Recruit PKB: Accountability Partner

Accountability is one factor many junior golfers struggle with when it comes to practice. It's very easy to hit some range balls, maybe do some chipping and putting drills, then call it a day. Even for those players who practice several hours a day they rarely get the most out of their time. One of the best ways to get more out of your practice is to find an accountability partner. Just as many people do when they want to lose weight, quit a bad habit or train for a marathon, they find somebody who will hold them accountable for their daily decisions, actions, and progress. It doesn't even have to be someone who is physically there with you either, just check-ins via phone can even make a big difference. Golf is one of the few sports where most of your practice is done on your own, [...]

By |2018-09-27T14:31:40-04:00September 26th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Club Golf in College

The goal for most young female golfers is to move on to play varsity golf in college, however, that plan doesn't always work out when the school of your choice and the golf program's needs for a player like yourself don't match up. If this does happen to you, it doesn't mean you have to give up playing golf once you get to college. The statistics on playing varsity golf in college aren’t exactly optimistic. According to the NCAA, only 2% of male high school golfers will play Division 1, and 3% for females. For students that don’t go to Division 1 though, there’s still plenty of options available. Division 2, Division 3, NAIA, NJCAA, as well as several smaller leagues provide a competitive outlet for students. One option that is often overlooked is non-varsity college golf. Club golf has grown tremendously in the last couple years [...]

By |2018-09-19T20:12:22-04:00September 19th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

Recruit PKB: College Coach Perspective

Some insight from college coaches on what junior golfers can do beyond their games to prepare for college golf. What else beyond their golf game can they do to better prepare for college golf? "Time management is the biggest problem for Freshman. If you can start making a weekly schedule now it will help you when you get to college." – Division 1 Women’s Coach “Work hard in school. Take Honors and AP classes. The harder you work in high school, the easier it will be in college. You'll have a better foundation and be less stressed about golf. You cannot work too hard in high school!!” – Division 1 Women’s Coach “Academics! 9th grade means as much as 12th grade. The better your grades the better options you will have for scholarship opportunities.” – Division 1 Women’s Coach “Improved interpersonal communications skills; modern technology has all [...]

By |2018-08-30T11:37:50-04:00August 30th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Preparing for September 1

This past week we hosted a webinar on Preparing for Sept 1st (of junior year). If you missed the webinar you can listen to the replay <HERE> I wanted to share a few of the highlights that we discussed on the webinar. If you are interested in scheduling your free 30-minute RecruitPKB consultation to learn more about the recruiting process please select a time from the online calendar <HERE>. Preparing for Sept 1st 1. Understand the NCAA contact rules for Sept 1 of Junior Year Electronic communication is allowed by the coaches (phone calls, texts, and emails) starting on Sept 1 of junior year. Prior to Sept 1 of junior year, coaches can only communicate with a player if the player calls and they answer or the coach speaks to a 3rd party (high school or swing coach). Official and unofficial visits are allowed starting Sept 1 of a recruit's [...]

By |2018-08-24T13:51:28-04:00August 23rd, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Trying Out Competitive Golf Again

For those who may follow my social media (@bjacksongolf) you probably saw that I decided to play some competitive golf again for the first time in almost 8 years. My last full season was in 2009 where I played 11 LPGA Tour events that year and the rest on the Symetra Tour, then I only played a handful of events on the Symetra Tour in 2010 and officially gave up full time playing by 2011 so it has been quite a while since I played competitively. And within those 8 years since "retirement" I don't exactly play much golf period, except a few charity outings every year so this was quite the decision to play some competitive golf again. So for the last 4-5 weeks, I tried to commit some time each week to practicing and playing some rounds of golf. I switched my workouts from training [...]

By |2018-08-24T13:52:34-04:00August 16th, 2018|Player Performance Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Bad Attitude in College Recruiting

How much does a bad attitude affect a golfers chance for a scholarship? "Positive attitude is the number one thing I look for and a bad one is an instant radar killer. Have one and you’re off my radar immediately." - DI Women's Head Coach "Depends on the coach. Attitude might not affect scholarship but may affect how many options he/she has. A bad attitude usually reflects character, and character is the number one thing we look for in a recruit." DII Women's Head Coach I was recently asked this question on Instagram during a Q and A session so I reached out to a few coach friends of mine to see what they had to say. A bad attitude is definitely a consistent factor in a coaches "red flag" list. Keep in mind tho that all coaches do have different player styles that they like to see [...]

By |2018-07-26T11:53:53-04:00August 9th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

Recruit PKB: College Coaches Advice to Parents

  What advice would you give parents to better support their kids throughout junior golf? "Don't make decisions or discourage the decisions your children make. Help them learn how to do things for themselves." - D1 Men's and Women's Coach "Let the kid push themselves because in golf you need to be self-motivated once you get to college golf" - D1 Women's Coach "Let them be responsible for themselves, making schedules, filling out applications" - D1 Men's Coach "Stay out of the way and don't interfere with golf swings. Let the instructor or coach deal with it and let it be their responsibility" - D2 Men's and Women's Coach "Parents need to realize that not every kid is going to be a superstar, in fact, most often, their child will excel when they play a supportive role behind the scenes." - D1 Women's Coach How much of [...]

By |2018-07-26T11:24:19-04:00August 2nd, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Understanding the Coach’s Gut Feeling

Many parts of the recruiting process are difficult to understand and explain but a coach's "gut feeling" is definitely one of the toughest, especially in my role with a player and parent who are trying to figure out if and what they may have done wrong. I recently asked a college coach to share her thoughts on that "gut feeling" and this is what she had to say: "Last year I tried to soul search for the best way to answer that because I realized I haven’t ever signed two players for the same reason. The only thing they all had in common was a feeling I got at some point along the way that told me I need her on my team! And now I just own it because it really is true. No resume stands out for being great, the only ones that “stand [...]

By |2018-07-26T11:16:26-04:00July 26th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Embrace Being Different

We were all made to be unique individuals. We all look different, think different and act differently. But as a middle school or high school student, it can sometimes be difficult to accept the things about yourself that are different. It is so tempting to want to fit in and be part of the popular crowd. But, the truth is the people who learn to embrace the things about themselves that make them unique tend to be the ones that go on to be more successful than those that don't. They are more confident and secure because they know who they are and they know that their uniqueness sets them apart from everyone else. I promise that what you think is popular now will mean very little a year from now and especially once you get to college. Growing up it wasn't necessarily "cool" to be a [...]

By |2018-07-19T10:42:25-04:00July 19th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Ladder Drill

No matter how good of a short game you may have, it never hurts to work on basic fundamentals. This ladder drill is a great way to work on consistency with your chipping. If you can't consistently land the golf ball where you want to on the green then you are keeping yourself from maximizing your potential. There are several different ways to keep the ladder drill engaging and creative. Lay 3 or 4 clubs or alignment sticks a few feet onto the green. Leaving about 3 feet in between each one. Try to land a ball inside each space in a row going up the ladder, repeat coming back down. If you miss a space then start over. Repeat with a different club. Try to call which spot you want to land the ball in and see how many times you can successfully hit the correct [...]

By |2018-06-29T09:02:15-04:00June 29th, 2018|Player Performance Articles|1 Comment
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