SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – BYU men’s golf head coach Bruce Brockbank will be inducted into the Utah Golf Hall of Fame on Oct. 29.
Brockbank will be admitted into the Hall of Fame alongside six other members of the Class of 2024, which also includes Doug Bybee, Garey Chadwick, Randy Dodson, Sherm Hatfield, Eric Hogg and Guy Yocom. These additions will increase the current membership to 55 people, which includes former BYU golfers Johnny Miller, Mike Reid, Mike Weir, Jimmy Blair and Steve Schneiter, as well as Karl Tucker, who preceded Brockbank as the BYU head coach.
Utah Golf Hall of Fame Story
Brockbank grew up around Riverside Country Club in the 1970s and early ‘80s, modeling the swing and demeanor of BYU golfers such as Utah Golf Hall of Fame member Mike Reid. And then he was inspired by future Cougar teammate Steve Schneiter’s 1982 State Amateur victory, driving him to win two titles of his own. Fittingly, Schneiter is a member of the Utah Golf Hall of Fame class that preceded Brockbank.
The late Bruce Brockbank Sr. loved having BYU golfers visit the family’s home, creating good influences for his three sons and daughter, Stephanie, a two-time Women’s State Amateur champion. Counting those childhood days, Bruce Jr. has been associated with practically every BYU golfer of the past 50 years.
Brockbank’s playing credentials alone would have merited Utah Golf Hall of Fame consideration. He led Timpview High School to three state championships and, just before turning professional, won consecutive State Amateur titles. He compiled a 19-4 record in State Am match play, while twice finishing second. In 1987, the Utah Section PGA named him the Wesley Ruff Golf Citizen of the Year, when he won the State Am after losing in the previous year’s final match (in 2023, Simon Kwon, now a BYU golfer, became the first player since Brockbank to do so).
The State Am had become so important that “it was hard for me to turn pro,” Brockbank said. “That’s how much it meant to me.”
A victory in the prestigious Western Intercollegiate in California, as he outdueled future PGA Tour star Steve Stricker, highlighted his BYU career.
Brockbank was a BYU assistant coach when Masters champion Mike Weir played for the Cougars. As head coach, his first recruit was Matt Thurmond, now Arizona State’s highly successful golf coach. Thurmond described Brockbank as “universally liked and admired” in the profession, noting that his own “incredible college experience” led him into coaching.
Brockbank also developed PGA Tour players such as Brad Sutterfield, Daniel Summerhays, Zac Blair, Patrick Fishburn and Peter Kuest. Clay Ogden won the U.S. Amateur Public Links title as a BYU golfer.
Brockbank is a Utah Section PGA member, having worked as an assistant to Jack Lomento at Gladstan Golf Course in Payson while also assisting Tucker. He succeeded Tucker in 1992, launching a tenure that would take him into the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame.
“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.”
More information on this year’s class of inductees can be found on the Utah PGA website.