Walton Joins Dailey on Women's Golf Staff
7/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
July 22, 2008
The 2008 National Golf Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year, Robin Walton, has joined the Wake Forest women's golf staff as an assistant coach after an eight-year stint at the University of Florida.
Walton, a University of Washington graduate, played for 21 years on the LPGA tour and served on the LPGA Board of Directors from 1989-1991. She earned close to $1 million on tour and posted a career-best second-place finish at the 1987 GNA/Glendale Federal Classic.
"She brings a huge amount of playing experience and she also has great teaching experience," Wake Forest head coach Dianne Dailey said. "She knows about college athletics. The teams she was a part of at Florida were very successful."
Walton and Dailey have known each other since the late 70s when the two competed in the LPGA qualifying school and entered the LPGA tour together in 1979.
At Florida, Walton contributed to a very successful program as the Lady Gators recorded six top 10 finishes in the NCAA Regionals and five top 10 finishes in the NCAA Championships over Walton's eight years as an assistant coach. The Lady Gators won the 2008 NCAA East Regional in Athens, Ga.
Walton joined the Florida staff after her last season on the LPGA Tour in 2000.
As an amateur, Walton won the 1973 Oregon Junior title and the 1977 Pacific Northwest Amateur. Walton was also named to the All-America team her senior year at Washington.
On the LPGA Tour, Walton served on the Executive Committee of the LPGA in 1986 and 1987 and oversaw field staff operations and the LPGA Junior Golf Clinic Program.
"Coach Walton's coaching, teaching and competitive experience will help our kids so much," Dailey said. "She will build on the things we are doing at Wake Forest but she has a lot of new ideas too. She brings new ideas, fresh perspective."
"It's almost like getting another head coach in here. Our goal is to win a national championship and she can help us do that. She's a great recruiter. She slides right into the job. She knows exactly what she needs to do."
Walton's combination of experience and impressive credentials coupled with her long-time friendship with Coach Dailey made the Boise, Idaho-native the top candidate to fill the assistant coach vacancy.
"She was the first person I really wanted to talk to about the job," Dailey said. "I think she's the number one assistant coach in the country."
The 2008-09 Wake Forest women's golf schedule was released last week. The Deacs open play Sept. 7-8 at the 2008 NCAA Fall Preview in Owings Mills, Md.
-WakeForestSports.com-