RecruitPKB: Coach Interview with University of Albany

Coach Colleen McSween, University of Albany Head Women's Golf Coach, gives us her insight about college recruiting.   Do you prefer that a recruit fills out the online questionnaire or sends their resume? Or both? Personally, I prefer a personal email with their resume.  Our questionnaire is very generic, but if they have filled it out then at least I know they have looked through our website. What do you look for when observing a recruit on the course? Demeanor is important to me on a course.  Keeping emotions in tack.  Looks confident.  Walks tall.  Acts like they know what they are doing (even if they don't) :)  Also, I like kids that carry their golf bags.  I'm old school.  I realize push carts are maybe the future, but I still like to see the golfers picking up their bags.  I also like to see them walking off [...]

By |2018-02-22T10:43:12-05:00February 22nd, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: What NOT to do with an intro email

This past week I received a message from a college coach who wanted to share an email she had received. This email had so many things wrong with it that she wanted to make sure others knew and didn't make similar mistakes. I won't share the actual email but I do want to list out the mistakes that both myself and the coach concluded were necessary to address. Keep in mind this email was considered an "introductory email" where you are trying to make the best impression on a coach. The email was written and sent by the parent and not the player, a major turnoff to most all college coaches The email was typed on a phone and not a computer, leading to numerous formatting, grammatical and spelling errors. Simple words like "you" and "and" were shortened to "u" and "n" The very first sentence addressed [...]

By |2018-02-15T12:27:52-05:00February 15th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: Are You an Athlete?

Are you an athlete or do you just play a sport? This is a question that I have struggled with honestly answering for a lot of my life. For a long time, I thought I was an athlete simply bc I had the physical ability to play sports. I grew up playing basketball, softball, volleyball, and golf. I only played basketball until my sophomore year of high school but continued playing volleyball and of course golf throughout high school. I thought that because I was pretty good at them that meant I was a good athlete. And I thought because I went on to be a collegiate and professional golfer that meant I was a successful athlete. Now, years later, I finally realize what being an athlete really means. Every day, through my actions and decisions, I strive and sometimes struggle, to continue to become a better athlete in hopes that [...]

By |2018-02-08T12:37:48-05:00February 8th, 2018|Player Performance Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: Q and A with Western Kentucky

RecruitPKB College Consultant Brandi Jackson recently conducted Q and As with college coaches at all division levels across the country. Here is some insight from Coach Adam Gary, Head Women's Golf Coach at mid-ranked DI Western Kentucky University.   Do you prefer that a recruit fills out the online questionnaire or sends their resume? Or both? I really like to have both. It's nice to have all of the player's information in one place with our questionnaire database, but I like to get more detailed information from the resume also. What do you look for when observing a recruit on the course? I look for how a player interacts with their parents, players and host facilities. I think it's important to have good body language and show gratitude toward parents/volunteers. Obviously, I'm interested in technique, power, course management and short game skills as well. How important is it [...]

By |2018-02-01T19:36:59-05:00February 1st, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|1 Comment
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RecruitPKB: Include Your References

"This is frustrating.  A request with no opportunity to respond. It would be good if you could do a blog to your mailing list and tell kids to be specific about times, places, (swing) coach's numbers for responses and figure out whether or not the coach is interested....... By the way, I think it's rude if I just no-show a kid and I wouldn't do that if it was possible to avoid it, but this makes it tough to avoid.  My goal is to treat all players with dignity and kindness whether or not we are interested or not." This past week a college coach at a top 75 ranked DI program forwarded an email to me that she received from a 2020 recruit. She thought if I shared why the email frustrated her as a coach it might help others not make the same mistake. The [...]

By |2018-01-26T12:28:34-05:00January 26th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: Q and A with Lee University Coach

RecruitPKB College Consultant Brandi Jackson recently conducted Q and As with college coaches at all division levels across the country. Here is some insight from Coach John Maupin, head women's golf coach at top 20 ranked DII Lee University.   Do you prefer that a recruit fills out the online questionnaire or sends their resume? Or both? We prefer to receive their resume, it is much more likely to get our attention in a timely manner that way.   What do you look for when observing a recruit on the course? Very rarely are we looking for a specific result when observing a recruit on the course. We already typically have a good idea of their average score, so we are trying to observe the intangibles. How do they prepare for their round? How do they react when something goes wrong? Do they communicate/rely on their parents for [...]

By |2018-01-10T15:06:39-05:00January 10th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: Is It Too Early?

After giving up my professional golf career in 2010, I started working with junior golf families throughout the college recruiting process. I was speaking at high schools and tournaments all across the country about the realities of college recruiting and how to navigate the process. This was the first time I had become aware of how much the process had changed since I had gone through it as a junior golfer. One of the biggest eye openers for me was how early the process starts (and ends) and how unaware some families were about what it takes to play at the college level. I am a huge believer in keeping the game fun and not putting too much pressure on a young player. Nowadays there seems to be a lot more responsibility put on kids and more specialization of sports at a young age. I couldn’t imagine [...]

By |2018-03-06T15:52:51-05:00January 3rd, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: Happy New Year

Wow! Another year has flown by! I hope you are excited about 2018. As we kick off this new year, I wanted to pass along a few ideas on ways to approach the new year in terms of junior golf and college recruiting. As we all know many people like to set resolutions and goals at the start of a new year. These can range from work to fitness to financial to personal goals and resolutions. So why not take advantage of the start of the year excitement and write down a few goals of your own for golf and college recruiting. As you have read in many of my articles, outcome goals only give you a reference for creating your goals, you must dig deeper and create smaller, actionable goals in order to achieve those outcome goals. A dream is only as big as the plan [...]

By |2018-03-06T15:54:50-05:00December 28th, 2017|College Recruiting Articles|1 Comment
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RecruitPKB: Merry Christmas

I just wanted to take this time to say a very Merry Christmas to all of the PKB Girls Tour members and their families. This is such a wonderful time to spend with family and friends. I hope you are enjoying the holiday season as much as I am. Safe travels to all of you who are on the roads this time of year.

By |2018-03-06T15:54:59-05:00December 21st, 2017|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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Recruit PKB: Don’t Overlook DIII Programs

"As a DIII coach, I see families who overlook the experience that can be had at a DIII level for a strong player." This was the answer to “what is the biggest mistake you see junior golf families make in the recruiting process?” John Rogers, Head Coach at DIII Bridgewater College gave a great answer to shed some light on the experience you can receive playing DIII college golf. Yes, it’s great to have a big goal of playing DI golf but that isn’t always the fit nor the best opportunity for many players. And don’t be scared off by the absence of “golf scholarships”, I have seen numerous players get as good if not better packages at a good DIII program than any DI or DII program was going to offer. Coach Rogers full quote: “As a DIII coach I see families who overlook the experience [...]

By |2017-12-15T14:16:11-05:00December 14th, 2017|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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