Playing College Golf

The Steps to playing college golf are outlined in this article including: academics,  how to get noticed,  the college golf recruiting process, finding college scholarships and the NCAA, finding a college golf program to meet your individual golf needs, and ultimately signing a National Letter of Intent.

This is the second part of the TRC’s College Golf Basics Tutorial Series.  In this article we will discuss the process of how to get to play college golf.  You will be able to negotiate with a college coach, select a college golf team that is right for you and earn a college scholarship.

You do NOT need to pay a College Golf Adviser or College Consultant thousands of dollars to get recruited by a college or play on a college golf team.  NO ONE can guarantee you a college spot on a golf team or scholarship.  Familiarize yourself with the steps and process and you can achieve the same results, plus earn a solid relationship with your new college coach.

The following are the steps to playing college golf:

1) Play Junior Golf successfully at a competitive level. At the TourResourceCenter.com we will teach you about the most watched junior golf tournaments by college coaches.  Levels 1, 2 & 3 are all ranked by the junior rankings systems: Golfweek, NJGS and the AJGA.  These junior ranking systems all have significant differences between them and you will need to understand those differences to best improve your ranking.  Also playing High School Golf is important to show a college coach that you can function as part of a team however it is not the typical source for college coaches to find competitive junior golfers.  The best competition is in a Level 1, 2 or 3 ranked event listed here at the TourResourceCenter.com

2)  Academics. A strong GPA and SAT/ACT test scores are very important to the recruiting process.  Most Division I schools require a minimum of a 3.0 GPA and a 1200 SAT. The NCAA, NAIA, and NCJAA set the minimum standards, in terms of entrance exam scores and GPA, for the student athlete awarded the scholarships.  The CollegeBoard has an on-line tool called the ”Academic Tracker” that can be found under ’my college list’ and then ‘Am I on track?’.  This very cool tool allows you to enter your GPA and University / College of choice, paired with your SAT’s and estimate your eligibility.

3)  Understand the Timeline for making contact with the College Coaches and verbal commitments.  The junior golf world has changed so much in the past couple of years.  Many college coaches start following a junior golfer in top level tournaments around the 8th or 9th grade.  After several tournaments it is obvious that a college coach is interested and, if you are too, you should make contact with that college coach.  They are not allowed to contact you until your junior year and there are strict rules on how and when they can contact you.  This is for your protection.  Most College Coaches will ask for a verbal commitment during your Junior year and maybe as early as your sophomore year.

4) Understand the Rules of Recruiting, Evaluations and Official visits.  Once you start high school, in ninth grade, you become a ‘prospective student athlete’.  In our College Golf Tutorial series we will be discussing the specifics of all these do’s and don’t’s.  For more information you can read more at the NCAA.

5) NCAA Eligibility Center.  The NCAA Eligibility Center has a process called the Prospective Student Athlete that an athlete wanting to play Division I or II needs to complete. This includes completing specific ‘core classes’ before their graduation within a required GPA and SAT scores. Every student athlete should register with the NCAA Eligibility Center starting their junior year in high school.  Other requirements will need to be met like sending a transcript directly from the high school. Money $$ Savings Advantage: If you have your SAT or ACT scores forwarded directly to the NCAA Eligibility Center (college code “9999″) whenever you take an exam then you will not have to pay extra to have them sent to colleges because all colleges have access to the NCAA

The NCAA, or National Collegiate Athletic Association, is probably the most widely recognized association, but not the only one. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) is a similar association of smaller colleges and universities. The National Junior College Athletic Association (NCJAA) is an association of community and junior college athletic departments. NCAA and NCJAA are limited to institutions in the U.S., whereas the NAIA permits membership to colleges and universities outside the U.S.

 6) Discuss finances with your parents and college golf scholarship offers.  Collegiate golf scholarships are available for men and women at schools in all three of the major athletic associations. They also implement standards for the institutions for recruiting and in the form and value of the scholarships and the proportion of recipients who must ultimately earn degrees. If you are seeking a collegiate athletic scholarship, you should be familiar with these guidelines. Later in our College Golf Series here at the TourResourceCenter.com we will tell you more about college golf scholarships and as a member you will have access to a complete list of golf scholarships as they become available.

7) National Letter of Intent

The Tour Resource Center is your direct source for information on collegiate golf. The TRC College Golf Basics Tutorial Series will guide you through the process.  This was the second part of the TRC’s College Golf Basics Tutorial Series, to follow more of the series click on the link below for the College Golf Series – Introduction..

College Golf Basics Tutorial Series Listing:

1. Intro/The College Golf Basics – Released Monday, September 28, 2009
2. Playing College Golf; Important Information to Know – Released Monday October 4, 2009
3. How To Get College Scholarships, Golf Scholarships & Financial Aid – Released on Saturday October 17, 2009
4. How to Find Minority College Scholarships – Released on Wednesday October 28th, 2009
5. College Golf The Recruiting Process by Dianne Dailey; DI Women’s Golf Coach – Released on December 2, 2009
6. Selecting the Right College Golf Coach, College Golf Team and College-Released on February 10, 2010
7. Is College Golf For Everyone? / What is it like playing on a college golf team?
8. Careers in Golf

Related Articles:
COLLEGE GOLF SERIES – Introduction to the College Golf Basics for College Scholarships, College Recruiting and Playing College Golf; by Georgina Lewis at the Tour Resource Center

Advice for Junior Golfers Who Want to Play College Golf

Ping American College Golf Guide

College Golf Recruiting and Scouting

College Golf Recruiting

Sports Scholarships, Athletic Scholarships, and Financial Aid for Student Athletes

Sports Scholarships, Financial Aid, and College Search Resources

NCAA Eligibility Center

College Athletic Scholarships

Tags: athletic scholarship, college coaches, college golf, college golf team, college golf tutorial series, college recruiting, college scholarships, CollegeBoard.com, golf scholarship, junior golf, NCAA, playing college golf, student athlete

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 4th, 2010 at 6:20 pm and is filed under Junior Tour 411 College, Professional Caddie Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.