It was just over three months ago that Wake Forest defeated USC to capture its first women’s national title at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale.
Now, it’s time to tee it up for a new season of college golf.
With that, the Women’s Golf Coaches Association has announced the 2023-24 Preseason Golfweek/Mizuno WGCA coaches polls.
This year, it’s Stanford that will start in the No. 1 spot with Wake Forest not far behind. Check out the full lists of all the preseason coaches polls for Div. I, Div. II, Div. III and NAIA.
These polls will be updated roughly once per month during the season.
Div. I
In Div. I, Stanford, the 2022 national champion, opens the season at No. 1. The Cardinal received 11 first-place votes. Defending champ Wake Forest garnered six votes and is No. 2. Texas A&M is No. 3, LSU is No. 4 and USC rounds out the top five.
| Rank | University (first-place votes) | Points |
| 1 | Stanford (11) | 500 |
| 2 | Wake Forest (6) | 483 |
| 3 | Texas A&M | 450 |
| 4 | LSU(3) | 428 |
| 5 | USC (1) | 392 |
| 6 | Mississippi State | 385 |
| 7 | South Carolina | 375 |
| 8 | Texas | 355 |
| 9 | Auburn | 314 |
| 10 | Florida State | 312 |
| 11 | Oregon | 292 |
| 12 | Baylor | 263 |
| 13 | San Jose State | 257 |
| 14 | Arizona State | 250 |
| 15 | Pepperdine | 236 |
| 16 | Mississippi | 195 |
| 17 | Vanderbilt | 169 |
| 18 | Northwestern | 166 |
| 19 | Oklahoma State | 124 |
| 20 | SMU | 118 |
| T21 | Iowa State | 98 |
| T21 | Georgia | 98 |
| 23 | Virginia | 92 |
| 24 | Florida | 89 |
| 25 | Clemson | 72 |
| Others receiving votes: Duke (69); Central Florida (66); Ohio State (55); Arizona (40); UCLA (35); Cal(12); Kentucky (8); Texas Tech (7); Alabama (7); Arkansas (5); Michigan State (3); New Mexico (3); Kent State (1); North Carolina (1) | ||
Div. II
Defending NCAA Div. II champion Dallas Baptist is No. 1 after receiving all but one first-place vote. Lynn is No. 2 with last year’s runner-up Nova Southeastern No. 3. West Texas A&M received a first-place vote and is No. 4 with Findlay starting the new season at No. 5.
| Rank | University (First-place votes) | Points |
| 1 | Dallas Baptist (15) | 399 |
| 2 | Lynn | 372 |
| 3 | Nova Southeastern | 351 |
| 4 | West Texas A&M (1) | 344 |
| 5 | Findlay | 342 |
| 6 | Henderson State | 319 |
| 7 | Anderson | 309 |
| 8 | Indianapolis | 290 |
| 9 | Tampa | 264 |
| 10 | California State San Marcos | 247 |
| 11 | Lee | 215 |
| 12 | Rollins College | 195 |
| 13 | Limestone | 187 |
| 14 | California State East Bay | 178 |
| 15 | Barry | 169 |
| 16 | Wingate | 146 |
| 17 | Grand Valley State | 112 |
| 18 | Flagler College | 103 |
| 19 | Oklahoma Christian | 84 |
| 20 | Lander | 72 |
| 21 | Point Loma Nazarene | 65 |
| 22 | Florida Southern College | 63 |
| 23 | West Florida | 62 |
| 24 | Missouri-St. Louis | 61 |
| 25 | Central Missouri | 59 |
| Others receiving votes: Texas at Tyler (48); St. Mary’s (Texas) (30); Nebraska at Kearney (21); Augustana (19); Saint Leo (18); Eckerd College (17); Wayne State (15); Tiffin (14); North Georgia (4); California State Monterey Bay (2); Carson-Newman (1); Midwestern State (1); Texas A&M International (1); Central Oklahoma (1) | ||
Div. III
In Div. III, defending national champion George Fox, based in Newberg, Oregon, claimed the top spot after receiving all but two first-place votes. NCAA runner-up Washington University in St. Louis is No. 2. Emory received one vote to take the No. 3 spot. Redlands is No. 4 and Pomona Pitzer is No. 5.
| Rank | University (First-place votes) | Points |
| 1 | George Fox (11) | 321 |
| 2 | Washington University in St. Louis | 292 |
| 3 | Emory (1) | 291 |
| 4 | Redlands | 272 |
| 5 | Pomona-Pitzer | 258 |
| 6 | Claremont-Mudd-Scripps | 257 |
| 7 | Carnegie Mellon (1) | 246 |
| 8 | St. Catherine | 218 |
| 9 | Washington and Lee | 212 |
| 10 | Methodist | 203 |
| 11 | Williams College | 191 |
| 12 | Amherst College | 190 |
| 13 | Centre College | 185 |
| 14 | Illinois Wesleyan | 169 |
| 15 | Texas at Dallas | 154 |
| 16 | New York | 123 |
| 17 | Denison | 99 |
| 18 | Sewanee: The University of the South | 80 |
| 19 | Trinity (Texas) | 74 |
| 20 | Rhodes College | 67 |
| 21 | Carleton College | 56 |
| 22 | Mary Hardin-Baylor | 47 |
| 23 | Bethel | 45 |
| 24 | Wisconsin, Whitewater | 31 |
| 25 | Middlebury College | 30 |
| Others receiving votes: California Lutheran (27); Adrian College (11); Lynchburg (11); Gustavus Adolphus College (9); York College of Pennsylvania (9); Hamilton College (8); Oglethorpe (7); California Santa Cruz (6); Christopher Newport (5); Otterbein (5); Randolph-Macon College (5); Grinnell College (4); Wellesley College (4); Bowdoin College (2); Rose Hulman Institute of Technology (1) | ||
NAIA
In NAIA, last year’s NCAA runner-up Keiser is No. 1 after receiving one first-place vote. Dalton State College is No. 2 with two votes, while Oklahoma City rounds out the top-three.
| Rank | University (First-place votes) | Points |
| 1 | Keiser (1) | 71 |
| 2 | Dalton State College (2) | 69 |
| 3 | Oklahoma City | 57 |
| 4 | British Columbia (5) | 50 |
| 5 | SCAD Savannah | 47 |
| 6 | William Carey | 45 |
| 7 | Southeastern | 36 |
| 8 | University of the Cumberlands | 23 |
| 9 | Indiana Wesleyan | 19 |
| 10 | Milligan | 12 |
| Others receiving votes: Taylor (6); Cumberland (3); Loyola New Orleans (1); Ottawa – Arizona (1) | ||
About the Women’s Golf Coaches Association
The Women’s Golf Coaches Association, founded in 1983, is a non-profit organization representing women’s collegiate golf coaches. The WGCA was formed to encourage the playing of college golf for women in correlation with a general objective of education and in accordance with the highest tradition of intercollegiate competition. Today, the WGCA represents over 700 coaches throughout the U.S. and is dedicated to educating, promoting and recognizing both its members and the student-athletes they represent.
