Kelley Hester

Kelley Hester is in her seventh season as the head coach of Clemson’s women’s golf program. Her program has reached the NCAA Tournament each year the event has been held over her first six seasons.

When you look at her career it is no surprise she has brought the Clemson program to consistent success. She has been successful everywhere she has coached over her 22 seasons and 211 tournaments as a head coach.

Nothing documents her success more than the fact that she is the only coach in NCAA Division I history to take four different programs to the NCAA National tournament and record at least one top 20 finish at four different schools.

Over her career, Hester has 18 wins, 35 top two finishes and 97 top fives. She has taken teams to 17 NCAA regionals, had six top 20 national finishes, coached 33 all-conference players and 17 All-Americans.

Hester has had a remarkable first six years as Clemson head coach. In addition to a perfect attendance record in the NCAA Tournament, the program has gained its first three tournament victories, had 24 top five finishes and reached the NCAA national tournament for the first time. This has been achieved against a schedule that has been consistently ranked in the top 25 nationally.

The 2021-22 season included a five-shot victory at the Clover Cup, a 17-team tournament in Arizona that included nine top 50 teams. Clemson had four of the top 20 players in that tournament. Clemson finished the year with four top five finishes and an 86-58-2 record against the field in its 10 tournaments. Clemson golfers had 49 rounds at par or better, just one off the school record of 50 set in 2017-18.

Players have flourished under Hester’s leadership as Clemson has had six first-team All-ACC selections and three medalist honors. Alice Hewson, who closed out her career as the first four-time All-ACC player in Clemson history in 2019, was also named an All-American and was a four-time selection to the All-ACC Academic team.

Another highlight was Hewson’s top 10 finish at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April of 2019. Hewson is now a professional on the European tour and already has a victory, and a top 20 finish at the Women’s Open Championship on her resume.

Savannah Grewal, a senior in 2022-23, also played in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2022. Three current or former Hester players at Clemson have now played in the event.

Hester’s teams have also been outstanding in the classroom. All six years she has guided the program, Clemson has had a perfect 1,000 APR score. In her first six years the program has had 13 selections to the WCGA Academic Scholars team, and 11 selections to the Academic All-ACC team.

For the second consecutive year, Clemson played an abbreviated schedule in 2021 due to COVID restrictions. The Tigers had four top four finishes in national tournaments, which led to a strong 60-33 head-to-head record and a top 8 NCAA regional seed.

Ivy Shepherd earned first-team All-ACC honors in leading the Tigers in stroke average, and Savannah Grewal was second in stroke average and had the first hole-in-one in Clemson history. Freshman Annabelle Pancake tied the Clemson round record with a 65 at the Clover Cup, and graduate Alexandra Swayne became the first Clemson women’s golfer to qualify for the US Open and the US Amateur in the same year.

At the conclusion of the season Hester was named Southeast Section Coach of the Year by the LPGA, the fourth time in her coaching career she has won the award. She earlier was selected in 2009, 2016 and 2017.