The Houston Cougars golf program is an NCAA Division I golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 program at the University of Houston

University of Houston

The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...

. The program competes in Conference USA

Conference USA

Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...

 as a men's-only sport, and its head coach is Jonathan Dismuke.

Team members who went on to professional golf careers include Fred Couples

Fred Couples

Frederick Steven Couples is an American professional golfer who competes on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. A former World No. 1, he has won numerous events, most notably the 1992 Masters Tournament. In August 2011 he won his maiden senior major at the Senior Players Championship...

, Steve Elkington

Steve Elkington

Stephen John Elkington is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He spent over 50 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings from 1995 to 1998.-Early years and education:...

, Bruce Lietzke

Bruce Lietzke

Bruce Alan Lietzke is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level.Lietzke was born in Kansas City, Kansas...

, John Mahaffey

John Mahaffey

John Drayton Mahaffey, Jr. is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments including 10 PGA Tour events....

, Bill Rogers

Bill Rogers (golfer)

William Charles Rogers is an American professional golfer who is best known as the winner of the 1981 Open Championship....

, and Blaine McCallister

Blaine McCallister

Blaine McCallister is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour....

. Future broadcaster Jim Nantz

Jim Nantz

James William Nantz, III is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his work with CBS Sports television.-Early life:...

 was also a member of the team for a while.

The program is one of the oldest sports traditionally played at the University of Houston, as it began in 1946 along with the football program. The team is one of the most successful college programs in history, with 16 team national championships

NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships

The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships, played in late May or early June, is the top annual competition in U.S. men's collegiate golf. It is a stroke play team competition, starting in 2009 the competition changed to a stroke play/match play competition with the top 8 teams after 54 holes of...

 and eight individual national championships. This makes the team the second-most successful team of all time, only behind Yale

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

. The team also holds 19 conference championships, and 44 All-Americans.

External links

• Houston Cougars Men's Golf