Former PGA Tour member and Web.com winner Eric Booker is in his fourth season as the FGCU men's golf coach in 2018-19.
In 2017-18, Booker helped guide the Eagles to two wins – the first time since the 2013-14 season that FGCU has won multiple tournaments in the same year. The first came during the Eagles’ home spring event at the Randy Grimes Memorial Shootout with a two-round 602 total. The second occurred a couple weeks later as FGCU finished tied with Bethune-Cookman at the Legacy Intercollegiate following rounds of 293-287-296: 876 (+12) before falling in a one-hole playoff.
Booker coached another ASUN All-Freshman Team representative in Cole Castro – the second-straight year he has recruited and coached a member of the team. Castro finished the year with a stroke average of 75.43 to rank 3rd on the team and 5th among all ASUN first-year players, and claimed medalist honors out of 90 competitors at the Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate with rounds of 70-73-67: 210 (-6). That performance landed Castro with ASUN Golfer of the Week honors on Mar. 8.
As a team, FGCU put together two of the best rounds in program history during the 2017-18 season. The first came in the final round of the Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate with a 277 (tied for the 7th-best in program history) and the second occurred a few weeks after, again in the final round, with a 279 (tied for the 12th-best) at the FAU Slomin Autism Invitational. It marked just the 5th time in program history that a team has put together two sub-280 rounds in the same season.
FGCU had a scoring average of 296.06 and produced five par-or-better rounds during the season – tied for the 7th-most in single-season program history. The Eagles rolled in 356 birdies (9th-most in single-season program history) and produced the best par-3 scoring average since 2011-12 with a 3.23.
In 2016-17, FGCU continued to improve under Booker’s tutelage, highlighted by a head-to-head victory over FAU in October. In the rain-shortened, one-round event, FGCU posted an incredible round of 273 to emerge victorious. The 273 total was tied for the 3rd-lowest round in program history (lowest: 267), and the 15-under score was the 2nd-lowest in program history relative to par (lowest: -16).
Booker coached two different ASUN Golfer of the Week selections in Keaton Jones (Sept. 29) and Casper Howells (Mar. 9) during the season, in addition to ASUN All-Freshman Team member Doug Smith – the first such selection for FGCU since 2013. Additionally, Booker had two individuals claim medalist honors, and three in total when factoring in Grant Renegar’s triumph in the FAU Dual along with his win at the East Carolina Intercollegiate in early April. Howells also picked up a medalist title at the Cape Fear National Intercollegiate in mid March. Combined with Renegar, it marked the first time since the 2011-12 season that FGCU had two different medalists in the same year.
Statistically, FGCU finished the 2016-17 season with a 296.06 scoring average – the 8th-best in single-season program history and lowest since 2011-12. The Eagles also secured top-10 single-season program records in birdies (5th, 398), par-4 scoring (6th, 4.22) and par-or-better rounds (T-9th, four). Additionally, Booker guided FGCU to either 2nd- or 3rd-place finishes in four-straight tournaments, marking the first time since the 2011-12 season that the Eagles secured four-straight top-3 showings – and that squad incredibly won four-straight tournaments.
His first full season in 2015-16 ended with Austin Schultz as the runner-up at the ASUN Championship with rounds of 75-69-69, one shot shy of medalist honors. Schultz went on to be named to the ASUN Second Team, the league's Scholar-Athlete of the Year (for men's golf) and earned a spot on the All-Academic Team, where he was also joined by classmate Jake Sherwin.
The Eagles finished in the top 5 on five occasions in their eight regular-season tournaments – each which featured double-figure teams in the field.
Booker joined the Eagles after the team had already commenced its 2014-15 season. After not posting a top-5 finish in the first three tournaments of the year (two in which Booker had not yet been hired), FGCU posted four top-5 finishes over the final six tournaments.
The improvement throughout the year culminated with Sherwin being named to the ASUN Second Team. Sherwin went on to represent FGCU in the NCAA Tournament where he earned an at-large selection and competed in the Lubbock Regional. It marked the third time in only four years of Division-I postseason eligibility that FGCU had a team member compete in the NCAA Tournament.
A member of the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour (formerly the Nationwide Series) for portions of 17 years from 1990-2007, Booker finished in the top-5 three times in tournaments on the PGA Tour and also played in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. Booker played in 62 career events on the PGA Tour, with his best finish being a tie for 3rd at the 1999 Honda Classic.
Booker won the 1997 Nike Greater Austin Open and 1998 Nike Lehigh Valley on the Web.com Tour as over the course of his career he recorded 14 top-10 finishes. In 1998 he ranked fourth on the money list as he posted his best single season with nine top-10 showings in 23 events.
Booker has served as the Vice President for Player Relations and Tournament Operations as part of the Saturday Series Pro-Am, an official PGA Tour event, since 2002. In that role, Booker is responsible for recruiting and managing PGA Tour, Champions Tour and Web.com professionals for The Saturday Series. The Saturday Series offers amateur golfers the opportunity to play with two professionals from the field of that week’s Tour event who may have missed the cut. Booker has hired more than 400 different PGA Tour professionals to fill those “Open Saturday Pro-Am” spots.
Booker served as a teaching professional prior to joining the PGA and Web.com tours in 1996. He first was an assistant golf professional at Birmingham Country Club in Michigan from 1991-92, where he conducted clinics in addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of the club. The next year he served as a teaching instructor at Carl’s Golfland – one of the largest retail golf driving ranges in the country – as he taught more than 1,300 lessons in a five-month period. Then from 1994-95 he was the head golf instructor for 300 members at Warwick Hill Country Club in Grand Blanc, Mich.
A lifetime member of the PGA of America, Booker – who resides in Naples and is also a licensed real estate agent – graduated with his degree in Business Administration from Mississippi State University in 1986.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT ERIC
“Eric is a really good player who is in touch with the PGA Tour and what it takes for guys to get to that point. He’s got a great background and knowledge of the game to go along with a terrific personality. He’ll be great for the FGCU program and will surely build the program, especially based on the location and notoriety FGCU has now.”
-- Fred Funk, 8-Time PGA Tour Winner
“Eric is a great man who loves golf, and he’ll do a wonderful job at FGCU. He’s a people person, and that’s what mom and dad want to see in the recruiting process – someone who is going to take care of their son, and Eric certainly will do that. It’s a great hire for FGCU.”
-- Keith Fergus, 3-Time PGA Tour Winner & Former Houston University Head Golf Coach
“To have someone like Eric who has played the game and a touring pro is a huge advantage for FGCU. Not many programs in the nation have someone with the credentials of Eric, and he’ll be a great asset for all of the guys.”
-- Mark Lye, 18-Year PGA Tour Veteran; 41 Top-10 Finishes
