BYU men’s golf coach Bruce Brockbank became the 55th member to be inducted into the Utah Golf Hall of Fame on Oct. 29.
After this season, Brockbank will have coached BYU golf for 33 years. This surpasses former legendary coach Karl Tucker’s mark of 31 seasons with whom he assisted immediately after his playing days at BYU from 1988-1992.
Brockbank’s coaching career is flooded with accolades. He has produced 58 all-conference players, 25 All-Americans, 12 PGA Tour players including current PGA player Zac Blair and 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir, and 10 NCAA championship appearances. He is a seven-time conference champion and seven-time conference coach of the year. He last won each of those in 2023. On Dec. 7, 2015, his coaching tenure to that point took him into the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame.
His first recruit, and now successful ASU golf coach Matt Thurmond, spoke highly of Brockbank. He regards him as “universally liked and admired” and he got into coaching because of his “incredible college experience.”
Brockbank’s late father, Bruce Brockbank Sr., who was close to Tucker, loved having BYU golfers around his children, including Bruce Jr., to be an influence for them. They often played at Riverside Country Club in Provo, where they grew up playing and learning from those golfers. This paved the way for Bruce Jr. to be associated with numerous legendary BYU golfers for roughly 50 years.
One of the more notable golfers Brockbank is associated with is two-time PGA Tour and two-time Champions Tour winner Mike “Radar” Reid. Reid’s nickname is due to his effective accuracy off the tee. Rightfully so, Brockbank modeled the demeanor of his swing after him.
Another golfer was Steve Schneiter, who ended up becoming his teammate. His 1982 State Amateur victory inspired the young Brockbank greatly. He gained two titles of his own in the 1987 and 1988 State Amateurs because of it.
“Everything that Bruce does, he does the right way,” said BYU Director of Golf Todd Miller, who has played and coached in the program for 23 years. “It’s been good for me to be mentored by him, to watch him, to get a little bit of what he has, because I’m a different person.”
Now in two Hall of Fame classes associated with golf, Brockbank will look to continue to build up his already outstanding resume and coach the Cougars to the NCAA championships next spring.