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: Are You an Athlete?

Are you an athlete or do you just play a sport? This is a question that I have struggled with honestly answering for a lot of my life. For a long time, I thought I was an athlete simply bc I had the physical ability to play sports. I grew up playing basketball, softball, volleyball, and golf. I only played basketball until my sophomore year of high school but continued playing volleyball and of course golf throughout high school. I thought that because I was pretty good at them that meant I was a good athlete. And I thought because I went on to be a collegiate and professional golfer that meant I was a successful athlete. Now, years later, I finally realize what being an athlete really means. Every day, through my actions and decisions, I strive and sometimes struggle, to continue to become a better athlete in hopes that [...]

By |2018-02-08T12:37:48-05:00February 8th, 2018|Player Performance 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: 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: Happy New Year

Wow! Another year has flown by! I hope you are excited about 2018. As we kick off this new year, I wanted to pass along a few ideas on ways to approach the new year in terms of junior golf and college recruiting. As we all know many people like to set resolutions and goals at the start of a new year. These can range from work to fitness to financial to personal goals and resolutions. So why not take advantage of the start of the year excitement and write down a few goals of your own for golf and college recruiting. As you have read in many of my articles, outcome goals only give you a reference for creating your goals, you must dig deeper and create smaller, actionable goals in order to achieve those outcome goals. A dream is only as big as the plan [...]

By |2018-03-06T15:54:50-05:00December 28th, 2017|College Recruiting Articles|1 Comment
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Recruit PKB: Don’t Overlook DIII Programs

"As a DIII coach, I see families who overlook the experience that can be had at a DIII level for a strong player." This was the answer to “what is the biggest mistake you see junior golf families make in the recruiting process?” John Rogers, Head Coach at DIII Bridgewater College gave a great answer to shed some light on the experience you can receive playing DIII college golf. Yes, it’s great to have a big goal of playing DI golf but that isn’t always the fit nor the best opportunity for many players. And don’t be scared off by the absence of “golf scholarships”, I have seen numerous players get as good if not better packages at a good DIII program than any DI or DII program was going to offer. Coach Rogers full quote: “As a DIII coach I see families who overlook the experience [...]

By |2017-12-15T14:16:11-05:00December 14th, 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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RecruitPKB: I Didn’t Sign, Now What?

I know it may feel like everyone else signed their NLI last week but don't worry! There are still opportunities out there and coaches who need players. You can still find an opportunity to play college golf and sign during the regular signing period in April if you put some work into the process. Keep a good schedule of tournaments lined up throughout the fall, winter, and spring. Let the coaches know where you will be playing. Focus mostly on DII, DIII, NAIA and JuCo schools, as most DI programs will have finished their recruiting. There are still some DI coaches looking for players into the spring of senior year, but it's a more rare occurrence so don't put many eggs in that basket. Try to consider some colder areas of the country as those programs tend to fill up their roster later. The better academic schools usually [...]

By |2017-11-09T14:21:53-05:00November 16th, 2017|College Recruiting Articles|0 Comments
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