Recognized by her peers as one of the top collegiate women’s golf coaches in the country, Laurie Gibbs enters her 33rd season as head coach of the Pepperdine women’s golf team in 2025-26. She was inducted into the Women’s Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in December 2015.
During her tenure, Gibbs has taken a program that started out with limited resources and funding and turned it into one of national prominence. Through her tireless work ethic and diligent recruiting, Gibbs has had Pepperdine in contention for a national championship multiple times.
The Waves have appeared in the NCAA Championships 14 times, with nine top-10 finishes and five top-five showings, including a program-best second-place result in 2003.
Gibbs has led Pepperdine to West Coast Conference championships in 21 of the last 26 tournaments, including a streak of 14 titles that ran from 2002-15. Over the course of her career, the Waves have won 59 team tournament titles and have had 58 individual medalist honors.
Gibbs was selected the National Coach of the Year by Golfweek in the 2004-05 and 2022-23 campaigns, was tabbed the West Region Coach of the Year on three occasions (1999, 2003, and 2023) and has been honored 16 times as the WCC’s Coach of the Year (1998, ‘99, ‘00, ‘02, ‘03, ‘05, ‘06, ’07, ’08, ’10, ’12, ’15, ’19, ’22, ‘23, and '24). She was honored twice as Pepperdine’s Coach of the Year (1998-99 and 2002-03).
In addition to securing the use of four quality facilities for practice purposes, Gibbs has helped improve the on-campus practice facilities at Pepperdine and has stepped up the Waves’ recruiting efforts. In 2007, the program fundraising efforts during Gibbs’ tenure went over $1 million.
After serving on the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee, Gibbs was selected to serve a four-year term (2003-07) as one of three coaches on the Division I NCAA Women’s Golf Committee. She also served on the USGA/NCAA Intercollegiate Committee.
Sixteen of her players have earned All-American honors a total of 33 times, and the Waves had at least one All-American every season between 2000 and 2016. Katherine Hull earned 2003 NCAA Division I Player of the Year honors by the National Golf Coaches Association as well as the Dinah Shore Award and finished as a three-time All-American. Lindsey Wright and Grace Na were both four-time All-Americans.
Nine of Gibbs’ Waves have gone on to earn LPGA Tour cards: Hull, Na, Wright, Misun Cho, Tamie Durdin, Danielle Kang, Carolina Llano, Nadina Taylor and Taylore Karle. Hull has won multiple titles, while Kang became the first Wave to win a major (the 2017 LPGA Championship) and compete at the Olympics (2021).
The Waves finished in fifth place at their first-ever NCAA Championships in 1999, and that began a remarkable run. The Waves posted seven more top-10 finishes over the next 10 years, including second place (2003), third place (2006) and fourth place (2005). They had their best-ever end-of-season Golfstat rankings in 2003 (#2), 2005 (#4), 2006 (#5) and 2007 (#5).
Gibbs’ efforts nearly paid off with a national title in 2003 as she guided the Waves to their most successful season in school history. Pepperdine claimed a then program-record five straight tournament titles at one point and finished second at the NCAA Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. The Waves also achieved a program first that season as they gained a #1 national ranking during the spring in both ranking systems.
Pepperdine has finished with a top-25 ranking in 17 of the last 25 years. Pepperdine’s most recent NCAA Championships appearance was in 2023 as the Waves finished fifth. After taking a share of the NCAA Regional title for the second time in program history, Pepperdine reached the NCAA Finals, finishing eighth in stroke play and then ending their run in the NCAA quarterfinal. During the 2022-23 campaign, the Waves broke the program record for most team wins in a single-season with six.
Prior to being hired as the head women’s golf coach at Pepperdine, Gibbs was a PGA teaching professional at the nearby Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles and competed on the Women’s Western Professional Golf Tour. In addition to playing and teaching, Gibbs authored and marketed ProTips, a quick reference guide for golfers.
Gibbs attended and played collegiate golf at Long Beach State on an athletic scholarship and graduated from Santa Monica College.
Gibbs and her husband, Chris, have a daughter, Catherine (who graduated from Pepperdine in 2020 and was a member of the women’s swimming team), and a son, Christopher.
