Beddingfield twins Nate and Drew O'Neal win the Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award

The driving range at the Wedgewood golf course is empty except for two golfers. One lefty, one righty facing each other. They strike a drive at the same time. It's not a mirror image, but it might as well be.

"On the way down he goes a little more inside," Drew O'Neal said. "I've been trying not to do that lately, because for me it does not produce a very good shot."

"I'm also trying not to do it," the right handed Nate O'Neal responded. "I have to work hard not to, just so I can produce a better ball flight."

There's minor differences in their swing, just like there's differences in their appearance. Nate is taller and leaner. Drew is a few inches shorter, but with broader shoulders.  Nate is technically a few minutes older as Drew's fraternal twin.

"We do everything together," Nate said. "We have a great relationship we never really fight or anything."

Given their shared genetics it shouldn't come as a surprise the Beddingfield High School seniors have virtually identical resumes. Nate won conference player of the year in 2021, Drew in 2022.  Drew has a 4.4 GPA and is ranked second in his class, Nate has a 4.35 and is ranked third.

"We practice at the same time," Drew said. "We play all the same times so it's just the same amount of effort is put in so we stay pretty similar."

"They make each other better," Jody O'Neal said. "They are always pushing each other you can just tell."

Jody is Beddingfield's athletic director, girls basketball coach, and boys and girls golf coach. Oh and he's the twins dad.

"They grew up in the hallways of Beddingfield, in the gym at Beddingfield, anything I've done they've been with me," Jody said.

Next year Jody will end his reign as their official coach and hand them over to Andrew Sapp and the staff at ECU.

"It's something we both wanted to do," Nate said. "We've worked together all of our life; practiced together, played together. Now for the next four years at ECU it'll hopefully be the same."

Nate and Drew O'Neal's accomplishments on the golf course and in the classroom at Beddingfield earned them WRAL's Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award.

"It's exciting," Jody said. "We've had a couple Beddingfield students win before and it was exciting also. To have them win it, just awesome."