RecruitPKB: Be Honest About Your Commitment

I have recently had discussions with several of my players who are nearing the point of making their college decision so I wanted to address a few things to think about as you navigate both the early and later stages of the process. I receive a lot of feedback from coaches about what happens once a player gets on campus in comparison to what was discussed during the recruiting process. Many times what a player tells the coach during the recruiting process isn't what they are willing to do once they get to school. The decision to play collegiate golf is a life-changing decision. If you end up at a school or program that doesn't match up to your goals, work ethic, and expectations then it can end up being a long 4 years for you, the coach and the team. Yes you "can" transfer and in [...]

By |2018-03-02T14:45:25-05:00March 1st, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: Coach Interview with University of Albany

Coach Colleen McSween, University of Albany Head Women's Golf Coach, gives us her insight about college recruiting.   Do you prefer that a recruit fills out the online questionnaire or sends their resume? Or both? Personally, I prefer a personal email with their resume.  Our questionnaire is very generic, but if they have filled it out then at least I know they have looked through our website. What do you look for when observing a recruit on the course? Demeanor is important to me on a course.  Keeping emotions in tack.  Looks confident.  Walks tall.  Acts like they know what they are doing (even if they don't) :)  Also, I like kids that carry their golf bags.  I'm old school.  I realize push carts are maybe the future, but I still like to see the golfers picking up their bags.  I also like to see them walking off [...]

By |2018-02-22T10:43:12-05:00February 22nd, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: What NOT to do with an intro email

This past week I received a message from a college coach who wanted to share an email she had received. This email had so many things wrong with it that she wanted to make sure others knew and didn't make similar mistakes. I won't share the actual email but I do want to list out the mistakes that both myself and the coach concluded were necessary to address. Keep in mind this email was considered an "introductory email" where you are trying to make the best impression on a coach. The email was written and sent by the parent and not the player, a major turnoff to most all college coaches The email was typed on a phone and not a computer, leading to numerous formatting, grammatical and spelling errors. Simple words like "you" and "and" were shortened to "u" and "n" The very first sentence addressed [...]

By |2018-02-15T12:27:52-05:00February 15th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: Q and A with Western Kentucky

RecruitPKB College Consultant Brandi Jackson recently conducted Q and As with college coaches at all division levels across the country. Here is some insight from Coach Adam Gary, Head Women's Golf Coach at mid-ranked DI Western Kentucky University.   Do you prefer that a recruit fills out the online questionnaire or sends their resume? Or both? I really like to have both. It's nice to have all of the player's information in one place with our questionnaire database, but I like to get more detailed information from the resume also. What do you look for when observing a recruit on the course? I look for how a player interacts with their parents, players and host facilities. I think it's important to have good body language and show gratitude toward parents/volunteers. Obviously, I'm interested in technique, power, course management and short game skills as well. How important is it [...]

By |2018-02-01T19:36:59-05:00February 1st, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|1 Comment
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RecruitPKB: Include Your References

"This is frustrating.  A request with no opportunity to respond. It would be good if you could do a blog to your mailing list and tell kids to be specific about times, places, (swing) coach's numbers for responses and figure out whether or not the coach is interested....... By the way, I think it's rude if I just no-show a kid and I wouldn't do that if it was possible to avoid it, but this makes it tough to avoid.  My goal is to treat all players with dignity and kindness whether or not we are interested or not." This past week a college coach at a top 75 ranked DI program forwarded an email to me that she received from a 2020 recruit. She thought if I shared why the email frustrated her as a coach it might help others not make the same mistake. The [...]

By |2018-01-26T12:28:34-05:00January 26th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: Q and A with Lee University Coach

RecruitPKB College Consultant Brandi Jackson recently conducted Q and As with college coaches at all division levels across the country. Here is some insight from Coach John Maupin, head women's golf coach at top 20 ranked DII Lee University.   Do you prefer that a recruit fills out the online questionnaire or sends their resume? Or both? We prefer to receive their resume, it is much more likely to get our attention in a timely manner that way.   What do you look for when observing a recruit on the course? Very rarely are we looking for a specific result when observing a recruit on the course. We already typically have a good idea of their average score, so we are trying to observe the intangibles. How do they prepare for their round? How do they react when something goes wrong? Do they communicate/rely on their parents for [...]

By |2018-01-10T15:06:39-05:00January 10th, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: Is It Too Early?

After giving up my professional golf career in 2010, I started working with junior golf families throughout the college recruiting process. I was speaking at high schools and tournaments all across the country about the realities of college recruiting and how to navigate the process. This was the first time I had become aware of how much the process had changed since I had gone through it as a junior golfer. One of the biggest eye openers for me was how early the process starts (and ends) and how unaware some families were about what it takes to play at the college level. I am a huge believer in keeping the game fun and not putting too much pressure on a young player. Nowadays there seems to be a lot more responsibility put on kids and more specialization of sports at a young age. I couldn’t imagine [...]

By |2018-03-06T15:52:51-05:00January 3rd, 2018|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: Merry Christmas

I just wanted to take this time to say a very Merry Christmas to all of the PKB Girls Tour members and their families. This is such a wonderful time to spend with family and friends. I hope you are enjoying the holiday season as much as I am. Safe travels to all of you who are on the roads this time of year.

By |2018-03-06T15:54:59-05:00December 21st, 2017|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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RecruitPKB: Growth or Fixed Mindset?

How do you handle adversity, challenges, and setbacks? With a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? One of my favorite and most influential books is Carol Dweck's Mindset. She has conducted numerous studies and research on the difference in those who possess a fixed mindset and those who have a growth mindset. This past weekend I had the opportunity to sit down with a top 50 ranked DI college golf coach to discuss plans for one of my players who would be playing there. We wanted to create some steps and goals to help this player be more prepared for when she stepped foot on campus in the fall. A lot of our discussion centered around mindset and creating more of a growth mindset when it comes to challenges and getting better at all areas of golf and life. I thought I would share a little insight into to [...]

By |2018-03-06T15:55:05-05:00December 8th, 2017|Player Performance Articles|0 Comments
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Recruit PKB: Do Your Research

"I always appreciate it when a recruit has done a little research on college golf, and my team in particular." - Emily Kuhfeld,  GA Southern Women's Head Coach Part of the recruiting process is to learn more about the school, coach, and golf program as you communicate with a college coach, but do as much initial research as you can. You can learn a lot thru the resources that are available online such as the school and team website, PING College Guide, CollegeBoard.com, Golfstat.com, Golfweek.com, and social media. Also doing your research on the NCAA rules will show a coach that you’re serious about this process and understand what can and can’t happen at different stages. This will help you not make mistakes or misunderstand why a coach may not be responding to your emails or phone calls.   If you do the research you will be much more prepared for [...]

By |2017-11-30T13:08:24-05:00November 30th, 2017|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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