goal setting

I often get asked advice on which tournaments/tours and how many tournaments a junior golfer should play. I wanted to share some of my advice on why this isn't a question that has a simple answer. There is not a "one size fits all" plan when it comes to tournament scheduling because all players have different goals, expectations, resume, family demands, priorities, and financial means that determine what a tourney schedule should look like. A few factors that dictate variations in tournament schedules include (but are not limited to): A player's goals for playing college golf and her current tournament resume will dictate the quality and quantity of playing in tournaments. This has varying ranges as the number of tournaments is likely important at one stage of your development. Then it does become a bit more about the quality of tournaments over the quantity once you [...]

Parents have been told over and over that they should allow their children to take the initiative with the recruiting process and do all of the communication. I recently shared a similar tip on my Instagram as well. While this is true, it has caused many parents to believe that they should never interact with the coaches during the process. However, there comes a time during the process when the parents should feel comfortable asking the coaches some questions. Parents certainly need to be involved as the offers are given and it's closer to decision-making time, especially when the topic of money is discussed. Parents may have to be honest with their child and coach about the amount of scholarship they will need to get their child to that school. This is certainly an acceptable conversation for the parent and coach to have before any decision [...]

"Perfection is motivated by fear. Excellence is motivated by love." One thing I've come to notice in the 14 years of consulting, evaluating, and watching female golfers, is their tendency to seek perfection in the game of golf. The girls have a mentality that makes them fear they are going to do something wrong or that if it's not perfect then it's not good enough. They expect every shot to be perfect. They worry a bad shot or missed putt means they made a mistake. They worry about what will happen if they miss a green. Or if they make a double bogey. Or if they hit it OB. They fear they are letting their coach or their parents down. They fear they won't get recruited to play college golf. Instead of seeking perfection on the golf course, focus on seeking excellence. Excellence is driven by [...]

One of the tougher parts about advising young girls through the college recruiting process (and even college grads who come back to me for advice on internships and job interviews) is the rejection and disappointment of not being recruited or offered a scholarship or position on the team. Not having the scores is usually a pretty obvious and understandable reason that can somewhat easily be accepted by a young golfer. But when a young golfer finds out that a friend of theirs, or rival player, or someone whose scores weren’t as good as theirs, ends up getting recruited or offered then it can be very difficult to not take it personally and wonder what you did wrong. Well after almost 14 years of working in this industry, I wanted to share some of the reasons and insight into why this might happen and how you can [...]