Stepping up to the tee, senior Kelly Kretz places his ball, steps back to survey the fairway, focuses and then takes an easy swing back.

As the club and ball collide, the common “ping” sound reverberates around the course, and the ball transforms into a white speck, barely visible, as it sails toward the hole.

“I’ve always hit the ball pretty long,” Kretz said. “I can shorten up the courses that way.”

Kretz, Marquette’s top golfer, has by far the longest drive on the Marquette men’s golf team after former teammate Mike Van Sickle graduated two years ago, senior Ben Sieg said.

His decision to come to Marquette came from a great recruiting tour. After meeting the team, Kretz said “it just seemed like a good fit.”

Falling into place on the team was not an issue. He was a standout from the get-go as the only freshman to play all 11 team events, holding a stroke average of 74.91, fifth-best among freshmen in school history.

This year, the Antigo, Wis., native has the best team stroke average at 74.34 for the season, the third-best in Marquette history.

He also holds 11 rounds of par or better on the season, which earned him Big East golfer of the week honors for the week of March 16.

In his four years playing at Marquette, Kretz says his best college memory is winning the Big East Tournament by two strokes over Louisville his freshman year, where he tied at 33rd place with a score of 230.

Despite all of this success, the senior has yet to win a tournament individually. That is a major goal he would like to accomplish before ending his college career.

“I feel like I’m playing well enough right now (to win a tournament),” he said.

Teammates agree Kretz is currently playing at a very high level.

“He does hit it off line sometimes because he does hit it so far, but he’s so good at getting out of trouble,” Sieg said.

Kretz said if he limits his mistakes and stays mentally strong, he can come out on top in one of his remaining tournaments.

“I think he realizes how good he is, and really the only thing that could get in the way of him being exceptional is himself,” Sieg said.

As an underclassman, junior teammate Ryan Prickette looks at Kretz’s success on the leader board of tournaments and admires how he handles the pressure and adversity.

“If my game ever gets to the point where I’m in that position in a tournament, I’ll be able to look back at how Kelly handled it,” Prickette said.

Besides getting a tournament victory, he said the perfect end to his senior year would be a team win in the Big East tournament.

With that monster drive of his, that long accomplishment appears much, much closer.