Rich Parker - Men's Golf Coach - Dartmouth College Athletics

Photo by: Bryan LaFountaine

Rich Parker

Title:
Bill Johnson Head Coach of Men's Golf
Alma Mater:
Plymouth State ’84
Email:
Richard.S.Parker@dartmouth.edu
Phone (603):
603-646-9178
At Dartmouth:
19th Year (2005-)

The Bill Johnson
Head Coach of Men’s Golf

A gift from former golf captain John Lundgren ’73 endowed the college's head men’s golf coaching position in honor of his former coach.

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In October 2005, Rich Parker was promoted to head coach of the Dartmouth men’s golf team after serving as interim coach during the 2005 fall season. Parker is a former tour pro.

Parker’s players have earned a total of 20 All-Ivy honors during his stint — 10 on the first team and 10 more on the second team — including Peter Williamson ’12 who won three individual titles and made the first team all four years. In the 2025 season, Tyler Brand '27 matched Williamson's feat with three individual first place finishes. Three times Parker's squad has finished as high as second at the Ivy League Championship, and in 2023 the Big Green placed third.

Three players earned All-Ivy honors at the 2023 championship, led by Eli Kimche ’25 on the first team thanks to tying for fourth place. Both Mark Turner ’22 and Alex Gu ’24 received spots on the second team, placing eighth and ninth, respectively. Kimche also set the program record for lowest score in a three-round tournament with a 204 (-9) at the Columbia Autumn Invitational.

In 2022, Dartmouth finished fifth at the Ivy Championship while sinking more birdies throughout the season (339) than before or since. Liu received second-team All-Ivy honors for finishing seventh at the league championship.

While the 2020 spring was lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team finished tied for fourth at the Ivy League Championship the year prior with two golfers — Jason Liu ’21 and classmate Sam Ohno — making the all-conference second team by tying for seventh at the championship. In 2018, the Big Green posted a terrific final round with a 3-over 283 thanks to 22 birdies, vaulting past four teams to finish as the runner-up to Yale. Ian Kelsey ’18 capped his career by earning a spot on the All-Ivy League First Team for the second time by virtue of his tie for fifth in the individual standings.

The previous year, Sean Fahey earned a spot on the All-Ivy Second Team, tying for eighth, as Dartmouth placed sixth at the championship. But in 2016, Kelsey nearly led the Big Green to the conference crown as both he and the team finished second overall with Harvard squeaking out the title by just four strokes.

In both 2014 and ’15, Parker led the Big Green to a sixth-place finish at the Ivy League Championship, while the 2015 campaign included a victory at the season-opening Bucknell Invitational, followed by another win at the Cornell invitational the very next weekend.

Riding the brilliance of Williamson from 2009-12, Dartmouth finished in the top half of the conference championship all four years as he brought the Green to the brink of a title in his senior season, but the team came up just short in a playoff after the 54 holes were complete.

As interim coach, Parker led the Big Green to three runner-up finishes in five tournaments, including a best-ever second-place showing at the New England Intercollegiate Golf Association Championship.

A widely recognized golfer throughout the Upper Valley area, Parker has had notable success on several professional tours, and was the PGA player of the year in two states — New Hampshire (1999) and Vermont (1997). He qualified for the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah, and posted respectable rounds of 78-76 on the par 72, 6,996-yard layout.

He won the Greater Portland (Maine) Open in 2003, and is chair of the Greenie Invitational Benefit Golf Tournament, an event held each summer at Carter G.C. since 1999.

The 2001 Massachusetts Open champion, Parker has worked at golf courses throughout the Upper Valley area, serving as the director of golf at the Fore-U Golf Center in West Lebanon from 1999-2002. Prior to that, he was an assistant pro at Lake Sunapee C.C. in 1998 and Lake Morey C.C. in 1997. He also spent time as an assistant and teaching pro at Laconia C.C. from 1992-93.

During his colorful career, Parker has played several professional circuits, including the Hogan Tour in 1990-91 and the Nike Tour in 1994.

A member of the Plymouth State Hall of Fame, Parker earned a bachelor’s degree in 1984. He captained the golf, basketball and baseball teams.

A former member of the Lebanon School Board, Parker helped coach varsity basketball at Lebanon High School from 1986-88 and headed Lebanon’s golf program from 1986-89.

Parker lives in Meriden with his wife, Barbara and three children, Virginia, Anna and Trey.

In August of 2006, both the Dartmouth men’s and women’s golf programs received recognition from Golf Digest as being among the top 50 schools in the country that provide the best education as well as an opportunity to play golf. Golf Digest evaluated nearly 1,300 golf programs across the country and ranked them on the basis of their athletic program as well as their educational opportunity. Both the Big Green men’s and women’s programs were ranked in the top 25.

The Dartmouth women’s program was ranked 13th in the country, while the men’s program was listed at 21st.

These rankings are compiled annually by Golf Digest to give high school juniors — who are looking to excel not only in the classroom, but on the golf course as well — an idea as to which schools they should apply.