Matt Baughan has spent more than two decades as the head men's golf coach at Cornell and the head golf professional at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course. Under his direction, the Big Red tied a program record with a second-place finish at the 2017 Ivy League Championships while winning individual medalist honors twice.
Baughan helped guide Mike Graboyes '18 to a wire-to-wire individual victory, just one year after his brother Luke Graboyes '17 won in 2016. It marked the first time the Big Red has had consecutive individual winners at the event and were the first medalists since 1986. As a team, Cornell finished a program-best second for a third time, with two of those occasions coming under Baughan's direction (the other was in 2005). Mike Graboyes is Cornell's first three-time All-Ivy League honoree, and six first-teamers have come in Baughan's tenure.
As head golf pro at Cornell, Baughan is responsible for all of the day-to-day operations of the Robert Trent Jones Course, overseeing the physical education program for golf and running the varsity team.
Baughan served as the interim head professional and interim head golf coach from April 2000 until November 2000. Before that, Baughan served as the first assistant golf pro at Cornell beginning in 1997. As the assistant, he instructed physical education classes and supervised scheduled golf course personnel.
Before he arrived in Ithaca, Baughan was the assistant golf professional from 1996-97 at Persimmon Hill Golf Course in Tampa, Fla. He directed all inventory of merchandise and provided individual and group lessons. He also served as assistant golf pro at Laurel View Country Club in Hamden, Conn., in 1994. At Laurel View, Baughan was responsible for directing all pro shop sales and buying, as well as scheduling staff and the planning and execution of tournaments.
A 1993 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in business administration and marketing, Baughan was a professional tournament player from 1994 to 1997 on the Moonlight Golf Tour, winning the Pine Barons at the World Woods tournaments in April and December of 1995.
Updated May 2024
