Dr. Gary Nelson, a person with a wealth of golf administration and playing experience was named head men's golf coach at the University of San Francisco on June 16th, 2005.

"I am very proud to be the coach at USF," said Nelson recently. "This is a world-class University and we are looking forward to building this program to one who can compete at the highest level in collegiate golf. Locally I want to look eyeball to eyeball with Cal and Stanford as well as be a dominant force in our conference. We have set a goal to be a top-25 program in the Nation in the near future."

The program made great strides in its first season under Nelson and finished second in the highly competitive West Coast Conference tournament. Two members of his first recruiting class in 2005 earned first team all conference honors.

Nelson, who took the head coaching position at USF to "bring USF's golf program to National prominence, doing it with true scholars while having a lot of fun along the way," has raised USF's National Ranking over 200 Universities with a team compiled of mainly of sophomores and freshmen in the past year in a half.

Nelson has been able to raise the national ranking so drastically because of strong recruiting classes that he has brought to the Hilltop. "USF has a lot of advantages in recruiting top golfing prospects. First, USF has a fine reputation as a scholastic institution and smart people make smart golfers," said Nelson. "Second, the city of San Francisco itself is fantastic. Parents love to come visit their kids at college and what city is better than San Francisco?" Finally, and most importantly, Nelson and his staff are able to offer golfers the chance to play at some of the best courses in the nation.

"There are no Universities in the nation that get to play at the type of venues that our athletes play at on a regular basis. Being able to play at the Olympic Club, San Francisco Golf Club, Lake Merced Country Club, Meadow Club (a 1927 Alister McKenzie design), Richmond C. C. as well as Spyglass Hill once a month, and as a cap to the season Cypress Point Club, provides the golfers with a varied array of layouts, grasses, conditions, and challenges. Great courses develop great golfers"

Recently, with the help of Nelson, an indoor diagnostic center was opened where golfers can work on their swings with the help of video tape as well as hit balls between classes, or have somewhere dry to practice if it's raining.

In the past year and a half, Nelson has also developed a spring and fall collegiate invitational, hosted by USF. By inviting teams throughout the country to play at some of the premier courses in the world, USF is then often offered reciprocal invitations by competing schools, ensuring that USF athletes get a chance to compete against some of the top teams in the country on a regular basis.

Nelson captained the California Maritime Academy golf team as an undergraduate and was a member of USF's squad during the 1963-64 seasons, when he took classes on the campus. He has played in numerous senior tournaments including the U.S. and British Senior Opens, has been officiating for United States Golf Association and Northern California Golf Association for over 15 years, officiating such high profile events as the U.S Open, Senior U.S Open and other major national championships.

Off the course, Nelson was a member of the University of California Executive Golf Committee that helped build the Golden Bears mens' program to a national championship in 2004. He also founded the Alister McKenzie Society in 1987, which has become the foremost society if its type in golf.

"Gary is a very motivated individual who has high expectations for the golf program," says USF Director of Athletics Debra Gore-Mann. "He is very passionate about the sport, has great contacts all over the world and knows what it takes to succeed at the top level of NCAA competition."