Self-taught sophomore excels
Taylor Coffman began playing golf when he was eight years old - for no reason at all. Nobody in his family played, and he had spent most of childhood mimicking everything his older brother did, which mostly consisted of little league baseball and basketball. One day, however, he found his way onto a golf course – sort of.
“It was a little pitch-and-putt golf course that was about 75 yards long,” Coffman said. “I started hitting balls, and then I would go find them and hit them again and again.”
Coffman was self-taught until he reached high school, and he gained experience by playing in junior golf tournaments all around the San Diego area.
He didn’t have an actual swing coach until he reached college.
“I was doing everything I wanted up until that point and there was no pressure,” Coffman said.
Coffman’s natural ability has translated into success at Nevada.
Coming in to college, Coffman wanted to be Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and put himself into position to be an academic All-American when he became eligible.
He accomplished both.
Coffman was not only named Freshman of the Year, but was also named WAC Player of the Year with his fifth-place individual showing, which led the Wolf Pack to a WAC Championship title last spring.
He finished his freshman year with a 3.75 grade point average, meaning he has a chance at academic All-American when he becomes eligible after his third semester.
And, because he was named Freshman of the Year, he was selected to be a part of the Friendship Cup team, which takes 12 of the top collegiate golfers in the U.S. to compete against the Chinese in a four-day tournament in Beijing.
The trip was cancelled, but Coffman will still be eligible to go if it is rescheduled.
Even with all he accomplished in his first year at Nevada, Coffman wants to go further.
“I would like to make last year one of my worst years,” Coffman said. “That sounds crazy, but I just want to keep going up.”
Coffman wants to earn WAC Player of the Year honors again.
Coffman is also determined to place higher at the WAC Championships this year and he fully expects another championship under his belt, regardless of the rough start the team has had this season.
The team played its first three tournaments, including its only home tournament of the fall season, without head coach Rich Merritt due to an NCAA recruiting violation that occurred earlier in the year.
Coffman’s highest finish of the season was a 15th-place tie at the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate in September.
In addition, Nevada’s highest team placing so far this season has been a sixth-place tie in its season opening tournament, the St. Mary’s College Invitational.
“It’s been difficult because we’ve had a different coach traveling with us every time, and even though we have great chemistry as a team, it was not the same without coach,” Coffman said.
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