How to know when it's time to focus on something else (asking for a friend)

At what age and corresponding skill level will it become apparent that getting recruited for golf (D1 or competitive D3 to help with admissions) is no longer realistic?

Example: Freshman, turning 15yo, and barely breaking 90?

"Asking for a friend"

> @CTgolf said:

> At what age and corresponding skill level will it become apparent that getting recruited for golf (D1 or competitive D3 to help with admissions) is no longer realistic?

>

> Example: Freshman, turning 15yo, and barely breaking 90?

>

> "Asking for a friend"

Just tell your friend to keep grinding. My son 16. Just finally got his first letter last thursday. He has been on cloud 9 since. Friday afternoon he got his second letter.

Just keep grinding!

> @CTgolf said:

> At what age and corresponding skill level will it become apparent that getting recruited for golf (D1 or competitive D3 to help with admissions) is no longer realistic?

>

> Example: Freshman, turning 15yo, and barely breaking 90?

>

> "Asking for a friend"

Between 15 and 18 there is so much physical and mental growth. Tell "your friend" to get a solid coach, practice and play as much as possible, and continually learn which areas of their game offer the greatest chance to cut strokes from the score. Oh yeah, have fun along the way, too.

When you bet on yourself and continue to lose it might be time to redirect your efforts.

> @DavePelz4 said:

> > @CTgolf said:

> > At what age and corresponding skill level will it become apparent that getting recruited for golf (D1 or competitive D3 to help with admissions) is no longer realistic?

> >

> > Example: Freshman, turning 15yo, and barely breaking 90?

> >

> > "Asking for a friend"

>

> Between 15 and 18 there is so much physical and mental growth. Tell "your friend" to get a solid coach, practice and play as much as possible, and continually learn which areas of their game offer the greatest chance to cut strokes from the score. Oh yeah, have fun along the way, too.

This. As a former hockey coach... I've seen kids that were going nowhere break out in the 16-18 yr timeframe. One who was a strong mediocre player, now in the NHL.

> @DavePelz4 said:

> > @CTgolf said:

> > At what age and corresponding skill level will it become apparent that getting recruited for golf (D1 or competitive D3 to help with admissions) is no longer realistic?

> >

> > Example: Freshman, turning 15yo, and barely breaking 90?

> >

> > "Asking for a friend"

>

> Between 15 and 18 there is so much physical and mental growth. Tell "your friend" to get a solid coach, practice and play as much as possible, and continually learn which areas of their game offer the greatest chance to cut strokes from the score. Oh yeah, have fun along the way, too.

This ^^^^

> @gripandrip said:

> > @DavePelz4 said:

> > > @CTgolf said:

> > > At what age and corresponding skill level will it become apparent that getting recruited for golf (D1 or competitive D3 to help with admissions) is no longer realistic?

> > >

> > > Example: Freshman, turning 15yo, and barely breaking 90?

> > >

> > > "Asking for a friend"

> >

> > Between 15 and 18 there is so much physical and mental growth. Tell "your friend" to get a solid coach, practice and play as much as possible, and continually learn which areas of their game offer the greatest chance to cut strokes from the score. Oh yeah, have fun along the way, too.

>

> This. As a former hockey coach... I've seen kids that were going nowhere break out in the 16-18 yr timeframe. One who was a strong mediocre player, now in the NHL.

Probably seen more of the opposite thought I'm assuming. The 'sure thing' fizzled out after being overworked or after mommy and daddy got divorced.

> @CTgolf said:

> At what age and corresponding skill level will it become apparent that getting recruited for golf (D1 or competitive D3 to help with admissions) is no longer realistic?

>

> Example: Freshman, turning 15yo, and barely breaking 90?

>

> "Asking for a friend"

It really depends score doesn't mean much in golf it's easy and there have been a ton examples of golfers who 15 or 16 and even older couldn't break 90 and end up being a highly ranked PGA pro. Having said that it is rare to happen. If it's obvious the kid doesn't have a passion for golf and just wants to do it for college recruiting then yes the chances are slim to none. Scores in golf are just that a person could have bad course management or just not setup correctly and the score could drop overnight.

If he has a passion let him go with it if not I would sit down and have a long talk and find out what he is passionate in and go in that direction and maybe play for fun with him.

> @leezer99 said:

> > @gripandrip said:

> > > @DavePelz4 said:

> > > > @CTgolf said:

> > > > At what age and corresponding skill level will it become apparent that getting recruited for golf (D1 or competitive D3 to help with admissions) is no longer realistic?

