This man is Dave Williams, former men’s golf coach for the University of Houston. There is a world of near infinite intrigue hiding behind this simple title for the man who enriched thousands of lives and is still known to some as Mr. College Golf. For one thing, how many golf coaches do you know who could command enough interest in their retirement to garner a press conference?
I promise we will get to Coach Williams’ story - and man it is a good one - but for now I ask you to take a moment to focus on the hardware behind the legendary coach. Those aren’t mere trinkets or decoration, you are looking at a representation of four decades worth of NCAA championships, conference titles, and some of the most coveted team and individual awards in the sport.
You are looking at college golf history.
And you want to know the craziest part? That’s not even half of it…
Here at 5-Count-4 we will be posting all kinds of content related to college golf history, whether that is from the distant or recent past. Some posts will be purely people/storyline based. Others will be deep dives into the analytics of it all. We invite you to subscribe and check it out for free!
Before we get going:
I feel the need to take a moment to set proper expectations for the journey we’re going on together. While 5-Count-4 is the product of a combined effort of several people and many MANY hours of research, this post is from one guy so instead of the “we” you will see going forward, this section is from the singular me, David.
I am not a historian, though I did go to school (the first time) to earn a history degree. Nor am I credentialed in any way by any “authoritative” organization. I’m just a guy with internet access and a passion for college golf. As a software developer, most of the writing I do is encapsulated by curly braces, I find myself more at home in a spreadsheet than a word processor, so sometimes I no will word good.
That said, I promise to do my best to lead us down some interesting rabbit holes to learn some really cool stuff without getting snagged on too many roots of incorrect information, bad assumptions, or frankly mediocre writing.
The why of it all…
Often times we see or hear a sports story that becomes embellished for the sake of the story. I/we will try not to do that here. There is already enough intrigue built into the truth. If the posts here sound fantastic it’s usually because true sports stories are fantastical which is why we - I’m including you in this too - are fanatical; they make us feel ways about stuff.
For as popular as college golf is becoming, it is still strangely difficult to piece together its past. I keep trying to find my way around the rich wonderful world of golf information but far too often it’s all doors and corners, locked rooms and dead ends. Sometimes it’s nice to just walk in someplace and see the art hung squarely on the wall. Even if it’s not a painting you particularly care for, the fact that it’s there, existing in plain sight, is comforting.
So in part that’s what we are here to do, hang some art which might (not) have meaning and might (not) be interesting. All we can hope is that whatever is hung here in this digital museum can illicit even the barest whisper of that fantastical fanatical feeling.
What’s up first?
With the upcoming 2023 NCAA Championship marking the 125th playing of the men’s intercollegiate golf championships, we thought it appropriate to do a series on 25 championships that help tell the story of college golf history. These aren’t listicles but they also won’t be exhaustive, so if we leave out your favorite team’s championship…well I’m sorry, hopefully we'll be able to cover that in detail another time.
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much for spending your time here with us and hope you enjoy!