Our Commitment to
Junior Golfers & Families
The college golf recruiting process can feel confusing and overwhelming—but it doesn't have to be.
Coach Bowden is passionate about educating and empowering junior golfers and their families throughout the recruiting journey. His goal is to help each player identify the college programs that best align with their academic, athletic, and personal goals while also helping them develop the skills needed to become a better, more consistent golfer.
But the impact goes beyond golf. Coach Bowden believes the recruiting and development process is an opportunity to teach confidence, accountability, preparation, communication, and other life skills that can benefit student-athletes throughout college and well beyond the golf course.
Coach Bowden offers several recruiting programs designed to meet the different needs of junior golfers and their families. We also believe that financial circumstances shouldn't prevent a motivated junior golfer from receiving guidance and support.
If financial assistance is needed, we encourage families to contact Coach Bowden directly to discuss available options.
Brothers Jonathan and Daniel Bowden with the
University of North Carolina at Wilmington Men's Golf Team
Recruiting Approach
Coach Bowden understands firsthand how challenging the college golf recruiting process can be. After receiving no Division I scholarship offers as a junior golfer, he earned an opportunity to walk on at Furman University and ultimately earned a full scholarship for his final two years.
That experience shaped his belief that there is no single path to playing college golf—and finding the right fit matters more than simply finding an opportunity.
With strong relationships among coaches across NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, JUCO, and NCCAA, Coach Bowden brings valuable experience and perspective to each family's recruiting journey.
His approach starts with understanding the individual golfer—their game, academics, goals, development, and expectations for college. From there, he works closely with the player and family to identify realistic opportunities, target the right programs, communicate effectively with coaches, and develop a personalized recruiting strategy.
The goal isn't simply to get recruited.
It's to find the college where each student-athlete has the opportunity to succeed academically, develop as a golfer, contribute to a team, and thrive personally.
Find the right fit. Build the right strategy. Play at the next level.
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As a Performance Coach and College Placement Consultant, Jonathan Bowden is dedicated to helping each golfer unlock their full potential and guiding them through the college recruiting process, so they can find the college or university golf program that is a best fit.
Jonathan also assists players with tournament selection and preparation, yardage book design, on-course decision making, equipment fitting, and overall practice planning. He has helped create performance programs at the Washington and Lee University, University of Memphis, Coastal Carolina University, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and several private clubs throughout the Southeast.
The same improvement process used by the top college and professional golfers worldwide.
Employing an all encompassing team approach that includes golf fitness, mental game performance, clubfitting, and tournament preparation.
More About Coach Bowden
Jonathan has been passionate about the game of golf since the age of 3 when his father Bo Bowden, deceased PGA Life Member, first placed his hands on a golf club. He is a native of Valdosta, GA. and has been working in the game of golf since he graduated from Furman University in 2009 as a member of the men's golf program. Jonathan has competed in many state and regional competitions as both a junior and amateur golfer. He is grateful to have been as an assistant golf professional, a college coach, a performance development coach, and college placement advisor to this point his career.
As an assistant golf professional at Green Valley CC in Greenville, SC, Jonathan helped golfers of all ages and skill levels grow their passion for the game and improve their scores. Through his role as a teaching professional, Jonathan was responsible for player development through private, group, clinic instruction, and junior golf camp experiences. He has developed game improvement programs, on course learning experiences, and mental game workshops. Jonathan has also had the opportunity to partner with several TPI professionals to help his students improve their golf performance through individual programming for improving mobility, flexibility, strength, and speed.
Beginning the 2017-2018 season through the 2021-2022 season, Jonathan was the Men’s and Women’s Assistant Golf Coach at UNCW. Jonathan was previously an assistant coach at Washington and Lee University, The University of Memphis, and Coastal Carolina where he focused on budget administration, scheduling team and individual player practice plans, coaching and mentoring players one-on-one, analyzing tournament statistics to aid in each player's development, post-tournament administration, and recruitment both domestically and internationally.
