Women's college golf is entering its .500 era. How much will it change the sport?

LAKE ELMO, Minn. — How much is the .500 rule going to change women's college golf?

It depends on who you ask.

The NCAA competitions oversight committee approved the .500 rule for women’s college golf early last year, and the changes went into effect for the 2024-25 season. The .500 rule requires a team to finish the regular season with a .500 or better winning percentage head-to-head against other Div. I opponents to be eligible for regionals. The lone exception is if a team wins its conference title.

Div. I men’s college golf has had the .500 rule since 2007-08. And this year, women's teams across the country are having to adjust to the significant change.

However, as to how much the rule will affect teams' schedules, it depends on the school.

ANNIKA: Defending champion South Carolina builds big lead after two rounds at ANNIKA Intercollegiate

"We always try to play the toughest fields that we can, as long as they fit in our schedule," Duke coach Dan Brooks, a seven-time national champion, said. "I like to play the very best tournaments we can."

That was the sentiment for most coaches at the 2024 ANNIKA Intercollegiate, one of the premier season-opening events in women's college golf at Royal Golf Club outside of Minneapolis. Included in the 12-team field are defending national runners-up UCLA, No. 4 in the preseason rankings, 2023 national champions No. 7 Wake Forest, No. 11 Oregon, No. 12 and defending champion South Carolina, No. 14 Arizona State, No. 16 Duke, No. 22 Clemson and No. 23 UCF.

For most of these programs, they are talented enough that the .500 rule shouldn't matter, meaning they won't have to worry about their records come postseason time. But other teams are already taking measures to ensure there's no question whether they can get into the NCAA postseason.

For example, one of the first events this season was the Tiger Classic, which Clemson hosted. The Tigers, which made match play last season at the NCAA Championship, were the only Power-4 team in the field. The rest of the 15 schools were mid-majors.

The event was a one-day, 36-hole marathon that saw the Tigers finish third, beating 13 teams and losing to two. That means Clemson's head-to-head record was 13-2 after the event. After two rounds at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, Clemson was in 11th. If that's where the Tigers finished after the final round concluded Wednesday, their record will be 1-10.

The difference? Instead of starting the season behind the 8-ball, Clemson's head-to-head record will be 14-12, or at worse, 13-13.

"If you're not playing the best tournaments and the best fields week in and week out, you don't have business being at regionals anyway," said South Carolina coach Kalen Anderson, who is also on the NCAA Division I Women's Golf Committee."To water down fields and do that, I understand the thought process behind it. But you know, it doesn't do anybody any good not to compete against the best week in and week out and and have that experience."

Schedule changes have been common for plenty of teams in the sport. While many of the top teams are still in the fields at the prestigious events, there have been some events that have been "watered down" or lacking as many top teams as they once did.

Emily Marron, UCF's head coach and also on the Div. I committee, said her team's excellent play last year got them into higher-level events this year, and she didn't want to back down from the challenge.

"I was confident in my team, and I trusted in them, and we're just going to not think about it too much and just see how we do the rest of the year," Marron said. "Maybe more so next year we can make some adjustments, but again I want to keep it quality of teams we're planning really high."

Most coaches agreed that being early in the first year of the .500 rule, they needed to get through a season to see how it would shake out. That's especially the case for high-ranking programs that have a lot of new faces in the lineup, like Wake Forest.

"We're still playing high-profile tournaments and, you know, does (the .500 rule) cross my mind? Yes," Demon Deacons' coach Kim Lewellen said. "Will it change some of my coaching tactics? Probably, which I'm going to have to now, maybe change a little bit of some of the things that I've done before. I want them to have the best experience, to provide the best experience, and so I want to make sure I'm still doing that."

The .500 rule is here, and while its fingerprints may not be visible on women's college golf quite yet, it's something that's going to be noticeable for the remainder of the year and into the future.

"Certainly, we need to be mindful of the 500 rule," Oregon coach Derek Radley said, "We did add one new tournament in the spring, but for the most part, we're gonna get after it. I think to be your best you gotta play against the best each and every week. I want to compete against the best."

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Women's college golf is entering its .500 era. How much will it change the sport?