Team: Partner Industrial

Taya Battistella
Pro Golfer
Asst. Golf Coach WWU
Physical Therapist
(HDCP +3)

Taya Battistella is a physical therapist, devoted mom, and one of the most accomplished golfers in the Pacific Northwest.

Golf has been weaving its way through Taya’s life since she was a kid growing up in Bellingham, the Tri-Cities, and Bend, Oregon. She was a three-time Oregon state champion before heading off to play Division I golf at Portland State and the University of Colorado. At Portland State, she was twice named Big Sky Conference Golfer of the Year and big sky conference champion, in 2001 and 2003.

Then came the professional years. Taya played on the LPGA Futures Tour and Canadian Tour, traveled and saw the world with her golf clubs, won seven professional tournaments and, in 2004, found herself halfway around the globe winning the Beijing Open.

And then, for nearly 15 years, she mostly put the clubs away.

Life got wonderfully full. Taya earned her doctorate in physical therapy and built a career devoted to helping people move, heal and get back to doing the things they love. Most importantly, she became mom to Ryder—a role that remains very much at the center of her world.

Still, something was missing, and somewhere along the way golf came calling again.

After regaining her amateur status, Taya quietly began playing competitive golf again—and then started winning. A lot. She won the 2024 Washington Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship and followed it with a remarkable 2025 season: winning the B.C. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Victoria Golf Club and the Washington Mixed Chapman Championship with her partner, while also reaching the Round of 32 at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach. She has now competed in three U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships and earned both Washington Golf Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year and Pacific Northwest Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year honors.

Apparently, though, that wasn’t quite enough.

In 2026, Taya teamed with Tina Papatolis to win the Washington Women’s Four-Ball Championship at Sudden Valley Golf Club by a whopping 14 strokes. Then, this July, she added another piece of hardware, winning the individual title at Seattle Golf Club and becoming the 104th WSWGA State Champion.

These days, when Taya isn’t treating patients, being Ryder’s mom or chasing another golf trophy, she is still finding ways to pass along a lifetime of knowledge and love of the game. She recently wrapped up her role as assistant coach of the Western Washington University women’s golf team, where she had the chance to share both with the next generation of players.

For all the championships, course records and player-of-the-year awards, there is remarkably little swagger to Taya. She is lovely, funny and almost comically unassuming about the golfer she is. She has a way of making an extraordinary résumé seem like no particular fuss at all.

Maybe that is what makes this second chapter so much fun. Nearly two decades after walking away from elite competition, Taya didn’t simply come back to golf—she came roaring back, becoming a genuine Bellingham force in the game while somehow remaining exactly the kind of person who is so easy to root for.