Arnold Palmer. Neal Shipley. Scott Dunlap and many others. World-class athletes Pitt missed out on due to not having a golf team. 

Pitt did have a golf team in the past. Not only that, the founder of the team, Sam Parks Jr., won the 1935 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Parks founded the Pitt golf team in the early 1920s and is the only player in the team’s history to have won a PGA tournament, let alone a major tournament. Parks doesn’t have to be the last. 

There is no reason Pitt should not have a varsity golf team. Fans can bring up the costs of practice fees, coaching or NIL concerns. But in today’s college landscape, Pitt creating a golf team is an easy decision for athletic director Allen Greene. 

The Atlantic Coast Conference is a top destination for elite college golfers. Of the 156 men participating in the 2025 U.S. Open, 24 of them attended schools in the ACC. With 15.3% of the competition coming from Pitt’s conference, it makes Pitt’s lack of a golf team all the more obvious.

The ACC has 13 sports for male student-athletes and Pitt offers nine such sports. Pitt does not offer tennis, fencing, lacrosse or men’s golf. Of the 18 schools that comprise the ACC, three lack a men’s golf program — Pitt, Miami and Syracuse. 

Miami is a confounding omission, but a lack of quality golf and weather concerns make a Syracuse team less feasible. 

With a climate similar to Big Ten schools such as Illinois and Rutgers, Pitt can have golf practice in colder climates like these other universities do. Because fall weather is a concern, many ACC tournaments do not take place up north, regardless. So, Pitt would not need to host tournaments in harrowing conditions. 

There is also no lack of incredible golf courses in the Pittsburgh area. While Oakmont is nearly impossible as a host for practices and events for the team, the area has many great courses. Longue Vue Club, Fox Chapel Golf Club and Chartiers Country Club are all within driving distance of campus and present tough courses in excellent shape that would work for a Division 1 team. 

Even three of Pitt’s branch campuses have golf teams – Bradford, Johnstown and Greensburg — although their costs are admittedly much lower than Pitt’s. 

Pitt took advantage of the hype surrounding the U.S. Open in nearby Oakmont by releasing a clothing line that depicts Roc golfing, yet they do not have a team themselves. Pitt athletics has a perfect opportunity to put themselves at the forefront of the ACC as one of the first big moves by athletic director Allen Greene. Although the new era of revenue sharing, NIL, transferring and the House settlement all complicate things, Pitt has an opportunity to excel in a new sport.