RecruitPKB: NCAA Women’s Golf Championships

Well for those who watched the NCAA Women's Golf Championship you got quite an exciting show put on for you. Every year those matches have come down to the wire and this year did not disappoint. For those who didn't get a chance to watch click HERE for some highlights. I had a tough time watching because I couldn't decide who I wanted to win. The Alabama women's head coach, Mic Potter, was actually my college coach at Furman. So obviously I wanted to see him win another national championship there at Alabama. I made it to NCAA Nationals as an individual my senior year at Furman and I had Mic alongside me the whole way. I will forever be grateful for all that he taught me. He is one heck of a coach! On the other hand, Laura Ianello, the women's head coach at Arizona is [...]

By |2019-01-18T12:07:12-05:00May 24th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Tournament Schedule

A very important step to remember is to email coaches with your upcoming schedule. Now that we are in full-time spring golf and the summer months are just around the corner it is a great time to do this. Coaches have no way of knowing where you will be playing unless you tell them. So, if you want them to come out and watch you play, make sure you let them know where you are going to be. Don't wait until the end of summer to send them your results, make the opportunity available for them to come out and watch you play. For 2019 recruits, coaches are able to reply to your emails so it may be a good question to ask if they plan to recruit at a tournament nearby that you are considering playing in. If you are a sophomore or younger you don't [...]

By |2018-04-05T11:30:43-04:00April 12th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Masters Takeaways

One of the best takeaways a young player can get from Masters week is to watch the Masters on the Range coverage. If you don't get a chance to watch, here are a few takeaways from how the pros warm up: 📌 Most aren’t going to get too technical the morning of a tournament round 📌 They focus on balance and tempo with their swings 📌 They give themselves different lies around the practice greens 📌 They focus on putting fundamentals, usually with a training aid or some tees 📌 They take their time and focus on every shot they hit 📌 They aren’t rushed or anxious Your warmup is NEVER the time to get frustrated or in your head about not hitting it perfect or not feeling 100% confident. It’s the time to accept what is going on that day, trust your abilities and not fight [...]

By |2018-04-05T11:35:10-04:00April 5th, 2018|Player Performance Articles|0 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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