Karen began going to the golf course at age 5 with her father, Bill Hurt, a top Arizona amateur player. She realized quickly that she had a passion for the game. She won her first City Championship in Phoenix at the age of 12. She took lessons from Hall of Famer, Johnny Bulla and other high-profile professionals. Her final amateur tournament was the Ladies Southwestern Amateur. She won that and decided to compete professionally. After her playing career she began teaching. She taught at the City of Phoenix Chris Town Golf Course (Now Palo Verde) under Class A PGA Professional, George Jemsek. She was the Head of Instruction for 30 years at Rolling Hills in Tempe. She also taught at Paradise Valley Country Club. She trained under Class A professional John Klein to teach adaptive golf to stroke victims and other neurologically impaired players. Karen believes a player needs to begin with a solid basic foundation of grip, set up, alignment and basic weight shift. From there the player develops their own swing tempo and timing. She helps break down a student’s swing, in order to correct the pieces. Then she helps the student put the correct pieces in place to improve the whole swing.