drills

I've been having some discussions recently with some of my players about how they get caught up in their score and wondering how they can prevent that. And my answer was, you can't! In my opinion, it's just part of getting better and knowing that you’re close to shooting a new low round. It is just part of the process. You can't really just ignore the obvious at that point, which is your score. To expect a young golfer to not think about their score when that is really the ultimate goal they are aiming for is really tough to ask. But thankfully, each time it happens and you are aware of it, then it gets easier the next time. So I recommend giving yourself a little bit of a break from thinking that it’s such a negative thing right now. When you’re in those moments, [...]

Based on the NCAA rules that apply to the current period for your grad year, once you get a resume put together and do some research on schools and programs, you should begin to send out intro emails to coaches. A well-written intro email (by the student-athlete) is the first step in contacting the coaches. This email needs to provide some insight about you as a player, student, and person and have your resume/video attached or linked. You can use the same format for all of your intro emails but make sure they are specific and personal to each coach. Use your research notes! You can send intro emails at any point, there are no rules or restrictions on players sending emails to coaches. But a coach can not reply to emails or answer phone calls until June 15th prior to junior year so keep that [...]

A good quality resume that a college coach can easily access and get all of the important information they need to see is a critical step in the process. This is typically the first impression you are going to make on them. There are several ways you can create a resume. It can be online via a personal website, you can use a resume service such as the one that @juniorgolfscoreboard offers, or you can do a simple document/pdf. Any of these options is perfectly fine, but most importantly keep in mind this is a resume, so it needs to be professional and easy to follow. Don't be afraid to have a little fun and be creative with it, especially if that is your personality, but if you go overboard it may turn a coach off. Most importantly, it needs to be clear and concise with all [...]

Last week I explained why I use the "contact 75+ schools" in all of my tips and checklists. I hope you had a chance to read that because that gets misunderstood quite often based on the situation. So this week I just wanted to provide a little insight into how you can go about contacting those coaches. Keep in mind, this is for initial communication and getting your name out there. It takes organizing your list into the programs you really want to focus on and then doing your best to build a relationship with those coaches. That takes quite a bit of time and effort so you can't expect to do that for all of the schools you may initially contact. Make sure you have a good resume that has all of the necessary information, along with a swing video. (Junior Golf Scoreboard has a [...]

I want to cover some topics during what is a busy time in the recruiting process for juniors and seniors as they are making their decisions to play college golf, whether it’s a verbal commitment in the coming months or signing their NLIs to make it official. This specific topic of Get Better vs Get Scholarship sparked my interest after a conversation I had with Coach Holly Clark at UNCC, who I absolutely love chatting with about all things college and junior golf. If you didn’t know, UNCC Women’s Golf is currently ranked 28th in just their 3rd season as a program! But something I have discussed with many coaches who have voiced this as a frustration in their recruiting and coaching approach is trying to distinguish between girls who are playing golf to get better and which ones are playing to earn a scholarship. So [...]

This is the perfect time for this step of the process to be front and center as many 2020 and even 2021 recruits are making their college decisions. While this part of the process is very personal and specific to each player I wanted to share a few things to keep in mind as you are making your decision on where to play college golf. Consider all variables that you’ve learned thru the process and base your decision on the reasons that are important to you. These factors may be different than your friends (both golf and non-golf friends) so stick to what you feel is going to be right for you. Do not get caught up in the appearance of getting golf scholarship over what is the best fit. Yes, for many families the scholarship amount is a big part of the decision making process, but [...]

Once you have your resume and video put together then you need to start researching schools and golf programs. You need to understand what it takes to compete at different programs and what the school offers in terms of academics, majors, class size, post grad success, tuition, and financial aid. Finding the right combination of strength of golf program that is realistic to your resume and abilities, along with the academic and personal preferences of the school can be difficult. Be sure when you start to do research that you utilize the PING College Guide and Golfstat.com to help you better understand the golf programs and how they rank. Keep in mind college scores are usually 2-3 strokes higher in comparison to what a score would be as a junior golfer due to the difficulty of course, conditions, and expectations of a collegiate golfer. Also, coaches are [...]