack: The fall went a little different this year, with the women's team playing so well and the men's team not playing as well as they could.
Lorraine: It was good so that they could realize that we could play and that we actually finished the fall ranked higher. I'm sure that was the first time in school history that the women's team finished the fall ranked higher than the men. It's kind of nice for a change.
Banks: The girl's team worked a lot harder than the guys did this fall. That may not be the case in the short future, because we've got to make some changes this spring.
GoPack: Do the golf teams ever practice together?
Lorraine: Not really. It would be hard to get that many of us on one course at one time. Very rarely we'll end up at the same place, but it's hard to get much done when that happens. Sometimes a few of us on both teams will go practice somewhere together on our own time.
GoPack: Do you guys ever give each other pointers?
Lorraine: Yeah, he's seen me play enough that he knows my swing pretty well. In between my lessons with my instructor he helps me out.
Banks: It's always better to have another pair of eyes out there to see some things that you can't see about yourself.
Lorraine: A lot of times we'll help each other with alignment and stuff about the course. One time we went out and took my camera just to check to see if the ball was set up in our stance where we thought it was.
GoPack: Do you two have any classes together?
Banks: We did last semester. We had one.
Lorraine: We had two together the fall of my sophomore year. We study together and work at it together.
Banks: Sometimes when we're on the road and don't have access to the internet, which you need to get some of the information needed, we can call back to each other to get it.
Lorraine: We'll have a few more classes together next year because I'm minoring in PRT.
Banks: She's a business major with a minor in sports management and I'm a sports management major with a minor in business.
Lorraine: So some of our classes overlap.
GoPack: Banks, what did you give Lorraine for Christmas?
Banks: I gave her a sweater and uh, what else did I get you?
Lorraine: I got a charm for my charm bracelet.
GoPack: What did you give him?
Lorraine: Poker set, a basketball and a subscription to Sports Illustrated.
GoPack: What happens after this year?
Banks: I'm coming back next year because I actually redshirted a season.
Lorraine: We should both finish school at the same time.
GoPack: Then what?
Banks: After winning the Carolina Am, I got some exemptions to play in a bunch of things next summer, so I'm looking forward to playing in some of those to see how I stack up. After school is finished I would like to play pro. It will just depend on what level my game is at.
Lorraine: I'll see where my game is at the end of next year and see if I'm ready to play on the Futures Tour. If not, the job market would probably take me to Charlotte. I definitely want to give playing a shot, but it will kind of depend on how long my parents are willing to support me too.
GoPack: What was the first date?
Lorraine: We were playing late somewhere and I realized that I wasn't going to get back to campus in time to eat dinner, so I sent him an instant message about getting something to eat. We ended up going to the Rockola Café and Dairy Queen. So that was our first date.
GoPack: What do you two do when you're not playing golf, going to class or studying?
Lorraine: We like to watch sports. We went to a bunch of the NC State football games. We went to the East Carolina game in Charlotte and then to the Panthers game the next day. That was my first professional sporting event other than golf, so that was fun. We went to the Gator Bowl with some other teammates a couple years ago.
GoPack: Banks, the academic advisors tell us that there was a drastic improvement in your academic performance right around the same time you started seeing Lorraine.
Banks: I kind of caught a break that first semester that we were dating because I had two classes with Lorraine and I did pretty well in those. That was the beginning of my turnaround. I turned it up a notch and by the spring semester I made the honor roll.
Lorraine: Going to class helped.
GoPack: So Lorraine, you've been a good influence on him then?
Lorraine: Coach Sykes said after that first semester that he did well that I had made a 6.2 (GPA) for both of us. He's actually beaten me by a few hundredths of point the last three semester. It's a little battle that we have going on right now.
GoPack: Who has the remote when you two are watching TV?
Lorraine: Every once in a while I'll get a hand on it, but as long as I get to watch Desperate Housewives, I'm willing to concede the remote. My roommates and I have a DVR, so if there is something important on, I just watch it later.
GoPack: That's it you two. Great job. Thanks for stopping by and good luck this spring.
