In more than 30 years of coaching, Steve Spurrier has never lost a round of golf to one of his players. New challengers are apt to dismiss the claim, but Spurrier is happy to provide witness accounts of each of his triumphs. It's a record he takes seriously.

More than a few strong golfers have made their way through his rosters at Duke in the 1980s, Florida in the '90s or South Carolina the past few years, and Spurrier is always willing to give them a game. But they only get one crack at the king.

The last to take his shot was kicker Ryan Succop, who played at South Carolina from 2005-08. Succop was good, and Spurrier knew it. The kickers are always the ones to worry about. So the coach made sure to set the odds in his favor, scheduling their match just as spring practice drew to a close. Spurrier had been out on the course enough to shake off the rust during the previous month, but the players rarely have enough time.

"You have to pick your spots when you play someone who's a lot better than you," Spurrier said.

Succop had two triple-bogeys on the day and finished with a 79. Spurrier edged him out with a 77. On nine out of 10 days, Spurrier admits, Succop would've won. But that's hardly the point.

"All of them say, 'Coach, when are we going to play again?' and I say, 'No, no, you had your chance,' " Spurrier said.

Of course, opportunities to hit the tees at all are getting harder to come by for coaches. The recruiting calendar has grown more cumbersome, the demands of the job more strenuous, and the number of coaches regularly playing golf has diminished as a result. Even Spurrier, the elder statesmen of the coaching ranks on both the football field and the golf course, doesn't get out quite as much as he used to. By the end of July, his clubs are already gathering dust.

But as the demands of the job increase, the importance of finding an escape is even more crucial, Spurrier said. So he has kept golf a priority during those few months every year when NCAA rules prevent him from working with his players.

"Almost all coaches feel like they've got to be the hardest-working coaches in the country," Spurrier said. "I've never worried about that."

What Spurrier does worry about is the competition on the golf course.

"He's meticulous," said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, who was once an assistant under Spurrier at Florida. "You putt them all in, and you play by the rules."

If he's down big after the first nine, Spurrier's apt to want to call it a day, said former coach and avid golfer Rick Neuheisel, but if he wins a round, it can be a long ride home. "He beat me in Cancun once," Neuheisel said, "and I think we went over every shot on the 45-minute bus trip back."

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops has recently played a few rounds with golf coach Hank Haney. AP Photo/The Oklahoman, David McDaniel

Stoops played a round with Spurrier at Whispering Pines in South Carolina a few years back. On one hole, Stoops' drive went awry. He fought his way out of high grass and chipped his way up a cliff, and when the carnage finally came to an end, he begrudgingly announced he'd shot a 10 on the hole.

"Well, Bob," Spurrier was quick to interject, "I think it was an 11."

It's not uncommon for the competitiveness that coaches display on the football field to trickle over to the golf course. But keeping their game in top form all year is a daunting task.

Stoops took home two trophies the 2012 Pebble Beach Pro-Am after shooting an 82 on Saturday and an 80 on Sunday -- two of the lowest rounds he'd mustered in years. The performance had been so unexpected, Stoops had to cancel a flight he'd already booked in order to finish his round on Sunday.

Spurrier still flaunts his $20,000 prize for a fourth-place finish at a Pro-Am in Lake Tahoe in 1990, but he actually finished sixth. John Elway and actor Jack Wagner declined to accept their winnings in order to maintain amateur status. Spurrier's prize the next year was far less.

Spurrier won the Chick-fil-A Bowl's charity golf tournament twice, but it's been a few years since he has claimed victory. Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson is a three-time winner, including the 2014 installment, but even he pins much of the credit on his playing partner, former basketball star Jon Barry.

It's tough when the golfing season lasts little more than two months, and even those precious moments on the course can be interrupted at any moment by football.

"There's not a lot of real good golfers that are coaches that I've met because golf is a game you have to practice," Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville said. "You have to spend time doing it."

For Akron coach Terry Bowden, there's not much room to brag. He has broken 80 just once in his golfing career, and he's quick to admit that his short game needs work and his drives are short and erratic. Bowden's most memorable accomplishment on the golf course is the time he nearly died in a tee box. He tripped and fell, impaling himself on a tee he had tucked behind his ear. Years later, his family still teases him about the incident.