The Arms Race In College Golf

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Hey Golfers —

The University of Alabama recently posted a video of their new $40 million golf facility on social media. The 176-acre facility is extremely impressive. It is the most expensive college golf facility we have researched — by a wide margin.

Universities are spending millions, and in some cases tens of millions, to build practice facilities for their golf teams. Below are a couple of examples.

• Vanderbilt is spending around $11 million on upgrades to its golf facility

• Oklahoma is spending around $7 million on renovations and upgrades to its facility

College golf has historically offered parity in the form of major and mid-major schools. Three of the national champions in the last fifteen years on the men’s side have been mid-majors.

• Pepperdine — 2021

• Augusta State — 2011

• Augusta State — 2010

But that parity has slowly declined — the 2024 men's golf national championship featured four mid-major schools, the lowest number in the last five championships. 

There isn’t one component to the declining appearances of mid-majors. But one is certainly money. Money in the form of an annual budget and practice facilities.

The money being spent on college golf right now reflects what we are seeing in college athletics as a whole. It’s an arms race.

Let’s look at how much money the eight men’s teams that advanced to match play this year have invested in their golf facilities.

• Illinois — $7.2 million

• Vanderbilt — $15.5 million

• Virginia — $5.5 million

• North Carolina — $13 million

• Florida State — $7 million

• Auburn — $1.95 million

• Ohio State — $6 million

• Georgia Tech — $16 million

All of the universities have state-of-the-art practice facilities, and seven have invested over $5 million in them.

Let’s look at another angle from the 2024 men’s national championship. The four mid-majors that qualified for the tournament are listed below.

• SMU

• New Mexico

• North Florida

• East Tennessee State

All four schools have multi-million dollar practice facilities. East Tennessee State spent $1.8 million, and North Florida spent $2 million.

It’s challenging for a school in a cold climate to compete for a national championship. And with southern schools investing tens of millions into new facilities, it will be even more challenging.

Seven of the 30 teams that qualified for the national championship were in cold climates.

• Illinois

• Ohio State

• Purdue

• Notre Dame

• Virginia

• Utah

• West Virginia

Two teams have won a national title in a cold climate since 2002.

• Minnesota — 2002

• Oregon — 2016

Both have incredible indoor facilities. Oregon recently invested $2.3 million into its indoor facility. And Minnesota spent $3.2 million on its indoor facility that opened in 2019.

Illinois is a cold-climate school and has consistently been one of the country's top men’s golf programs. Mike Small is a magician and one of the best coaches in college golf.

Mike Small took over the program in 2000 — they hadn’t won a Big Ten conference championship since 1988.

Illinois opened its indoor facility in 2007 for $5.2 million. And it has paid off. They have won 14 Big Ten conference championships since.

Before Illinois’ indoor facility was opened, it had seven All-Americans. Since then, it has had 14.

Illinois is an exception to the rule. They have a generational golf coach with an incredible practice facility. But they have proven that you can compete in a cold climate.

As a non-revenue generating sport — budgets are a challenge for collegiate golf.

The NCAA released a study in 2019 on individual sports financials. Although the information is outdated, it still paints a picture for us.

Power Five schools spent around $950,000 on its men’s golf budget, while the remaining schools spent around $350,000. This is a massive disparity.

A cold-climate mid-major college finds itself in a difficult position to compete for a national title. There have only been a handful of them who have made it to the national championship since 2019.

But that hasn’t kept Eastern Michigan University from investing millions in its golf programs. They built an $8 million indoor facility and recently received a pledge of $6.5 million. The $14.5 million for its golf programs was funded by private donations. 

The vast majority of college golf facilities are funded with donor money. So why are donors investing millions into golf as a non-revenue-generating sport? I’m not sure anyone has an answer other than alumni wanting to see their schools compete for conference and national championships.

The bottom line is fairly clear: To compete in college golf, millions of dollars will be required. Some schools have a head start, and some are better positioned with climate. But it isn’t too late to start investing — it will only get more competitive.

Have a great Monday. We will talk to you next week!

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