Let’s start with a little college golf quiz: Name the college golfer who, in 2017, won the Nicklaus Award, played a PGA Tour event, won five times and earned a spot on the Palmer Cup? Hint: it’s not Braden Thornberry, Justin Suh or Norman Xiong. The answer is Dalton State’s outstanding freshman S.M. Lee (pictured in the featured image).

For many reading this article, you may be confused. Who’s S.M. Lee and even more importantly, where is Dalton State? If that’s your reaction, great! This article is written to help introduce you to the emerging world of National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics,  golfers, including players like S.M. Lee, and schools, like Oklahoma City, Texas Wesleyan, Coastal Georgia, Wayland Baptist, Marymount University (California), Keiser University, University of South Carolina Beaufort, Ottawa University Arizona and Dalton State.

Oklahoma City University

When discussing NAIA golf, it is important to note the success of one person: Kyle Blaser. Blaser, the coach of the 2018 NAIA National Champion Oklahoma City University Stars, is a 21-year veteran of the NAIA. During his career, he has won 11 national championships, 11 regional championships, 19 conference championships, and 107 tournament titles.

However, maybe the most important contribution Blaser has made is setting a high bar for other coaches — this year, his team shot net under par for three of nine events including 9 under at the national championship, a team low round of 263, and a team individual scoring average of 71.64 per player or 286.5 per team round.

The standard set by Blaser has resulted in a fiercely competitive group of teams. According to GolfStat, seven teams in the NAIA finished the season with team scoring averages of 73 or better. According to my data, this would put them among approximately the top 60 teams in Division I Golf. This is demonstrated by several schools including Keiser University and Dalton State. Overall, in 2018 Keiser had a 16-3 record vs. NCAA DI teams and 18-3 record vs. NCAA DII. Similarly, when Dalton State had the opportunity to compete in the prestigious Carpet Capital hosted by Georgia Tech in the fall, they finished 12th out of 15 teams, beating Virginia, UT-Chattanooga, and Troy.

NAIA golf is also starting to attract younger, professional coaches. Recently, Johnson and Wales University hired Danny Randolph to lead their men’s team. Randolph’s resume includes time in the Big 12 at Texas Christian University, as well as two team national championships during his time at Lynn University. Randolph follows in the footsteps of individuals like Ben Rickett, who left University of Tennessee Chattanooga to start Dalton State after helping Steven Fox win the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills on the 37th hole.

Danny Randolph, the head coach at Johnson and Wales, came to the program from Lynn University where his team won back to back NCAA Division II titles. According to Randolph,

“I grew up in the NAIA, first watching and then playing at Bethel College. There are very good athletes and programs at the NAIA level in all sports but especially golf. Many teams travel the country competing on tour level golf courses against very good competition, often NCAA DI and DII schools. Universities invest time and resources, so the student-athletes have a tremendous college experience.”

The players

In 2017, the NAIA also featured 13 players in Golfstat Cup, each with an adjusted stroke average below par. The highest player ranked is S.M. Lee of Dalton State at six. He is also No. 103 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, a two-time Nickulas Award Winner who played in the 2017 Barbasol Championship and will represented the United States in the 2018 Palmer Cup.

Another player of note is Rowan Lester of Texas Wesleyan. A review I did after the fall semester demonstrated his tournament handicap to be +4.5. Pretty impressive, however the NAIA has a tradition of attracting talented players: Jim Renner and Tyrone Van Aswegen are a couple examples of individuals who used NAIA golf as a path to the PGA Tour.

Like teams from other divisions, NAIA coaches spend countless hours searching out the world’s best talent. As a result, a review of rosters demonstrated that many teams have both significant diversity and skill. For example, Keiser University features players from eight countries and seven states and have inked No. 197 on NJGS, Kritchayapol Sinchai and four other players with WAGR rankings for 2018.

According to Keiser Coach Brandon Miller, “the NAIA has been getting stronger and deeper every year. The talent pool of players in our fields and the depth of school’s with talented players are impressive. We are at the point where our NAIA tournaments are deeper and more competitive than the mid-major NCAA D1 events we play. I think many NAIA school’s can offer the same if not more to the student-athlete’s development as a golfer, student, and person in terms of facilities, tournament schedule, academics, and support. NAIA golf is on the rise; it’s exciting to see where we’ll be in a few years.”

The facilities

Beyond the quality of the play, maybe the most impressive (and overlooked) aspect of NAIA golf is the quality facilities. For example, Keiser University has an on-campus practice facility, as well as access to PGA National, host of the Honda Classic. Likewise, according to Ben Rickett, the head men’s coach Dalton State,

“We have access to so many good golf courses that allows us to draw some quality golfers to the school including The Farm and Dalton Golf and Country Club. We also have The Honors Course (2010 NCAA venue), Barnsley Gardens and Council Fire within an hour.”

I saw the nature of these facilities first hand, as I recently visited Ottawa University Arizona and head coach Clayton Sikorski in Phoenix, Arizona. Between touring campus and learning more about this dynamic new university, we had the opportunity to play rounds at Wigwam and Quintero. I quickly fell in love with Quintero, not only because I won, but because of the immaculate condition and breath-taking change of evaluation. Simply spectacular.

Why not NAIA?

Based on this the question is, “Why not NAIA?” At the root, it’s about stigma: People want the cache of dropping terms like “Division I” and “full scholarship.” However, I hope that readers will consider a different paradox: Schools should not be characterized by division, but instead by funding — either funded or not funded. A student athlete who is serious about pursuing golf should be less worried about the “division” and more about the school’s commitment to funding the program. By having this perspective, student athletes will find a school, coach, and team that is more likely to meet their golf expectations and enhance the experience of college golf.