Recruit PKB: Challenge Yourself

"If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you" This is just one of the many great quotes about the necessary impact of facing challenges. This is quite possibly one of the most truthful quotes you can find about life. You can also easily apply it to golf and your development as a player. I could sit and write for hours about this quote but I will keep it to just a few tidbits about how this applies to a young junior golfer. As with anything in life, if you aren't challenging yourself then you will never learn how to grow and develop as a person or an athlete. Take a minute and think about all of the big moments in your life, both good and bad, which ones do you feel that you learned the most from? Typically those are going to be the more "trying" [...]

By |2018-11-03T11:32:49-04:00October 31st, 2018|Player Performance Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Setting Realistic Goals and Dreams

I find myself very conflicted on the motto of "Dream Big" but also understanding in a setting like college recruiting what it can lead to through the process if you aren't realistic in your dreams and goals. If you have such a high standard for where you want to play college golf but physically, mentally, or maturity wise you aren't able to reach that dream, then you will end up feeling like the opportunities you have aren't good enough or you won't even give yourself the chance to find opportunities that will allow you to succeed in college golf. Yes, I hope you all have big dreams! Whether it's golf related, or your academics, or your future career, whatever it is - DREAM BIG! As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I had a BIG dream when I was just 8 or 9 years old that I wanted [...]

By |2018-10-25T12:03:00-04:00October 25th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Setting Specific Goals and Dreams

While some goals and dreams are going to be general, do your best to keep them as specific as you can. This may mean that you need to readjust as you get closer to reaching your goal or dream to make it more specific to your current progress. As I mentioned the other week, I had a dream when I was 8 or 9 years old to play on the LPGA Tour, and while then it was obviously understandable at that age to not be very specific about that dream, as I got older I never readjusted to set a more specific dream. I technically did live out my dream to "play" on the LPGA Tour so I can't be mad at 8-year-old Brandi, but what might have happened if I had set my dream to finish top 10 in a tournament, or maybe even win an [...]

By |2018-10-18T08:11:15-04:00October 18th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Long Term vs Short Term vs Process Goals

Last week I talked about the importance of knowing the "why" behind your goals and now this week I want to talk about the difference between long term, short term, and process goals. All three are important but knowing the difference and which ones to focus on can be the difference in achieving them or not. Goals are normally thought of as future achievements. They are dreams and wishes for something you want to happen in the future. By the time I was 9 years old, I already had my long-term goal (or dream) - to play on the LPGA Tour. That is all I wanted to do. I never made a backup plan, never thought about another profession or career. Not long after that, I set another shorter, but still, long-term goal, to play at Furman University. Because of the legacy of the Furman Women's Golf program, I knew it [...]

By |2019-01-18T12:06:56-05:00October 11th, 2018|Player Performance Articles|0 Comments

RecruitPKB: Let’s Talk About Goal Setting

Goal setting is an important step in the process of becoming the best junior and collegiate golfer you can be. But goal setting and the process of achieving them have been up for a lot of debate over the years. So I wanted to take the next couple of weeks to share my thoughts on setting goals and how I've learned to approach this process in my own life now in comparison to during my golf career. For starters, it starts with setting goals for yourself, not for anyone else. As a young athlete, I do believe your parents, coaches, and other adults are the best resources for advice and support on setting the right goals. Many times they do have a better understanding of what success looks like in the future and that the process isn't always going to be fun and games. They know that [...]

By |2018-10-04T11:15:34-04:00October 4th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments

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
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