Jonathan’s younger brother and former mini-tour golfer, Daniel Bowden, completed his 7th season as the Head Men's Golf Coach at UNCW before joining the Duke University as Men's Assistant Golf Coach in August 2025.
Jonathan is Titleist Performance Institute Level 1, Smart2Move, Sportsbox 3D and Trackman Level 2 certified. Jonathan is also knowledgeable with regards to SAM PuttLab, Capto, Blast Golf putting technologies. Jonathan is also comfortable using several statistical analysis and course management tools including Clippd, Upgame, Shots To Hole, and Decade Golf.
Additional Coaching Achievements
Bowden has coached 3-Year PGA Tour member Trace Crowe since the age of 10
3 CAA Conference Championship titles - 2017-2019 - UNCW Men’s Golf (’18 & ‘19) & UNCW Women’s Golf (‘19)
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Coached 3 teams earning 14 tournament wins - The University of Memphis (2) UNCW Men & UNCW Women (12)
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3 CAA Individual Conference Champions at UNCW - L. Anderson (‘18), P. Khine (’19), S. Oliva Pinto (’19)
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Coached 12 individual tournament medalists - Univ. of Memphis (2) and UNCW (11)
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UNCW Men’s Golf Records (2017-2022): 1 CAA Player of the Year - 4 NCAA Regional Appearances -10 Team Wins - 34 Team Top-5 Finishes - 57 Team Top 10 Finishes - 9 Individual Wins - 37 Individual Top-5 Finishes - 68 Individual Top-10 Finishes - 12 All-Conference Selections - 14 UNCW Men's Golf Letter-winners - 12 GCAA All-American Scholars - GCAA All-Academic Team - 2018, 2019, 2021 - GCAA All-Region - (2019) Segundo Oliva Pinto - 1 CAA Freshman of the Year (2019: Segundo Oliva Pinto) - 8 CAA Golfers Of The Week - 1 CAA Freshman Of The Week - 3.6 Team GPA
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UNCW Women’s Golf Records (2017-2022): 15 WGCA All-American Scholars - 5 CAA All-Tournament Team Players - 5 All CAA First Team Players
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Coached five men's players to Top 50 Golfstat National Ratings (Segundo Oliva Pinto – 12th, Blake McShea – 29th, Christofer Rahm – 44th, Patrick Cover – 48th, Lars van Meijel - 35th)
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Successfully recruited the top three UNCW Women’s Golf athletes (as of Spring 2026) in 2022
Bowden began coaching junior golfer Jillian Fatkin (Oak Island, NC) starting November 2022
Jillian joined Division I Queen’s University on a golf scholarship in the Fall of 2024
Jillian was ranked second in the Class of 2024 in the Carolinas and was ranked inside the Top 20 overall in North Carolina.
Jillian qualified to compete in the 2024 U.S. Junior Girl's Championship in Tarzana, CA where Bowden caddied for her
Jillian led the Royals during the regular season with a 73.65 stroke average. She earned the program's first individual win in the Division I era winning the Babs Steffens Invitational. At the time, the golfer's 54-hole score was a new record for the program. The Oak Island, N.C. native earned three top 10 finishes, with three of those coming in the top five. Fatkin was named ASUN Golfer of the Week three times during the regular season
Jillian entered the transfer portal in the Spring of 2025 and was added to the University of Kansas Women’s Golf roster in the Fall of 2025
Jillian entered the transfer portal in the Spring of 2026 and will be added to the University of South Florida Women’s Golf roster in the Fall of 2026
Jillian qualified to compete in the Round of 64 in the 2026 Women’s North & South Amateur
Jillian is currently the 404th ranked women’s college golfer and the 751st ranked women’s amateur in the world (As of July 2026)
Bowden began coaching 2024 UNCW graduate Walker Isley (Oak Island, NC) beginning his freshman year
Walker won the North Carolina Amateur Championship for a second year in a row; by a margin of 15 shots
Walker competed in three straight U.S. Amateur Championships with the first coming in 2022
Walker was ranked inside the Top 120 in the world as an amateur golfer before becoming a professional golfer