Clayton State University Athletics

Following an impressive professional playing career, Kim joined the Lakers as an assistant coach in 2012, served as the interim head coach in 2014-15 and was promoted to head coach in July 2015.
 
In July of 2019 he was promoted to Athletics Development Officer, a role which allows him to capitalize on the relationships he has built throughout his career to benefit Clayton State Athletics.
 
CLAYTON STATE (2012-PRESENT, HEAD COACH/ASSISTANT COACH)
In his five years as the head coach of Clayton State men’s golf Hank Kim has continued to build on the program’s tremendous tradition and has the Lakers back among the best in all of NCAA Division II.
 
He has recruited individuals that would go on to earn a pair of individual berths in the NCAA Tournament, three All-Peach Belt Conference selections, a pair of PING! All-Region honors, a PBC Golfer of the Week and the first three PBC All-Academic selections in program history while being named the PBC Co-Coach of the Year.
 
Those accomplishments would be highlighted in 2018-19, however, by the first appearance as a team in the NCAA Division II Tournament since the 2013-14 squad made it. The latter would also be one Kim had a hand in as he served as an assistant coach under Steve Runge at the time before succeeding him the following year.
 
This past season the Lakers notched five top five finishes, including a 2-of-22 finish at the Bearcat Classic and a third place outing at the UNG Fall Invitational. At the latter, Nick Woof delivered a 64-eight-under par, equaling the lowest round on record in program history. It also bested the lowest relative to par effort in team history.
 
That performance earned him PBC Golfer of the Week but it was far from the only honors hauled in by Clayton State. Kim would coach his third All-PBC selection in Andres Caballero, joining Keith Egan (2016, 2017), while being named the league’s Co-Coach of the Year. It would be just the second such honor in program history. The year would also see the program finish at No. 32 nationally in Golfstat’ Relative-to-Par national rankings.
 
His two PING! All-Region selections both came from Egan during his All-Conference seasons. Those same campaigns would see him earn berths in the NCAA Tournament as an individual, making him the first student-athlete in program history to pick up multiple selections.
 
It has been a steady build to a return to excellence under Kim. The 2017-18 season would see him lead his team to the first tournament victory by the program since 2013 when they won the Matt Dyas Invitational and also finished third at the Hurricane Invitational. The latter would see Woof earn All-Tournament and runner-up honors.
 
That followed a 2-of-16 runner-up finish at the Third Annual Newberry Invitational at The Ocean Course during the 2016-17 season and a second trip to the NCAA Tournament for Egan. It would also be a season in which he would deliver All-PBC First-Team honors, something that hadn’t happened since 2014, and made him only the third individual to win multiple All-Conference awards.
 
Egan would anchor the team in 2015-16 with his first individual NCAA appearance, finishing tied for 32^nd out of 108 golfers. It would also be the season where he collected the first of his two All-Region and All-PBC honors.
 
During his season as the interim head coach in 2014-15 Kim showed he deserved to hold down the full-time post. That year he would coach Egan and Alex Vetnar to All-Peach Belt Tournament honors, making it just the third time the program had seen multiple individuals earn that honor during the same year.
 
For Vetnar it came with a PBC Runner-Up finish that saw him finish just one stroke away from an individual title during a rain shortened tournament.
 
As a team, the Lakers 4-of-12 finish would be their highest since the 2009 team won the championship and would mark a third straight year with a top five finish, all while Kim had been on staff. On top of that, their two-day score of 580 ranks as the second lowest two-day tournament score in program history.
 
As an assistant in 2013-14, he was a part of a staff that produced the first NCAA Division II Regional Tournament appearance since the 2009 team. The club would go on to finish 14^th in the highly competitive Southeast Regional with a three round score of 899.
 
That squad was led by PBC Player of the Year and All-American Fredrik Lindblom. Both of those honors were the first since 2009 when current pro golfers Will Wilcox and Wade Binfield were both All-Americans and Wilcox was the Player of the Year.
 
PROFESSIONAL PLAYING EXPERIENCE (1996-2012)
Prior to coming to Morrow, Georgia, Kim played professionally on a number of tours. From 2008-12 he competed on the eGolf Gateway Tour. In his first season (2008), he tied for third in both the Spring Creek Classic (June 18-20) and the River Hills Open (July 16-18) before notching a sixth place tie at the Greater Richmond Open (June 3-5) in 2009.
 
He has also played in 86 tournaments on the NGA Hooters Tour since 2005, finishing in the money 62 times and averaging 70.82 strokes. Kim experienced tremendous success in just his second tournament, winning the Michelob Ultra Classic at Royal Lakes (March 14-20).
 
In 2006 he would post three straight Top-10 finishes at one point and deliver four runner-up outings over the next two seasons. His 2009 season would be highlighted by a fourth place tie and sixth place tie within a month's time. Among his career achievements on the tour are the 2005 NGA Hooters Tour Championship and being the 2006 NGA Hooters Tour points leader.
 
Kim began his pro career in 1996 on the Tear Drop Tour and it didn't take very long for him to be successful. Just two years into his professional career, he earned the 1998 Tear Drop Tour Championship.
 
COLLEGIATE PLAYING EXPERIENCE: NC STATE (1994-95)
Prior to embarking on a 16-year pro career, the native of Jonesboro, Ga. competed collegiately at Division I power North Carolina State for longtime coach Richard Sykes. During his time in Raleigh, North Carolina, Kim was very accomplished.
 
In 1994, while a member of the Wolfpack, he competed in the U.S. Amateur Open Championship, claiming Medalist honors with a score of 132. He also shot a first round 64 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Verde Beach, Fla. That is something that only four others have accomplished.
 
Kim delivered his best season in 1995, becoming just the fifth Atlantic Coast Conference Individual Champion in program history. He put forth a 70-68-70-208 performance in the Championships and is still just one of six to accomplish the feat in that program's history. As a team, NC State finished third in the NCAA Division I East Regional, with Kim placing seventh as the team's highest individual finisher.
 
That season also earned him All-ACC honors and just the 16th All-District/All-Region selection by a member of the Wolfpack. During his career he earned a pair of victories, including the 1995 ACC Championship at the Old North State Club (New London, N.C.) and International Intercollegiate.
 
He is also tied for the 12^th most wins in program history as of 2016 and his single season stroke average of 73.67 set in 1994-95 is tied for 11^th in team history. He also ranks in the Top-10 among the program’s individual low rounds over 36 holes (T5^th, 138, 6-under) and 54 holes (T 4^th, 208, 8-under), both of which were set in 1995.
 
EDUCATION
Kim is a 1995 graduate of North Carolina State University.