The 13 Schools With The Most College Golf National Championships Of All-Time

Collegiate Golf in the United States stretches all the way back to the late 1800s. And while the first NCAA College Golf National Championship was held in 1939 there were still 40+ years of national championships prior to that.

Here we take a look at the schools with the most college golf national championships over the past 125+ years. Not just the NCAA National Championships on the links, all of them.

13 Schools With The Most College Golf National Championships

As is often the case when counting up collegiate national championships, I’m a bit surprised by a few names at the top. But when you consider there were only around 1,000 colleges in the country back in 1910 and nearly 6,000 these days, the numbers start to make more sense… I’m talking, of course, about how there were Ivy League juggernauts back in the day.

t12. Wake Forest University: 3

The Demon Deacons have 3 National Championships in program history and are tied with six other schools for the 10th most all time. Their titles came in 1974, 1975, and 1986.

Wake Forest has also finished as runner-ups in the National Championship in 1969, 1970, 1987, 1997. Curtis Strange and Jay Haas won 2 of the 3 individual national championship titles in Wake Forest’s history as well.

t12. University of Tulsa: 3

The University of Tulsa Hurricane also has three women’s golf national championships: 1980, 1982 AIAW national championships and the 1982 NCAA National Championships. Currently, the program is non existent but it is set to be brought back in 2026.

11. North Texas: 4

It has been a long time since the University of North Texas golf team was hot but they were unstoppable for a stretch a long time ago. UNT won four straight national championships from 1949-1952. They then finished runners-up three years in a row from 1954-1956. The entire state of Texas was red hot back then and Houston would go on to assert itself as the best program in the nation.

t9. Louisiana State University: 5

The Louisiana State University Tigers golf team have 5 national championships in program history. They won it all in 1940, 1942, 1947, 1955, and most recently in 2015.

The Tigers have 16 SEC Championships in program history and produced well known golfers like Smylie Kaufman and David Toms who was the 2001 PGA winner and had 13 career PGA Tour victories.

9. University of Florida: 5

The Florida Gators claim 5 NCAA National Championships in golf. The Gators won it all in 1968, 1973, 1993, 2001, and 2023. They also claim 16 SEC Championships though the Gators have only won the SEC twice in the past 20 years so things have cooled down considerably since the early 90s when they won 4 SEC titles in 4 straight years.

t7. University of Texas: 6

t7. Harvard University: 6

Harvard University came out SWINGING early on. Harvard men won national championships in 1898 (Fall), 1899, 1901, 1903, and 1904. That accounted for 7 of the first 9 national championships in collegiate golf. Unfortunately for the Harvard golf program, they haven’t won or even finished as runner-ups since 1904. Their heater from 1898 to 1904 was fast but short lived.

6. Stanford U: 9

Stanford University produced arguably the most famous golfer of all time: Tiger Woods. The men’s team won National Championships in 1939, 1941, 1942 (co-champions), 1946, 1953, 1994, 2007, 2019. Tiger Woods won an individual natty back in 1996. The Stanford Women’s golf team also had 3 National Championships in the team’s history.

5. Arizona State: 10

For Arizona State we are taking the combined total: 8 women’s national championships and 2 men’s national championships. The women won it all in 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2009, 2017 while the men’s team were crowned champions in 1990 and 1996 (the same year Tiger won his solo title).

Jon Rahm would arguably the be the most famous modern product to come through this program which is said to have the best practice facility in all of golf.

t3. Princeton University: 12

The Princeton Tigers boast a comical number of national championships in men’s golf. They had men win individual titles in 1897 and 1909. Then the team got hot and won 12 titles in 1914, 1916, 1919, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1937, and 1940.

Given that it has been 85 years since the Princeton Tigers won a national championship in men’s golf there is really no sense in naming names of folks to come through that program. But I will say they have access to a truly incredible course in Princeton that came about as a result of Yale having an amazing course. It was an arms race for the best collegiate golf courses and everyone was a winner as a result.

t3. Oklahoma State: 12

The Oklahoma State Golf program lays claim to 12 national championships: 1963, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2006, 2018, 2025. On top of that, the Oklahoma State men’s golf program has finished runner-ups in the national championship on 17 occasions.

OK St. has won 57 conference titles and 9 Cowboys have won individual national championships throughout the years. Despite having the second-most national championships of all time, it is hard to think they aren’t the best college golf program in the nation by a mile given their sustained success over the years.

Famous golfers who came out of the Oklahoma State program include Rickie Fowler, Viktor Hovland, Bob Tway, Hunter Mahan, Scott Verplank, Bo Van Pelt, and many more.

2. University of Houston: 16

The Houston Cougars golf has been a force to be reckoned with for a long time. They claim 16 team national championships and 8 individual titles. Their 16 nattys were in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1977, 1982, 1984, and 1985.

On top of the litany of national championships, the Houston Cougars Golf program has produced some legendary figures in the game including Nick Faldo, Fuzzy Zoeller, Fred Couples, Steve Elkington, Butch Harmon, and Jim Nantz. It has been decades since Houston competed for a National Championship but they’re due, right?

1. Yale University: 21

Coming in at #1 with the most college golf national championships of all time are the Yale Bulldogs. They were absolutely DOMINANT for decades before the rest of the country caught up.

The Yale Bulldogs Men’s Golf team claims 21 national championships! Count ’em up: 1897, 1898 (Fall), 1902 (Spring), 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1936, 1943.

1943 was the last time Yale won or finished runner-up in a national championship. But for those first 45 or so years they were a force to be reckoned with. Yale also boasts the best golf course of any college in the country, a course designed by the legendary C.B. Macdonald himself.