Calvin University

Dr. Brian Bolt heads into his 21st season as head men's golf coach. Coach Bolt started in the spring season of 2005. Bolt and the Knights have qualified for the MIAA Spring Automatic Qualifier five times. Under coach Bolt, Calvin has won four MIAA titles, including the first MIAA men's golf title in school history.

The Knights recorded a second place MIAA finish during the 2023-24 which featured a new format that included four fall rounds and two spring rounds for the final six-round cumulative team standings. In 2024-25, the Knights shaved 39 strokes off that six-round score on the way to a third-place finish. 

He has coached four MIAA Medalists in Ben Kuiper in 2011, Ben Van Scoyk in 2015, Kasen Anderson in (spring) 2021 and Sam Holland in (fall) 2021. 

In the fall of 2021, he led Calvin to the MIAA regular season title as the Knights finished three strokes ahead of rival Hope

In 2017, Calvin won its third MIAA title under coach Bolt. The Knights' finish their fall season boasting an average of 290.3, setting a new MIAA men's golf record. In the spring of 2018, senior Ben VanScoyk became the first All-American in program history, earning Second Team All-America honors after finishing 24th at the NCAA III Championships.

The 2016-17 season saw the Knights finish in second place in the MIAA. In the spring MIAA season, Calvin finished in second place with a program-low 871 strokes. John Van Noord became the first Calvin golfer to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championship in the spring of 2017.

The Knights finished in second place in the MIAA in 2015 and recorded what was a program-low 901 strokes at the MIAA Spring Qualifier to take second place at 901 strokes. 

Coach Bolt led Calvin to an MIAA title in the fall of 2012 and an MIAA Spring Tournament crown in 2013, allowing the Knights to advance to the NCAA III Championships where they placed 30th.

In 2010, he led Calvin to its first-ever MIAA title in men's golf and also led the Knights to their first-ever trip to the NCAA Division III Championships in May of 2011 where they finished 26th. 

In 2009, Calvin finished in second-place at 2440 strokes. The highest-finish for Calvin under coach Bolt at the time.

The Knights recorded a fifth-place finish in three times in the first four years of the Bolt era.

A 1990 graduate of Calvin University, Bolt also serves his alma mater as Dean of Education. Bolt also served as chair of the Calvin Kinesiology Department. "I focus on teacher education courses, motor learning, philosophy of physical education. and sport," said Bolt of his teaching emphasis.

He hosts a popular podcast with Hope professor Dr. Chad Carlson entitled: Sport. Faith. Life.

After earning his undergraduate degree in physical education at Calvin, Bolt remained in Michigan for a year, teaching physical education and social studies at the elementary and middle school level in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He then went on to pursue his master's degree at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and then earned his Ph.D. in teacher education and physical education at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

Prior to coming to Calvin in the fall of 2004, Bolt had spent the previous eight years teaching at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. He served there as the Departmental Chair for Education and Physical Education.

Bolt also taught golf for 14 years, while in graduate school and while teaching at Roanoke. He has had experience helping people of all levels and ages learn to golf through private lessons, camps, and at colleges.

Bolt is also a graduate of Grand Rapids South Christian High School where he was a three-sport standout, excelling as a quarterback in football, as a point guard in basketball and as a first baseman in baseball.

Coach Bolt's wife Joni is also a Calvin graduate, and they have three children: Grace, Maria, and George.