Bob Heintz - Head Coach - Men's Golf Coaches

Head Coach Bob Heintz - 2025-26 Duke Men's Golf

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Bob Heintz

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
robert.heintz@duke.edu
Phone:
(919) 681-2578

Bob Heintz joined the Duke men’s golf program as assistant coach on Feb. 10, 2017, and was named the program's eighth all-time head coach on June 26, 2025.

In his first season as head coach, Heintz guided Duke to one of the strongest campaigns in program history. The Blue Devils registered seven top-five finishes during the 2025-26 season, including a victory at the Rod Myers Invitational and four runner-up performances, before advancing through NCAA Regional competition and finishing 13th at the NCAA Championship, the program's best national finish since 2018.

Duke established a program record with 27 under-par rounds during Heintz's debut season and posted a 283.86 team stroke average, the second-best single-season mark in school history. The Blue Devils also produced record-setting performances in both stages of NCAA postseason competition.

At the NCAA Regional in Marana, Arizona, Duke finished 24-under-par at 840, establishing a program NCAA Regional scoring record in relation to par and securing its best regional finish since 2019. Bryan Kim tied for sixth individually at 11-under-par 205, highlighted by a final-round 7-under 65, to set Duke NCAA Regional records for both 54-hole score in relation to par and single-round score.

Duke advanced to the fourth and final round of stroke play at the NCAA Championship in Carlsbad, California, finishing 13th nationally. The Blue Devils established a program NCAA Championship record with a 72-hole score of 4-over-par 1,156, bettering the previous mark of 8-over 1,160 set in 2018.

Three Blue Devils - Ethan Evans, William Love and Kim - earned All-ACC honors in 2025-26, marking just the second time in program history that three Duke golfers received All-ACC recognition in the same season. The trio also became the first in program history to each record a season stroke average below 71.1.

Evans tied for 10th at the NCAA Championship with a 7-under 281, Duke's best individual finish at the national championship since 2006, and tied for first in stroke play at the ACC Championship with an 8-under 208, the program's best individual conference championship finish since 2005. He concluded the season No. 20 in the PGA TOUR University Ranking, earning membership on PGA TOUR Americas for the remainder of the 2026 season.

Kim collected two individual victories and established Duke single-season records with 28 rounds of par or better, 24 under-par rounds and 18 rounds in the 60s. His 70.41 stroke average was the second best in program history. Love posted a 71.03 stroke average, the sixth-best single-season mark at Duke, and earned co-medalist honors at the Seahawk Intercollegiate.

With Heintz on the coaching staff, Duke men’s golf has claimed 16 team titles, including the 2017 ACC Championship. In postseason play, Duke has earned a berth to an NCAA regional in every possible season and has advanced to the NCAA Championship five times as a team, including an appearance in the 2018 match-play semifinals. Evans and Kim also represented Duke at the 2024 and 2025 NCAA Championships, respectively, as individuals, with Heintz serving as the on-course coach.

In nine seasons with Heintz on the coaching staff, the Blue Devils have produced nine of the top team season scoring averages in program history, including the program-record 282.69 established in 2022-23. Duke has also posted a program-low 54-hole score of 41-under-par 823 twice during Heintz's tenure.

Five separate Blue Devils have earned All-America recognition with Heintz on the coaching staff. Kim was named a Golfweek Third Team All-American following the 2025-26 season. Evan Katz and Adrien Pendaries were Second Team PING All-America selections in 2020. Chandler Eaton received honorable mention All-America recognition from both PING and Golfweek in 2018 before being named Second Team All-America by Golfweek and Third Team All-America by PING in 2019. Alex Smalley was a Second Team All-America selection by both PING and Golfweek in 2018 and 2019.

Eaton was an Academic All-America selection by CSC in 2020, and the Blue Devils have logged a total of 36 GCAA All-America Scholars since Heintz arrived in Durham in 2017. Duke has had at least three Academic All-ACC honorees in every possible season that Heintz has been a member of the coaching staff, after selections were not made in 2020 due to COVID-19.

A six-time full PGA TOUR card member, Heintz previously served as head coach of the University of Pennsylvania men’s golf program from September 2012 until February 2017. He was named the inaugural Ivy League Coach of the Year in 2015 after leading the Quakers to the team title at the Ivy League Championship. While at Penn, he also served as an instructor at Applecross Country Club, providing instruction in individual, class and camp settings covering putting, short game, wedge play, course management and full-swing analysis.

With Heintz as head coach, Penn secured five team titles and saw four individuals claim medalist honors. The Quakers also logged six First Team All-Ivy selections, and in 2015, Austin Powell became the first Penn player to earn Ivy League Player of the Year honors.

Heintz highlighted his professional playing career with six full seasons on the PGA TOUR, headlined by a second-place finish at the Reno-Tahoe Open in 2010. Combined with six top-10 and 15 top-25 finishes, Heintz secured career earnings of more than $2.2 million as a PGA TOUR member. His best finish in the FedExCup came during the 2007 campaign, when he made 27 PGA TOUR starts and finished inside the top 10 in back-to-back weeks with ties for fifth at both the U.S. Bank Championship and Canadian Open.

He also made nearly 200 starts on what is now known as the Korn Ferry Tour, where he tallied two victories, two runner-up finishes, seven top-five finishes, 14 top-10s and 42 top-25s, earning nearly $630,000. Both victories came during the 1999 season, when he claimed the title at the NIKE Shreveport Open and closed the season with a playoff victory at the NIKE Tour Championship.

Heintz was a consistent leader in putting during his professional career, including leading the PGA TOUR in 2002 in putts per round (27.57) and one-putt percentage (46.8 percent), while also posting a putting average of 1.682 that stood as the single-season PGA TOUR record until the 2021-22 season. During the 2003 and 2004 Korn Ferry Tour seasons, Heintz ranked first in putts per round at 27.67 and 28.30, respectively. In 2009, he led the PGA TOUR in three-putt avoidance (1.6 percent) and finished 13th in strokes gained putting (.601).

As a professional, Heintz played in more than 300 events, earning nearly $3 million and recording 20 top-10 finishes. In 2000, he penned “Bob Heintz’ PGA Tour Rookie Diary” for SportsIllustrated.com.

Heintz’s first foray into the coaching ranks was a three-year stint as a volunteer assistant golf coach at the University of South Florida from 1992-94. During that time, he supervised team practices with a focus on short-game training and played alongside the team to assess skills and critique course management.

As a collegiate golfer, Heintz played four seasons at Yale University, where he graduated in 1992 with a degree in economics. He is the only player in Ivy League history to win three consecutive Ivy League individual titles, accomplishing the feat from 1990-92, including a 13-shot victory in the final leg of the three-peat. He was a three-time All-Ivy selection, one of just 27 players in Ivy League history to do so, and as a senior, Heintz served as team captain before being named an Academic All-America selection following the season.

Heintz and his wife, Nancy, have a daughter, Eryn, and three sons, PJ, Dan and Brody.

(updated 9/1/26)

"Perfect Fit" - GoDuke The Magazine (Sept. 2025)