Seattle University Athletics Hall of Fame member and longtime PGA teaching professional Jeff Coston recently earned another lifetime honor as he was inducted to the PGA Pacific Northwest Section’s Hall of Fame during a ceremony April 26, 2013, at Seattle Golf Club in Seattle.
Coston was a three year letter winner on the men’s varsity golf team in the mid-70’s, earning seven top-10 finishes. He finished in second place of both the Seattle University Invitational and the West Coast Athletic Conference Championship and also took seventh in the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate during his time at SU.
After college, Coston played on a professional golf tour for six years. He spent two years on the PGA Tour and four on the Nationwide Tour where he won the Nationwide Shreveport Open in 1991. In 1994 he moved back to Washington and began his teaching career at Semiahmoo Golf and Country Club in Blaine, Wash. Since then, he’s developed a reputation as one of the best golf teachers in the Pacific Northwest, hosting the Jeff Coston Golf Academy every year out of Semiahmoo. His students have gone to see plenty of success at a number of levels of competitive golf, including the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, NCAA Division I and Division II, and a handful of other amateur golf tours.
Despite the time spent improving others’ golf games, Coston has kept his own skills sharp and became one of the most successful players on the Pacific Northwest Section PGA Tour. Since joining the section, Coston has won 19 tournaments including six straight PNW Senior PGA Championships. He’s also played a number of the tournaments on the national level, winning the 2006 PGA Professional Senior National Championship and tying for 19th and earning low PGA Professional designation at the 1997 Senior PGA Championship. He qualified for the PGA Professional Golfers National Championship six times, earning three top-10 finishes, and also played in the PGA Championship three times and US Open Championship once. He’s been named the PNW Section Player of the Year 12 times and Senior Player of the Year seven times, winning the award all seven years he’s been eligible.
Coston was elected to the PGA Pacific Northwest Section Hall of Fame in January, joining Montana’s Mike Dowaliby as the class of 2013. With the election of Coston and Dowaliby, there are now 50 members of the section’s Hall of Fame, which honors those who have distinguished themselves by their contribution to the section and to the game of golf.