Ramstein junior Nora Hacker celebrates as she sinks her par putt on the No. 17 hole during the second day of the 2025 DODEA European golf championships on Oct. 17, 2025, at Woodlawn Golf Course on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Nora Hacker had no intention of playing golf when she first tagged along with her older brother Tyler to Ramstein golf practice in August 2023.
Too many things were piled on her plate after the Hacker clan moved to Ramstein from Texas that summer.
Nora had to figure out her education situation first. She had taken advanced courses in seventh grade, the same classes she would have to enroll in at Ramstein Middle School that fall. So, she and her parents, Kevin and Bianca, debated skipping eighth grade.
Former Ramstein golf coach Kent Enyeart wasn’t deterred by Hacker’s reluctance to pick up a golf club, however.
“One day, (Enyeart) just handed me left-handed clubs, and he was like, ‘Just try it out,’” Hacker said. “Honestly, it just felt really natural to me, so I started and took off. I really started enjoying the sport.”
Enyeart’s lobbying efforts still are paying dividends for the program now under the tutelage of coach Greg Hewitt.
Hacker has reached the top of the DODEA European golf scene. The junior won the individual crown at the 2025 DODEA European golf championships on Oct. 16-17 at Woodlawn Golf Course, scoring 73 points under the modified Stableford scoring system.
Her nearest competitor was teammate and fellow junior Mya Boynton, who scored 58 points over the two rounds.
On top of the individual accolade, Stars and Stripes’ 2025 girls golf Athlete of the Year led the Royals to the team title, one year after they shared it with crosstown rival Kaiserslautern. Ramstein doubled up the Raiders this season 160-77.
“I’m really proud of myself,” Hacker said. “It feels really good to have won it after all the hard work.
“It mainly felt good because we did work as a team, and we all stuck together and pushed ourselves,” Hacker said.
It was a far cry from her first attempt two years prior.
Skipping a grade to become a freshman upon arrival in Germany, Hacker got 11 points in her opening tournament. She improved during the season to place third at the 2023 Euros with a 37.
She was third again as a sophomore with 46 points.
Those performances gave Hacker the confidence to take a step further in the sport.
“It felt really amazing,” she said. “I saw for myself that if I kept working, I could get higher.”
Hacker entered this year’s European tournament as one of the favorites alongside her teammate. Boynton recorded the highest average over the two playoff tournaments at 28 and Hacker was second at 25.
The duo flipped in the finals thanks to Hacker’s 27-point improvement over her 2024 Euros total.
Hacker credited her success to improvement on the green. She rarely three-putted, avoiding many double-bogeys or worse – no-pointers.
“This year, I learned that I need to play my own game and stop worrying about others, and that’s what got me the championship,” Hacker said. “Those first couple holes on the front nine, once I started getting better scores, that’s when I knew, ‘OK, this is where I’m going to win.’”
Hacker isn’t going to rest on her laurels. She pointed to her grouping during the two-day championships: Boynton and Wiesbaden freshman Janine Buenaobra, as big motivators.
Both will push her next year.
“It’s just going to keep me motivated and now I know that there are players out there that could beat me, I know I need to work hard this summer to improve even more to where I can secure the championship next year,” Hacker said.
