What is the RecruitPKB platform?
The path to collegiate golf can be difficult and intimidating. The first step in the recruiting process is establishing a game plan. That is where we come in. We are here to help you understand the process and help you achieve your dreams of playing college golf.
RecruitPKB offers a way to connect current PKBGT players with opportunities in the collegiate game. This new service offers advice from our college consultant, insight into the recruiting experience and ways to become a more complete golfer. Our network of over 650 PKBGT alumni in the college ranks along with our resource center can help you on your way to playing college golf.
Where do I go from here?
Learn From Our Experts
RecruitPKB: Take the Initiative to Call Coaches
Maybe you have sent out some intro emails but you haven’t gotten any responses, or maybe you have been communicating with some coaches through email but don’t feel like you are getting anywhere? The next step you must be willing to tackle is to pick up the phone and call the coaches. It is very easy to sit behind a computer and send emails, and often times coaches will prefer to communicate that way, but they will all be expecting you to take the initiative to pick up the phone and call them. They want to see that you are willing to make the extra effort to call and speak by phone. This not only shows your seriousness about playing for their program, but it also provides them insight into your communication skills. Coaches are looking for players with maturity, assertiveness and interpersonal skills, so a phone call will be the best way to begin to show a coach that you possess those qualities. Below [...]
RecruitPKB: Learn from Lexi
I hope many of you had the chance to watch the ANA Inspiration this past weekend, if not you missed a great tournament finish with some moments that a young girl could definitely learn a lot from. By now we all know that Lydia Ko is a phenomenal player and her attitude on the course is certainly one to pay attention to and try to mimic, but the player who impressed me the most during the final round was Lexi. She started the day with a one-shot lead, which she quickly lost on the first hole after a poor first tee shot. As any professional golfer knows by now, during a major a 3-4 stroke lead can disappear in a heartbeat so staying patient throughout the day is a must during a major championship. But it was Lexi's composure on the last few holes that really stood out to me. I snapped this picture of her from the Golf Channel's live coverage of Lexi [...]
RecruitPKB: Learn to be Excellent
“Success is about having, excellence is about being. Success is about having money and fame, but excellence is being the best you can be.” - Mike Ditka It's so easy to get caught up in the desire to win trophies and awards. They are the external rewards that make athletes feel like their hard work has paid off and they've earned something to show for it. Many times those external rewards are what determine an athlete's success. You hear too often that a professional athlete retires, sustains a career ending injury, gets cut from the team or loses their tour status, just to realize they are left with years of external rewards but no internal ones. They don't know who they are without being successful at their sport. Learning that true excellence comes from within is what will allow a junior golfer the opportunity to use the game of golf as a personal development tool to succeed both on and off the course. All [...]
RecruitPKB: Learn from Jason Day
This past week on social media I shared a clip from Jason Day's post-round interview after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Unfortunately, the clip isn't available online anymore but when asked about his win, Jason emphasized 4 main areas that I thought were important to share. He says that his physical training and nutrition are two areas he has really focused on improving recently. He trains hard in the gym and he eats to fuel his body for the grind of competition. Also, he said that he spends 3.5 hours a day working strictly on short game, where he said that he writes everything down in a notebook, as in everything. He tracks the drills that he does, how he performs during those drills and he analyzes his results from one practice to another. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect a junior golfer to have 3.5 hours every day to practice their short game (it's a professionals job) but the takeaway is that Jason [...]
RecruitPKB: Stories and Lessons from Tour
I serve as a guest blogger for WomensGolf.com and they recently asked me to write an article about my experiences from playing on tour. I thought I would share that as part of my Recruit PKB article this week. I hope you enjoy some of the stories and lessons from a few of my favorite experiences both on the LPGA and Symetra Tour. You can read all about them HERE.
RecruitPKB: Ways to Lose Your Scholarship Chances
There is a lot of information out there about what it takes to play golf in college, the scholarship opportunities and what you need to be doing in regards to the recruiting process, but I thought I would take a few minutes and give you some insight on things you may be doing or not doing that could ruin your college scholarship chances. Here are a few of the things you need to know so that you don’t cost yourself the chance to play in college and hopefully earn some scholarship money Poor Grades – For those junior golfers who struggle to keep their grades up in high school, it could be grounds for not receiving a golf scholarship. Poor grades are a red flag for a college coach that you may lack the time management and discipline needed to play golf in college. College life is more demanding than high school, so, if you struggle in high school with your grades then more [...]
RecruitPKB: College Golf Practice
I have re-posted almost every blog that Coach Sutherland from SMU has written because the information is so insightful and valuable for junior golf families. I was honored to have her complete an interview for me last year which you can find Part 1 and Part 2. But this week she shared some details about the team's practice schedule that should give you some great ideas on how to set up your practice as well. You can check out the article HERE. Personally, this article was very satisfying for me to read as I just started a 4-week challenge with my full-time players that included some very similar drills that Coach Sutherland uses in her practice. The girls have a specific plan of action each week, they track their results, they WRITE THEM DOWN, they work on their weaknesses, and they have something specific to focus on improving the next time. One of my girls made the comment "I loved the drills because now I have [...]
RecruitPKB: Love Yourself
"7 in 10 girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with family and friends." – Real Girls, Real Pressure: National Report on the State of Self-Esteem, Dove Self-Esteem Fund As we recently celebrated the universal day for "showing love" it got me thinking about the importance of also learning to love yourself. No, I'm not talking about the theme behind the new Justin Bieber song "Love Yourself". I am not encouraging you to love yourself to the point of being conceited or thinking that you are better than anybody else, but it is extremely important to simply love yourself. I know as a young pre-teen or teenager this is a very hard concept to grasp. You are going through different stages of maturity, you are dealing with different social environments, you want to do what it takes to be in the popular crowd, or you may be dealing [...]
RecruitPKB: Valuable Info from College Coaches
Over the weekend, I traveled to DC to be the guest speaker during the Mid-Atlantic College Golf Day at Congressional CC. I was honored and excited to join a group of great coaches that included the Virginia Tech men's head coach, Marshall women's head coach, Towson men's and women's head coach, Naval Academy men's head coach, Bridgewater College coach, McDaniel College coach, Shenandoah University coach and several others. After presenting my talk, I was fortunate to have the chance to sit in on the breakout sessions that were led by the college coaches and I wanted to take a few minutes to share some of the highlights of those sessions that I feel would be valuable information for you. When comparing your scores as a junior golfer to a collegiate player's scores you should add 4-5 shots more to make it a fair comparison. Courses aren't just longer but they are also set up much more difficult and typically played in tougher conditions during the fall, late winter, [...]
RecruitPKB: Utilizing Social Media
Social media can be a very useful tool to utilize during the recruiting process but it can also be a way to cost you opportunities if you don’t use it wisely. While there are rules on the coach’s end for connecting with recruits through social media, they can still do their homework to investigate what you are posting about, what your friends are posting about, and how you present yourself when you aren’t in front of them. However, if you use social media wisely, it can be a great way to learn more about the coach, the golf program, and share your own progress throughout your junior golf career. Furman University Head Women’s Golf Coach shared her thoughts on the use of social media: “We are a little limited on who we can friend and things like that, but there’s probably a good chance that I might have players that are friends with some of the kids and if there’s a lot of [...]