the complete golfer

"MORE THAN YOUR SCORE" Never forget that you are better, bigger, brighter, and bolder than your score. Your score is just.... a number. a tally of golf shots. a total of drives, GIRs, up and downs, and putts. You are the sum of... all the hard work, dedication, and commitment to getting better all the hours practicing by yourself all the late nights studying all the effort in the gym all the putting drills till dark all the range balls till your hands hurt all the tournaments, practice rounds, long car drives, and weather delays all the wins and losses all the friends made You are more than your score   If you need any assistance please contact Recruit PKB College Recruiting Consultant Brandi Jackson at bjackson@pkbgt.org.

At the start of the new year, I shared with you some things to consider reflecting on from 2021 in order to then plan for 2022. I had all my clients do this assignment, this week I wanted to share some of the most common and most insightful responses that they shared with me. What sentence or phrase sums up your 2021? "A rollercoaster" "Hard work works" "Frustrating but making progress" "Improvise. Adapt. Overcome." "You learn more by losing than by winning,"   What is the biggest challenge you overcame this past year? "Balance between school and golf" "Online school" "Getting back up even when I wasn't seeing the progress" "Letting go of all the negative thoughts I had about my game" "Recovery from surgery/injury"   What was the single biggest time “waster” this year? "Doubting myself and thinking I couldn't" "Not working on my mental game" [...]

"Any young girl starting this process should know that, like anything, it takes practice to be comfortable emailing and talking to coaches, so don’t beat yourself up. I remember physically shaking before my first phone call! Do your best to prepare, which is all that you can ultimately control, and learn from every experience just like you do on the golf course." - Allie Kantor 2021 Recruit - UVA Class of 2025   The recruiting process certainly has a way of making you feel uncomfortable, but so does your golf game, college golf, and life in general. Learning to prepare for the steps in the recruiting process is vital to successful communication with college coaches. Those first emails when you hit send and first phone calls with a coach will make you a bit nervous and scared. But the more you learn, prepare and plan for each [...]

"I would say my least favorite part of the recruiting process was the very beginning. It was difficult for me to stay motivated at that point when I wasn’t seeing those immediate responses from coaches or a lot of immediate results. But as I learned, it is a long process, and it was definitely worth the patience and time I put in in the end." - Megan Morris, Freshman at Rhodes College   For those who may feel like the process isn’t going as you imagined or you aren’t seeing the results from your work, just remember to stay focused on your efforts. The timeline and end goal may look very different than what you’re anticipating right now, but if you are committed and persistent then it is going to work out as it should. It requires a lot of trust in the process but also not [...]

Based on a survey I conducted to coaches these were the results on whether to send your resume or questionnaire: Both: 54% Resume Only: 38% Either: 8% Questionnaire Only: 0% So I think the evidence is pretty clear, at a minimum the resume is a must over just filling out the questionnaire. And if you’re really interested, it’s probably a good idea to fill out both! Many times a player's resume does not include all that a coach needs to see so they may automatically default you to fill out the questionnaire to make sure you give them the info needed to properly evaluate you. So if they request that or you find it online, take the time to fill it out, along with sending a good quality resume and a well-written intro email.   If you need any assistance with developing your resume or contacting coaches [...]

Now that we are in the full swing of summer golf, many of you have accumulated an array of tournament results. If you haven't been updating the coaches on a regular basis, then it's a great time to make sure you put them together in a nice format and send them out to college coaches. The results need to be easy for a coach to read and understand. Putting them in a chart or bullet point list is recommended. You need to include the date, tournament name, golf course, scores, finish, and stats. Stats would include the par, yardage, slope, and rating if available. A big majority of coaches will know the conditions and strength of the field for many of the tournaments but if you are emailing coaches outside of your region they may not know them all. If you have already sent an intro email [...]