Alex Hamilton enters his fourth season at the helm of the men's golf program at Wofford. Hamilton was hired as head coach of the men’s golf program on May 10, 2017. Hamilton spent the previous season as head coach at South Alabama. He replaced Vic Lipscomb, who retired after 13 seasons as the head coach.
In his third season, which was cut short due to the CoVID-19 Pandemic, Hamilton coached his team to five top-10 finishes, including a second-place finish at the Musgrove Mill Match Play. Hamilton saw golfers Matt Copeland and Henry Augenstein tie for first at the USC Upstate Carolina 1-Day Invitational, while senior Walker Simas finished T-5th after shooting a 7-under-par 206 in the Elon Phoenix Invitational.
In the spring, the Terriers posted three top-10 finishes to start the season, including a sixth-place finish at the Wexford Intercollegiate where Simas and Copelan tied for 11th. Junior Ryan Marter led the team in stroke average (73.33) with Simas (73.43) and Copeland (73.56) just behind him. Marter posted top-20 finishes in all three spring tournaments. All-SoCon Awards were not given due to the pandemic.
For the second straight year, Wofford was named a GCAA All-Academic Team (3.0 GPA or better), with Augenstein, Copeland and Marter each garnering GCAA All-America Scholar Team Status, All-Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll and the 2019-20 SoCon Commissioner's Medal (3.8 GPA or higher).
In his second year at Wofford, Hamilton guided the Terriers to six top 10 finishes, including second place at the Athens Southern Invitational, where the Terriers were second only to nationally-ranked South Carolina, edging out the host and nationally-ranked Georgia Bulldogs by three strokes. Wofford had three individuals place fourth or better throughout the 2018-19 season, including All-Southern Conference member Walker Simas and All-SoCon Freshman Matthew Copeland and Walker Jones.
In his first year at Wofford in 2017-18, Hamilton helped the Terriers to three top 10 finishes, including a second place finish in the Wofford Invitational. The second place finish was Wofford's best since 2016 and tied for the best finish by a Wofford team in the tournament as the Terriers have finished as the runner-up five times in the 30 year history of the tournament. Five Terriers either set or tied new career bests in the event. Nick Willis was selected to the SoCon All-Freshman team for his performance on the season.
Prior to South Alabama, Hamilton spent three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of South Carolina. He helped the Gamecocks to three straight NCAA Championship appearances.
In 2016-17, he led the Jaguars to a sixth place finish at the Sun Belt Conference Championships. On the season, South Alabama had five top-five performances while placing among the top 10 in all but the opening event of the year. Freshman Rasmus Karlsson earned second team All-Sun Belt honors.
“We are pleased to introduce Alex Hamilton as head coach of the men’s golf team,” said Richard Johnson, Director of Athletics. “During our search, one of the names that kept coming up was Alex’s. He has strong connections in the South Carolina golf community and has all the attributes we were looking for in a leader for this program. We look forward to working with Coach Hamilton.”
“I am extremely excited for the opportunity to coach the men’s golf team at Wofford,” said Hamilton. “The Terriers have a strong tradition and the chance to lead such a great program is something that I am looking forward to. Wofford has a track history of producing professional players such as William McGirt and the recruiting base in the Carolinas is one of the best in the country.”
During his three seasons as an assistant on the Gamecock staff, he helped coach three individuals who earned All-America accolades and a trio of all-Southeastern Conference selections as South Carolina won 12 tournaments with nine players picking up medalist honors. The program finished among the top five at an NCAA Regional each of those seasons to advance to the national championship, where they would move on to the final day of stroke play and end up among the top 15 on each occasion. In 2016, the Gamecocks advanced to match play for the first time since the format was adopted in 2009.
South Carolina had a 286.58 scoring average in 2015-16 and placed among the top five nine times, which both stand second in the program’s record book. Carolina won four tournaments on the season — including three events in the spring — before going on to record a second-place finish at the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional. Matt NeSmith was a first-team All-America selection, also receiving PING All-Southeast Region and first-team All-conference recognition. Keenan Huskey was also named All-region, while the team would end up 10th in the final Golfweek/Sagarin rankings.
South Carolina's 2014-15 squad had 10 top-five finishes, surpassing the mark recorded in Hamilton’s first year on the staff. That included earning five tournament titles as Carolina would go on to end the campaign ranked sixth in the final Golfweek/Sagarin ratings. NeSmith became just the second Gamecock to claim medalist honors at the SEC Championship, winning by a six-stroke margin with a school-record 14-under-par 196 total, as both he and Will Starke were chosen first-team all-league while adding PING all-Southeast Region recognition; the duo were named All-Americans by both Golfweek and PING.
During his first season on the staff, Hamilton helped the Gamecocks earn three tournament championships and tie a then school record with nine top-five performances. Will Murphy earned All-America honors after tying for 15th place at the tournament and NeSmith collecting first-team all-region and second-team All-SEC accolades.
His efforts in recruiting helped the Gamecocks secure commitments from eight top-100 players, while off the course USC had 29 individuals named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll and eight recognized as Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
In addition to coaching duties both in competition and at practice, Hamilton was responsible for assisting with recruiting, helped oversee team workouts, handled NCAA compliance paperwork, and aided with oversight of the program’s budget. He also served as tournament director for the Camden Collegiate Invitational.
Hamilton joined the coaching ranks as an assistant at Mercer during the spring 2013 semester, where helped the program have two individuals earn an invitation to an NCAA Regional for the first time in school history.
He received his degree in economics and real estate from South Carolina in 2005 after earning four letters as a member of the golf team. In addition to collecting second-team All-SEC honors as a junior, he was twice selected a GCAA All-America Scholar-Athlete and made the SEC Academic Honor Roll three times. The Gamecocks earned an invitation to an NCAA Regional all four of his years, including advancing to the NCAA Championship when he was a sophomore.
Upon graduation, Hamilton competed on several professional tours including playing in a pair of PGA Tour events during the 2010 season. In six-and-a-half years, he participated in more than 100 tournaments, picking up 31 top-10 finishes highlighted by a pair of victories on the eGolf Tour.
Hamilton, a native of Aiken, S.C., and his wife Kristin, have three daughters, Hope, Sadie and Jamie. His father, Jim, was a two-year captain and four-year letter-winner for the Gamecock golf program as well.
