THINKING ABOUT PLAYING
COLLEGE GOLF? Start planning now!
By Laurel Karper
IJGA Director of Education
Being recruited and offered a scholarship to play
collegiate golf requires a tremendous amount of talent,
hard work and dedication. Despite the challenge of
playing collegiate golf, 96% of IJGA golfers continue on
to play at the collegiate level.
Remember, playing golf at the collegiate level is a privilege!
While we cannot guarantee you this opportunity, the IJGA
College Planning and Placement Team will prepare you
for and provide you with the best opportunities to solidify
your goals and find a realistic option for college. Playing
golf collegiately requires a high level of skill. Coaches will
look for specific sets of skills on the course and not just
a handicap or scoring average. They want to see great
character and leadership from their prospective student-
athletes.
The College Planning and Placement Team works with the
Golf Coaching Team to address feedback from college
coaches on what skills and characteristics they are looking
for to encourage our students to build their toolbox for
recruitment.
Here are some tools that coaches value in the recruiting
process:
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Passion for golf
Coachable – ability to continue to develop
Embracing the team environment
Desire to earn a college degree
Certain levels of scoring/ball control
Level of self-resilience and commitment
As each student develops in their golf game and academics
on different levels, each student is assisted and helped in
different ways throughout the process.
Each student will need to keep on task with goal building
assignments and seminars and will:
Keep an accurate list of tournaments and results to share
with interested coaches.
Gather Information, make lists of wants and goals to help
compare universities and golf teams.
Target schools that meet your academic ability and golf
skills.
1.
Seek advice on writing letters, communicate with
coaches, narrow down options and begin applications
for college.
2. Build your tournament profile to challenge yourself
against better players and continue to play with results
according to your coach’s development plan.
3. Plan to visit colleges during time down from
tournament play.
If you consistently work on these tasks you will find that
your college planning will progress and coaches will
invite you to visit campus to discuss the opportunity of
recruitment to their college and team.
Time management will be your best friend. Keep your
schedule and work environment organized. This will reflect
how you plan your approach to the game of golf as well
as your college search. If you start early, it will become
second nature and you will be grateful you are organized
and not procrastinating. During the college process you
will receive lots of information and important paperwork.
It is just as important to work through the college process
as it is course management and reading the greens.
Stay tuned for our post next month about: Time
Management - How to get ahead of the game.
If you have any questions about the college planning
process, email me at [email protected].
Boston University Head Women’s
Golf Coach, Bruce Chalas, shares
the three main attributes collegiate
coaches are looking for while
recruiting junior golfers.
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