A Hole-in-One for Carolina Golf: $5.5 Million Gift Elevates Programs and Honors Bobby Galloway
By Katie Sweet
April 9, 2025
The Rams Club is excited to announce a $5.5 million gift to endow the Women’s Golf head coach position and to support an indoor putting practice area in the future Carolina Golf team building. The transformative gift from an anonymous donor honors the late Bobby Galloway, a Carolina Men’s Golf great, former professional golfer, and longtime friend of the Tar Heel golf programs.
The endowed head coach position is just the second of its kind at Carolina. The new team building was recently approved for construction and is scheduled to break ground in fall 2025.
“When I first heard about the gift, I was shocked in the best way possible,” said Bobby Galloway Women’s Golf Head Coach Aimee Neff. “I am incredibly touched to know the support we are receiving, especially in a time when there is so much instability in college sports. It means the world to us. I’m so grateful.”
Neff, in her fourth season as head coach at UNC, makes gratitude a standard part of every practice. She begins each session with a simple – and unconventional – exercise. Instead of a golf stroke, Neff asks each student-athlete for a pen stroke: write three things you are grateful for. On a Friday afternoon, just as the season was kicking off, every team member had the same answer – they were most thankful for the recent gift from a very generous and strategic supporter.
“A lot of what we are doing to develop these student-athletes requires significant resources,” said Coach Neff. “Equipment, strength and conditioning improvements, training trips, and ever-evolving technology are things we need to build championship programs, and they simply can’t be done without support from donors. The commitment these donors made was for the long-term.”
Bobby Galloway, class of 1959.
Endowing a head coach position is a strategic way to provide lasting benefits to directly enhance a program’s success. It guarantees long-term funding and ensures financial stability. The family behind the generous donation could not think of a better way to honor their loved one than through sustainable support of Carolina Golf.
A member of the family explained, “Bobby loved sharing his passion for golf with everyone, was a patient teacher, and he loved following the competitive developments of the Women’s Golf program. A lifelong Tar Heel, he excelled at the sport and earned many titles over the years. We are so impressed by the leadership of the golf team and women playing for UNC; it is an exciting time and honoring Bobby felt like the perfect way to support this important program. He would be so excited to see the care and commitment of everyone involved!”
Bobby excelled athletically and academically at UNC and after. He was the fifth inductee into the Order of Merit at UNC, demonstrating exceptional academic achievement and leadership. He lettered for the Tar Heels in 1959 and 1960 and was captain in 1960, when Carolina won the ACC Championship. That same year, he was a quarterfinalist at the NCAA Championships and led the Tar Heels to a fourth-place finish.
Bobby turned professional in 1964, was the Carolinas PGA champion in 1971, and the Carolinas Professional Golfer of the Year in 1976. In 1980, he regained his amateur status and subsequently won 10 tournament titles.
Previous Women’s Golf Head Coach Jan Mann said Bobby was a great friend to the women’s program, serving for many years as the head rules official throughout the state.
“There was always a twinkle in his eye when he spoke about the game of golf and the wonderful experiences he had as a player,” Mann recalled.
Bobby Galloway established his legacy in the history of Carolina Golf. Now, with this gift in his honor, future generations of Carolina golfers have a chance to establish their own.
