Nate McCoy was destined to be a golfer. With a father considered to be the best amateur golfer in the history of the state of Iowa, it would have been hard to avoid it.

Long before he was breaking records for Iowa State or winning a state championship in high school, McCoy was swinging golf clubs in his back yard and on the living room carpet.

“As soon as I could stand and walk, my dad had me out at the golf course,” McCoy said. “He’d take me there to just watch and observe.”

McCoy’s father, Mike, set an example for a young golfer. With too many accomplishments to list, Mike was inducted into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame in 2011, solidifying him as one of the best golfers in history of the state and in Nate’s case, one of the best teachers.

“He taught me a lot of the finer shots in golf,” Nate said of his father. “How to work hard, how to practice the right way — he always was the one who pushed me harder than I wanted to be pushed, but it was the right thing.”

The hard work and dedication paid off in high school, when he placed sixth at the state tournament his junior year before winning the 4A individual state title his senior year golfing for Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa.

After some success golfing some amateur events in the summer, including a fifth-place finish at the Iowa Masters, McCoy headed just up the road in Ames.

McCoy started his career at Iowa State with immediate success, breaking the freshman stroke average record and finishing as the No. 2 golfer in his first year. His sophomore year was more of the same, finishing in the top 10 twice and finishing No. 2 on the team again.

All seemed to be going according to plan for the collegiate golfer until the resignation of his coach forced a change in the program. The change, however, wasn’t necessarily a negative one.

Andrew Tank, who took over as Iowa State’s coach in 2010, was familiar with the McCoy family, having grown up in the same city and gone to the same high school. The two had the same high school coach, and McCoy had even introduced himself at a tournament in college while Tank was coaching at Minnesota.

“When he came to Iowa State, I was happy with the decision to bring him in because I knew he was a good guy, and he had a lot to offer to the program,” McCoy said.

The two seemed to mesh immediately with McCoy using Tank’s coaching to improve his game and Tank using McCoy as a veteran role model on which to build a program.

In Tank’s first year, McCoy led the team in scoring average, finishing in the top five a total of three times during the season and becoming the first Cyclone to finish with medalist honors since Jeremy Lyons in 2004.

“I remember when I got the job in July, calling him and he was playing in some of the top amateur tournaments in the country, and he was starting to have some pretty good finishes,” Tank said. “He was starting to go to that next level that summer before his junior year.”

It wasn’t until after his junior year that McCoy launched himself into the national spotlight and helped Tank and assistant coach Patrick Datz launch the program in the right direction.

“That senior year is when he really hit his stride and was just consistently in the top 10,” Tank said.

McCoy finished his career as a Cyclone with the best season stroke average in ISU history and the second-best career stoke average. He recorded the lowest 54-hole round in school history and helped the team to multiple team records.

At the conclusion of his senior year, he was awarded the most prestigious award by the school: Iowa State Male Athlete of the Year.

“It was definitely an honor that I did not expect,” McCoy said. “Some days, I think about it and say, ‘I can’t believe that happened.’ It was unbelievable.”

Now, almost a year after finishing his career at Iowa State, McCoy golfs professionally on the PGA Canadian Tour. This May, he will play the U.S. Open local qualifying tournament to hope to advance to the U.S. Open.

After golfing more than 20 events in his short career, McCoy is still getting used to the routine.

“Traveling, getting used to being on the road by yourself,” McCoy said of adjusting to professional golf. “Sometimes, it’s hard not having a support group like I had at Iowa State, and it’s something that I definitely miss.”

McCoy took a piece of Iowa State with him when he left, marrying his college sweetheart, Ashley Costanzo, only months after graduating. Costanzo was a year ahead of McCoy in school, playing goalkeeper for the ISU soccer team.

While McCoy was preparing to leave the school, he recalled talking to Tank.

“I remember asking Coach Tank for some advice because he was recently married,” McCoy said with a chuckle. “I asked him a lot about marriage as well as golf advice.”

After graduation, marriage and a start at professional golf, McCoy still hasn’t lost contact with his alma mater. Although his ISU career has ended, he made a lasting impression on the program.

“Huge,” Tank said of the impact McCoy made. “He was a big part of the success we had. We brought in some different players for his senior year, and he was such a great leader for last year.”

With players like Scott Fernandez, Sam Daley and Duncan Croudis all mentored by McCoy, the next generation of Cyclone golf will always have a little McCoy to it.

“Being around Nate the last few years has been a great experience,” said assistant coach Patrick Datz. “I’ve learned a lot from him, and I think he was a coach on the field when coach Tank and I weren’t around.”

“He’s a big part of why the program is where it is right now.”