From a Pioneer to a Jayhawk

One Colorado-raised player is moving up the ranks in NCAA coaching circles

By: Jim Bebbington

So where can a career in golf take a young woman from Colorado who is pretty good at the game, but not quite there for a professional touring career?
For Lindsay Kuhle – who grew up near Denver Lindsay Hulwick – it can take a person quite a ways.

Kuhle is the head coach of the women’s golf team at the University of Kansas. This post, within the competitive Big 12 conference, has given her a higher platform – and higher expectations – as she moves through her coaching career.

Kuhle returned to the Denver area in early June to walk with sun-baked fairways of Green Valley Golf Club, watching one of her team’s incoming freshman players, Lavanya Gupta, compete. She was there on the second day as Gupta went on a birdie binge and led the tournament at the end of the day. She also was alongside Gupta the next day as she struggled a bit and slid back in the field, ultimately winning the best amateur title but losing to champion Becca Huffer.

Kuhle played in the Denver region as a junior golfer in the 1990s. She played for Heritage High School and finished second in the state championship in 2000 and third in 1998. She was a member of the Colorado Junior America’s Cup team from 1998-2001 and qualified for two U.S. Junior Amateur Championships, in 1998 and 2001. In 2000, she won the Colorado Junior Amateur Championship.

She began her coaching career after a four-year stint as a golfer at Tulane University. She coached at the University of Denver for much of her career before taking over the Kansas program in 2021.

She quickly got the team to heights the Kansas program had not previously reached. The team made it to the NCAA Regionals in three straight seasons – 2023 to 2025 – and finished the 2025 season ranked 21st in the country.

With 21 years as an assistant and head coach, Kuhle is hoping to continue to build. “I really loved what the University of Kansas had to offer as far as resources, facilities,” she said during her Denver visit in June.

“They had a brand new athletic director, Travis Goff, who has done amazing things, and I just love their vision and their commitment to all the sports – especially women’s golf. So it was just a really good opportunity and small college town. I thought would be great for my family.” She and her husband, A.J., have two children – 11-year-old Lucy and 8-year old Jordan. Like many good leaders, she says that one of the main things she’s done to contribute to her team’s success has been bring in other good leaders. Shortly after arriving she added an assistant coach – Stephen Bidne, a former player for Northern Colorado University’s men’s team, away from coaching at the University of Hawaii.

“I think our staff and how we develop players has really been the difference maker,” she said. “(Bidne’s) been a great part of our success with just developing players. He played professional golf, then a head coach, is really good with practice plans and practicing and on-course coaching that have really helped our players.”

She said they’ve also sought players who want to win at the college level as a way of preparing for a shot at professional touring golf.

“We get players that want to play on Tour, that do play on Tour once they graduate from Kansas,” she said. “I think we’ve had six in the last three years, that are going to turn pro or already have turned pro and play on the ladies European tour, the Epson Tour.”

As she watched Gupta she said she liked what she saw. As she continues to build the Kansas program, Kuhle hopes players like Gupta – who wants to play professionally someday – come together to become champions.

“My goal is to compete for a national championship,” she said. “I mean, I think that’s my goal, shouldn’t it be everyone’s goal as a head coach, right? But I believe that we can do that at KU. And we made it to the national championship and missed the cut, the first cut, finished 21st.”

She said northern schools are having more success in the women’s NCAA championships, and Kansas has a path to joining them.

“If you have resources, you have a great schedule, and you have players that believe, and I feel like that’s what we’re building at KU,” she said. “So to compete for a national championship is, ultimately, my number one goal in the next three to five years.”