CENTERTWP — Before she could walk, Tiffany Aubrey was on the golf course.

"When I was very little, my dad would take me out onto the golf course in a baby seat on a golf cart," she said.

"I ate, slept and breathed golf."

Such is life when golf is not just the family business, but also the family passion.

Her father, John Aubrey Sr., is the owner and operator of Aubrey's Dubbs Dred GolfCourse in Butler and a golf pro, qualifying several times for the U.S. Senior Open and other senior tour events.

Her brother, John Aubrey Jr., is attending PennState University on a golf scholarship.

Now Tiffany Aubrey is getting back into the family act after more than four years away from the game.

Aubrey went from making pars to making cheers when she entered Butler HighSchool, leaving the links behind for cheerleading.

But as a freshman at Pitt-Johnstown, she joined the inaugural women's golf team this season.

"I threw golf away," Aubrey said. "The thing about it was I think I liked cheerleading because all my girlfriends were on the team and were my teammates. In golf, you're your own individual team. It's an individual sport."

Aubrey had no desire to play golf again until someone slid a flier about a golf meeting for men and women under her door.

It piqued her interested and whetted her appetite for golf again.

That is until she got to the meeting.

"There were 30 guys at the meeting and I was the only girl," Aubrey said. "I thought I was going to have to try out for the men's team."

But two more girls joined the team and the college went ahead with its plans to form a female golf program in part to comply with Title IX.

Because Pitt-Johnstown had only three members on the team, it played an abbreviated schedule, competing in six tournaments.

The coach, Eric Kinsey, had little golfing knowledge — he was a soccer coach by trade. The home course was Windber Country Club, but the team never played a match there. The practice green was a stretch of carpet in the school's field house.

"A lot of the guys on the boys team didn't even go to practice because it was so worthless," Aubrey said.

Still, she had caught the golfing bug again. Aubrey's best round of the year was a 106 at California (Pa.) University. It left her wanting more.

She knew she could shoot much better than that and has dived head first back into the game.

Aubrey said she has played every day at her family's course since returning home from Johnstown.

"There were other girls on other teams shooting in the low 80s," Aubrey said. "I said to myself, 'I want to do that.' If girls from Cal can do that, so can I."

She said her scores are coming down steadily. Aubrey has shot a 45 on the front nine at her home course and in the mid-90s for a round.

The back nine at Aubrey's Dubbs Dred is among the toughest around.

"I'm always losing balls back there," she said, laughing.

But her father has been right along side her.

"He's helped me tremendously," Aubrey said. "He is so thrilled. He is really happy I'm playing again."

Aubrey has always had a sweet swing. It was just a matter of shaking off the rust of four-plus years of inactivity.

"My golf swing came back right away," she said. "In fact I actually had two golf coaches from other teams tell me my swing was so natural. That felt pretty good."

Now, she is determined to make a name for herself in college.

"My dad always told me to keep playing, you're good," Aubrey said. "I'm glad I grew up and realized I shouldn't throw golf away."