junior golf

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. May you have a wonderful holiday filled with many blessings and wonderful memories shared together. From RecruitPKB College Consultant Brandi Jackson      

A few years ago, one of my graduating seniors shared this with me for what how she felt when she looked back on the recruiting process. “I feel like I grew up so much through this process” - High School Senior At the end of the day, there is no guarantee for finding the perfect fit, or even a college golf fit period. There are a lot of factors and pieces that have to fall in place just right for that to happen. But if you’re willing to fully embrace this process and not expect it to be easy, then you will learn so much about yourself and develop skills that will go far beyond your golf goals. Many times when the process seems easy, then college golf will hit you with a major reality check because I can guarantee you that college golf will be tough! [...]

The official start of the NLI signing period will kick off on November 8, 2023, and will continue until August 1, 2024, for all current high school seniors. You can sign at any time during this period. When you sign the NLI you agree to attend the institution full-time for one academic year in exchange for athletic aid for that academic year. You do not have to re-sign the NLI each year, your institution will notify you if your scholarship is renewed after the first year. The NLI is a binding agreement between the student-athlete and the institution, whereas a verbal commitment is only between the student-athlete and the coach and is not legally binding. So once you’ve signed the NLI, if the coach were to leave, you’re still legally obligated to attend that institution. The NLI is ONLY signed by DI and DII student-athletes who are [...]

It’s one step to send out some initial emails but it takes ongoing communication to generate interest and develop a relationship with the coach. Based on NCAA rules, DI coaches can't respond to your emails or speak to you until June 15th prior to your junior year. So it will mostly just be update emails that you will be sending up to that point to try and generate their interest. If it's after June 15th then hopefully you are currently in communication with some college coaches and receiving feedback on their part. Whichever scenario, it is necessary to maintain some form of communication and updates as you move throughout this process. If you are being too unrealistic with your options then you may not be very productive in your efforts, so do keep that in mind. If you are struggling with what to say in your updates [...]

It’s never too early to research schools and golf programs. This will give you an idea of what it takes to play for those programs so you can set goals and get to work! Sites like www.collegegolf.com and www.golfstat.com are both great ways to learn more about the golf programs! You can also check out the team and school websites for both academic and athletic information. And of course, their social media! And when looking at the current players’ scores remember a few things... courses are longer, tougher, and played in fall and spring only and it’s a higher level of pressure and demand that college players are under so scores aren’t exactly reflective of their junior golf days. Also, don’t compare yourself to the 5th player on the team to see what is realistic, coaches are trying to make the team better, which means they need [...]

Last week I hosted a webinar about starting the college recruiting process. While these weren't specific steps I included in that webinar, I wanted to talk about the importance of getting started off on the right foot with direction and guidance specific to you, your goals, and your expectations. Through the RecruitPKB Platform, there are 3 ways you can do that so I wanted to go over those ways and why they are so important for the success of the process. Then over the next few weeks, I'll be tackling each of the main steps of the recruiting process that I feel are important for a recruit to follow. What is an Evaluation or Consultation and why is it so important? Yes, these are both free and paid services we provide through the RecruitPKB Platform as part of our partnership, but I include this as part of [...]