Peter Ireland completed his third season as an assistant coach with the California men's golf program in 2024-25. Ireland, who formally joined the Golden Bears in August 2022 under Walter Chun's leadership, was retained by Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men's Golf Michael Wilson. He served as the team's interim head coach during the transition period from Chun to Wilson.
Ireland's leadership has been impactful in Berkeley, as the Golden Bears reached the NCAA postseason in all three seasons with him on staff, including back-to-back NCAA Championship berths in 2024 with Chun and 2025 with Wilson.
Cal placed 17th at the 2025 NCAA Championship, capping and impressive first year of the Wilson Era in Berkeley. Ireland helped guide the Golden Bears to five top-five finishes and eight top-10 efforts on the way to a 105-96-3 record. With a blend of veteran leadership from Wenliang Xie, Charlie Berridge, Tony Chen and Daniel Heo as well as a dynamic freshman year from Ziqin Zhou, Cal finished the spring slate strong; the Bears took seventh at the Western Intercollegiate, sixth at the ACC Championship and advanced through the NCAA Reno Regional with a fifth-place effort.
The 2023-24 Golden Bears – anchored by All-Pac-12 First Team and GCAA/PING All-West Region Team selection Sampson Zheng and a pair of dynamic freshmen in Ethan Fang and Eric Lee – were nationally ranked throughout the 2024 spring slate and ultimately finished ranked 21st following a 19th-place finish at the NCAA Championships at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad. Cal amassed eight top-three finishes – including two tournament wins and four runner-up finishes – in 13 stroke-play events in 2023-24; the pair of wins came back-to-back in October at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational and the Cal Poly Invitational.
In a 2022-23 campaign that culminated with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Morgan Hill Regional, Cal totaled 12 top-10 finishes, five top-five finishes and one tournament victory – a 21-under par effort at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational at Sonoma Golf Club in October. Ireland aided Chun in the development of Zheng, who earned GCAA All-America honors and finished his junior season ranked 15th nationally by Golfstat after shooting 41-under par with an average of 69.83 strokes across 31 rounds played in 10 events.
Ireland arrived in Bear Territory following five years spent at Delaware, where he was the men’s and women’s assistant coach and director of recruitment.
The Blue Hen women’s team posted 37 top-10 finishes during Ireland’s five seasons at Delaware and placed second at the CAA Championship in three of those years, including 2022. Delaware amassed five All-CAA accolades with Ireland’s guidance, including Ariane Klotz (2018-19), Thitaree Sakulbunpanich (2019) and Oihana Etxezarreta (2021, 2022). Sakulbunpanich was additionally selected as the 2018 CAA Rookie of the Year while Etxezarreta became the program’s first freshman medalist in 2021 and helped the Blue Hen women set a team program record of 76.38 shots per round in 2022.
Delaware’s men also posted 37 top-10 finishes in Ireland’s five-year stint with the program and captured a pair of tournaments in the 2021-22 campaign, the first time doing so since 2010-11. UD’s 73.72 team average round in 2021-22 was the lowest in program history. Ireland coached two-time All-CAA first team selection Roberto Nieves, who broke his own program record by averaging 70.58 shots per round in 2021-22 and earned an at large berth to the NCAA New Haven Regional. Nieves was the program’s first male All-CAA selection since 2010-11.
Prior to his time in Newark, Delaware, Ireland served as the men’s and women’s golf head coach at Thomas University (Thomasville, Ga.), where he led his teams to seven NAIA National Championship appearances over a five-season span (2013-17). In 2014, Ireland’s Night Hawks won their first Sun Conference Men’s Championship and placed 12th at the NAIA National Championship. For his efforts in the Night Hawks’ 2014 run, Ireland was named the Sun Conference Men’s Golf Coach of the Year. Ireland also guided the Thomas women placed 17th at the 2016 NAIA National Championship and oversaw six tournament team victories and five players who earned medalist honors.
Ireland graduated from the University of Arizona with an undergraduate degree in communications in 2011 following a four-year collegiate career (2008-11) with the Wildcats. He competed in 28 collegiate/amateur events, posting a career scoring average of 75.15 in collegiate events. Ireland recorded six top-25 finishes during his career, including a low round of 67.
Ireland then played professionally on the National Pro Golf Tour for two years and averaged 73.82 strokes per round in 11 events.
Originally from Pebble Beach, California, Ireland attended Stevenson School. He and his wife Sarah, have a son, Henry.
Updated: June 20, 2025
