Livermore youth golf coach accused of sex abuse

Andrew Nisbet, a Livermore youth golf coach accused of child sexual abuse. Andrew Nisbet, a Livermore youth golf coach accused of child sexual abuse. Photo: Handout, Courtesy Livermore Police Depart Photo: Handout, Courtesy Livermore Police Depart Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Livermore youth golf coach accused of sex abuse 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A well-known youth golf coach who has worked with kids in Livermore and around the country has been arrested and charged with numerous counts of child molestation, authorities said Tuesday.

Livermore resident Andrew Michael Nisbet, 31, sexually assaulted several boys between the ages of 12 and 17 between 2009 and 2012, said Officer Steve Goard, a Livermore police spokesman.

Alameda County prosecutors have charged Nisbet with 65 felonies, including lewd acts with a child, oral copulation of a child, sending harmful matter and arranging a sexual meeting with a minor.

Nisbet, who had worked at Las Positas Golf Course in Livermore since 2006 and was director of instruction, has also trained students in Michigan, North Carolina, Mississippi and Alabama, Goard said.

Nisbet was arrested Saturday and has been fired by golf course officials, authorities said. He is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

Apparently unaware of the arrest, the PGA's Northern California Section announced Monday that it had given Nisbet the 2013 Junior Golf Leader Award for his "dedication and leadership in developing a wealth of exciting and educational golf programs for juniors."

The PGA said Nisbet managed a golf league for middle-school students in and around Livermore and launched the U.S. Kids Golf Bay Area Tour, the largest tour of its kind in the country.

He also started "College Golf 101" to help kids and their parents through the college golf recruiting process, and put out a newsletter that reached more than 1,000 people.

For the past five years, the PGA said, Nisbet helped run the U.S. Kids Golf championships in Pinehurst, N.C., the biggest junior event in the world.