Naree Song as named head coach of the Harvard women's golf program, Erin McDermott, The John D. Nichols '53 Family Director of Athletics, announced on Jan. 23, 2023.
Song is the third head coach in program history and has served as the associate head coach for Harvard women's golf since 2015. During her time in Cambridge, Harvard has won two Ivy League titles (2016, 2019), made two NCAA regional appearances (2016, 2019), and earned 13 tournament victories. including a first place showing at the 2022 Yale Invitational. At that event, Harvard recorded its lowest single round score in team history (279).
In addition, Song has coached four Ivy League individual champions – Michelle Xie (2018), Elizabeth Wang (2019), Isabella Gomez (2023) and Vanessa Zhang (2025). Harvard has been one of the top academic squads in the nation during her tenure, with six student-athletes named WGCA All-American Scholars in 2024 and another five in 2025.
The 2024-25 season was a glimpse into the future of Harvard golf as a young lineup led the team to success on and off the course, showcasing the rising talent in the program. Under Song, the Crimson rose to No. 125 in the national rankings, the highest in recent history. The Crimson posted four top-five finishes in seven team tournaments including three second-place finishes at the Nittany Lion Invitational (Sep. 14-15), the DBU Patriot Invitaitonal (Mar. 17-18) and the Ivy League Championship (Apr. 18-20). Coach Song also mentored Vanessa Zhang '28 to the most successful season in Harvard women's golf history during the 2024-25 campaign. Under her guidance, Zhang posted four top-five finishes, a scoring average of 72.37 (a new program record) and captured the 2024-25 Ivy League Individual Championship.
In her first full season at the helm of Harvard women's golf in 2023-24, Song and the Crimson earned two tournament titles at the Lady Blue Hen Invitational (Oct. 21-22) and at the Lady Bison Classic at Bay Point (Mar. 22-24). The Crimson went on to finish fourth at the Ivy League Championships after impressive efforts from Bridget Ma and Isabella Gomez who placed second and sixth, respectively. Harvard also continued to showcase it's academic excellence, as six athletes earned All-American Scholar honors for the WGCA.
After taking over as the Head Coach in January of 2023, Song guided the Crimson to another tournament victory ad the team took home the trophy from the Intercollegiate at Prospect Bay. The Crimson went on to take second place at the Ivy League Championships but did send one golfer to NCAA Regionals after Isabella Gomez became the third Ivy League Individual Champion in Song's tenure with the Crimson.
In her first season on staff, Song made an immediate impact. She helped Harvard become the first Ancient Eight program to win five-straight Ivy League titles on the women's side as the Crimson led from beginning to end en route to a 13-stroke victory over Princeton. The squad went on to a ninth-place performance at the NCAA Regional Championships in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the program's best-ever finish at the event.
Song began her golf career at the age of seven and quickly became one of the top junior golfers in the world. She won her first professional event, The Thailand Ladies Open, at the age of 14. She also went on to win three AJGA major championships and became a two-time AJGA First Team All-American. She competed in her first U.S Women's Open at the age of 14 where she took Low-Amateur honors.
Song attended University of Florida at the age of 17 and after one semester, turned professional and competed on the Symetra and LPGA Tours, winning one event on the Symetra Tour in 2004.
Due to illness and injury, she retired from professional golf and turned to education at Rollins College where she assumed the Assistant Women's Golf Coach position. During her tenure the team finished runner-up at D2 NCAA Nationals two years in a row. Shortly after graduating Rollins with a B.A in English and an M.A in Human Resources, Song accepted a Programming Coordinator position at The Golf Channel. Song's passion for coaching led her back to IMG Academy, where she was a former student-athlete for seven years.
