Dan Wesley

Dan Wesley is the Head Men's Golf Coach at University of Rochester. Dan has also directed Nike Junior Golf Camps in Rochester, NY in previous years and serves as co-camp coordinator for the Nike Short Game Camps.

Head Coach Dan Wesley returned to his alma mater in 2007 to take over the Yellowjacket golf program and recently completed his 16th season as head coach in 2022-23.

Wesley has guided the ‘Jackets to 24 tournament victories, 31 runner-ups, and 81 top-3 finishes in 139 events.

Last season, the Yellowjackets ranked number two in school history, shooting a combined 300.8 scoring average across nine tournaments. UR won the Fred Kravetz Invitational, shooting a record score of 593, added a win at the St. John Fisher Invitational and was runner-up at the Hershey Cup. Junior Kerry Wang was named an All-American and three golfers, Wang, Gary Pan, and Brendan Frain earned All-Region honors.

2021-22 was a record-setting award season for Rochester, as Wesley coached four golfers to All-Region 2 accolades and five to GCAA All-America Scholar praise.

Declan Hickton was named a GCAA Honorable Mention All-American in 2020-21. He was selected as an individual to compete at the NCAA Division III Championships and placed in the top half of the field.

UR claimed the Liberty League Championship in 2016-17 for only the third time in school history, as the Yellowjackets tallied 1,233 strokes over the 72-hole conference event spanning tournaments in the fall and spring seasons. At NCAA's UR placed 26th of 42 squads, missing the cut after scoring 637 through two rounds.

Wesley was voted as the Liberty League Coach of the Year in 2016-17, his second award, after being recognized by the league in 2013-14.

In 2013-14, Rochester claimed the Liberty League Championship in a match play format which earned them an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship in Greensboro, NC where they set a program scoring record in NCAA competition and finished 12th in the nation.

Individual honors earned under Wesley’s guidance include All-American honors Nick Palladino (2011, 2012, 2013, & 2014) who also won the Phil Mickelson award for NCAA national Freshman of the Year, Jason Paek in 2018, Declan Hickton in 2021 and Kerry Wang in 2023. Palladino finished his career as the only 4-time All-American in program history.

Wesley's golfers have claimed a total of 82 All-Conference accolades, including 34 1st Team honorees spanning the UAA and Liberty League. Nine have been selected either UAA or Liberty League Player of the Year.

There have been 16 different All-American Scholars under Coach Wesley; Stephen Goodridge (2008), Jon Pecor (2008, 2009), Chris Driscoll (2010), Ryan Williams (2010, 2011), Dominick Schumacher (2015, 2016), G.W. VanderZwaag (2015, 2016), Jona Scott (2016, 2017), Daniel Luftspring (2016, 2017), Jason Paek (2017, 2018), Jack Mulligan (2019), Declan Hickton (2021), Nishant Datta (2021, 2022), Brendan Frain (2021, 2022), Lewis Raboy (2022), Tom Liu (2022) and Kerry Wang (2022).

A 1994 graduate of Rochester, Wesley played for the legendary Don Smith and served as team captain his senior year. While at Rochester, Wesley played in three NCAA Championships, helping the Yellowjackets to a sixth place finish and their highest ranking ever in the national poll. Wesley also was a three time All-UAA selection.

After graduating from Rochester with a B.S. in Psychology, Wesley served as an assistant golf professional at The Country Club of Rochester and at The Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Florida before moving on to sales representative positions with both Maxfli and Srixon.

While at The Country Club of Rochester, Coach Wesley learned under Sam Urzetta, the 1950 US Amateur champion and longtime Rochester sports legend, and his son Michael, the current head professional at CCR.

Wesley is also a current member of the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame Committee, and is a past Chairman of the NCAA All-American Committee.

Coach Wesley resides in Pittsford with his wife Kelly (UR ’00), daughter Emma, and son Jack.