Carter was born in Spring Lake, North Carolina. As a high school senior, he led Mesa High's boys golf team to an Arizona state championship in 1979. He attended Arizona State University in Tempe and was a distinguished member of the golf team – a two-time first-team All-American and an All-Pac-10 conference selection, as well as the 1983 NCAA Champion (Arizona State University's first individual champion in men's golf). He also represented the U.S. Collegians at the USA vs. Japan Matches at Pebble Beach and was named Ambassador. He won the 1981 and 1984 Arizona State Amateur Championship, and the 1983 and 1984 Southwest Amateur Championship. He was three times named Arizona's amateur golfer of the year. He was honored with the Arizona State University Athlete of the Year award in 1984. He was also awarded the conference PAC-10 Medal, the highest honor a student athlete can receive. In 1995, he was inducted into the Arizona State University Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2007 he was inducted into the Mesa City Sports Hall of Fame.