After a few weeks of research and tracking down insight from many of the college golf coaches and a few college golfers, I put together a full article on "The Impact of Your Desired Degree and Your Goal of Playing College Golf." You can read the full article HERE Written by: Brandi Jackson, RecruitPKB College Consultant For more information about college recruiting, please contact Brandi at bjackson@pkbgt.org
Last week I shared some of the college coach's feedback about demanding majors and their impact on playing college golf. I took to IGTV to clarify some things and give a bit more insight and perspective on this subject and why it's so important to consider. IGTV EPISODE Written by: Brandi Jackson, RecruitPKB College Consultant For more information about college recruiting, please contact Brandi at bjackson@pkbgt.org
I recently dove into more research and insight on players wanting to pursue certain majors in college that have a tendency to conflict with golf schedules and coach preferences. I've got quite a bit to share so I'll start this week with some of the coaches feedback. Keep in mind, that these particular responses are from some of the most elite DI programs (all are top 100 ranked DI prograams) where the golf demand is very tough, along with some demanding academic schools included in these responses. I started with this group of coaches/programs just to shed some light on those elite programs that many girls dream of attending. As much as many girls want to overachieve and “do it all”, sometimes it’s just not that simple. I’ll be sharing more coach and player responses plus data on programs across all divisions as this was just a [...]
For those that may not know, I moved on from playing professional golf back in 2010 after giving it a go for 8 years. It's hard for many people to believe how little golf I play these days after over 20 years of playing competitively. I shared this story several years but it popped back up on my feed recently so I thought I would share it again with a few updates. I was asked to play in a 27 hole 2 person team tournament for a big charity here in the upstate of SC. I was paired up with Ali Rogers, 2012 Miss SC, and 2013 Miss America Runner Up. She had played a little high school golf but was a big softball player. The format was 9 hole best ball and 9 hole captains' choice before going in for lunch to be re-flighted and re-paired [...]
If you want to have dream schools on your list that is completely ok, I love to see a female golfer willing to work hard to play at the highest level possible. But especially if scholarship money is a top priority, then you need to focus most of your time and energy on the realistic schools where you are #1 or #2 on their list. If you only focus on your dream schools where you are on the coach's “interested” list then you will find yourself missing opportunities at great schools and programs where you may receive offers earlier. Scholarship money is not as abundant as many are led to believe so be sure you give yourself the opportunity to earn scholarship money by being realistic with the schools you focus on. Written by: Brandi Jackson, RecruitPKB College Consultant For more information about college recruiting, please contact Brandi at bjackson@pkbgt.org
I recently had a discussion about the number of schools a recruit should contact. Typically when a player shows me a list of 20-30 schools, the majority, if not all of them are unrealistic for the given recruiting timeline. While I am an advocate for having big goals that you have to work hard to achieve and reaching out to some dream schools, you have to be cautious about what percentage of dream schools vs realistic schools you have on your list. This not only leads to a lack of coach responses and interest, but it also creates a lot of anxiety and a decrease in confidence. In my recruiting content, I always say to contact 50+ schools but as with most parts of this process that is dependent on many factors. The reason I use that number is for the average player who is doing this [...]
"I was playing decent before I was talking to coaches. And when I started talking to them my scores went higher. I feel really stressed." - Junior Golfer In many ways, this is almost inevitable. No matter when you start the process, there is almost always going to be a shift in your mentality and expectations. Even if you have big goals of playing college golf at an early age, it’s difficult to avoid the added stress and pressure that the actual recruiting process can place on you. It is meant to be a learning, challenging, uncomfortable process that helps you decide a big piece of your future. For some recruits, the stress isn’t seen as much in their actual games bc they were able to get over stages of development prior to the process starting for them. For them, the stress may come more in the [...]
This past week Austin Ernst was kind enough to answer some questions as part of the PKBGT Invitational festivities. She was down in Florida preparing for her upcoming LPGA event, where she had a hole in one and won a 2-year lease for a Lamborghini when she sat down and filmed these for us. WATCH HERE -Brandi Jackson, RecruitPKB College Consultant For questions or to schedule your free PKB 30 Minute Initial Consultation send an email to bjackson@pkbgt.org
As a kickoff for PKBGT Invitational week, I had the pleasure of hosting Morgan and Madison Pressel for a live discussion. I knew it was going to be a great segment, and it definitely did not disappoint. In case you missed it you can watch it here WATCH HERE -Brandi Jackson, RecruitPKB College Consultant For questions or to schedule your free PKB 30 Minute Initial Consultation send an email to bjackson@pkbgt.org
Catch another episode of Tap Into College Golf with some great insight from James Madison University’s Head Women’s Golf Coach Tommy Baker. In just his 4th season at JMU, Coach Baker has led the team to record-breaking season, team, and individual honors. With one of his go-to mottos, "competitor vs participant" he has created a player-led program that sets their goals high and works together as a team to achieve them. Hear all about it in this 35th episode! LISTEN HERE -Brandi Jackson, RecruitPKB College Consultant For questions or to schedule your free PKB 30 Minute Initial Consultation send an email to bjackson@pkbgt.org
