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Decorated Golf Coach Retires to Commence Support Role

Carrie Forsyth has led UCLA’s women’s golf team to two NCAA championships, five Pac-12 titles, more than 100 All-American awards, and at least half a dozen conference Golfer of the Year accolades in 24 years as the program’s head coach.

Carrie Forsyth played as a student athlete for the UCLA Bruins’ women’s golf program from 1989-1993.Carrie Forsyth played as a student athlete for the UCLA Bruins’ women’s golf program from 1989-1993.Although she thinks of these accomplishments as “great successes” and “moments [that] stay with you forever,” she said those victories aren’t what the veteran golf coach holds most dear.

She said she cares most about the bonds she built.

“I think the thing that is the most meaningful to me has been the relationships that I've developed with our student athletes who are now our alumni, and many of our staff and coaches at UCLA,” explained Forsyth. “It's just a phenomenal place to be.

“The people that I've been able to work with, the athletes that have put their trust in me over all of these years, those people are really meaningful,” she continued. “Those relationships and those people, those are the things that really bring me joy and pride, more so than the wins and the accomplishments."

Forsyth is retiring, ending her term as leader of Bruins golf with the 2022-23 season. She is a longtime Bruin; she played as a student athlete for the Bruins’ women’s golf program from 1989-1993. But golf has been a throughline in her life far longer.

"I grew up playing golf,” Forsyth said. “My parents were a little older. I was the youngest child in a family of 14. And so, my parents, by the time I came around, they were ... slightly beyond middle-aged. Golf was their sport. They weren't soccer parents. They didn't do volleyball, [weren't] about baseball. They were golfers themselves."

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