> > > >

> > > > Example: Freshman, turning 15yo, and barely breaking 90?

> > > >

> > > > "Asking for a friend"

> > >

> > > Between 15 and 18 there is so much physical and mental growth. Tell "your friend" to get a solid coach, practice and play as much as possible, and continually learn which areas of their game offer the greatest chance to cut strokes from the score. Oh yeah, have fun along the way, too.

> >

> > This. As a former hockey coach... I've seen kids that were going nowhere break out in the 16-18 yr timeframe. One who was a strong mediocre player, now in the NHL.

>

> Probably seen more of the opposite thought I'm assuming. The 'sure thing' fizzled out after being overworked or after mommy and daddy got divorced.

Unfortunately yes. Some people push their kids way too hard.

> @tiger1873 said:

> there have been a ton examples of golfers who 15 or 16 and even older couldn't break 90 and end up being a highly ranked PGA pro. Having said that it is rare to happen.

Curious who you might be referring to? Tons of examples, but they are rare to happen? Which is it?

Your friend needs to love the game and have passion to improve year over year.

I hear so many parents talk about so and so got a scholarship, they're so excited and "all set" for college. Couldn't be more wrong. Getting recruited to play a college sport is only the beginning, you have to work 2x as hard once you arrive on campus. If the coaches are doing their job ... they'll be bringing in a new crop of players every season that want your spot on the team. To work hard enough to keep your spot, or even gain a higher spot takes more effort than what it took to get you the scholarship offer.

If your friend is playing golf to get better at every aspect of the game, learn from mistakes, work on weaknesses whether physical or mental ... anything is possible.

Pardon my asking, but does the player enjoy playing and competing at golf, and enjoy working to improve his game? If so, I suggest he continue to play and improve, whether he'll ever get good enough to play college golf or not. If he doesn't love golf and working on his game, why even think about college golf?

Not impossible, but the drive and commitment it will take to shave +/- 18 strokes off his scores during the next year or so will be a huge undertaking.

Curious how long he has been playing thus far. I mean, if he started 6 months ago, then the possibilities are there. If he's been playing for 5-10 yrs already then it will be really tough.

I believe Greg Norman and lee Trevino didn’t break out until later in life on the women’s side you have Babe Zaharias and Stacy Lewis.

The problem is you can’t just say X score means your never going to make it. Golf is made up of many skills and learning to apply them to achieve a low score.

What I see a lot kids do golf because they hope they will use it for a resume to get in college those kids are wasting there time because plenty of other kids have a burning desire to just play golf. If you have a burning desire to play golf you will almost certainly find a way to play and that means at the end of day playing for fun and everything else is just gravy.

If I read between the lines the kid CTGolf is talking about just wants golf on the resume and probably shouldn’t be putting time and effort into something that more then likely will not pay off. If he loves golf he wouldn’t care about school and just want to get better.

> @CTgolf said:

> At what age and corresponding skill level will it become apparent that getting recruited for golf (D1 or competitive D3 to help with admissions) is no longer realistic?

>

> Example: Freshman, turning 15yo, and barely breaking 90?

>

> "Asking for a friend"

I had a friend, who teaches golf for a living, had his son sign to play college golf in June before he started school that Fall. It's never to late. Problem nowadays is that the coaches don't have to come to you. You have to go to the coaches to get recruited in most cases.

Without getting too specific, the friend's child is in high school and it seems that unless scores drop significantly is not going to get recruited to play golf at any of the ideal target schools

The general consensus seems to be that, if a student is not recruited to play for college then there is no benefit to admissions other than having another nice extra-curricular on the application

So the (obviously subjective) question the friend asked me was, at what point do you know it's not realistically going to happen for your kid?

To provide some context, the child loves golf and will continue to play casually and competitively (high school team), but will redirect hours and hours of practice and competition (especially tournaments requiring travel) required to have a shot at being recruited to play in college; those hours saved would be redirected towards other activities/interests

> @CTgolf said:

> Without getting too specific, the friend's child is in high school and it seems that unless scores drop significantly is not going to get recruited to play golf at any of the ideal target schools

>

> The general consensus seems to be that, if a student is not recruited to play for college then there is no benefit to admissions other than having another nice extra-curricular on the application

>

> So the (obviously subjective) question the friend asked me was, at what point do you know it's not realistically going to happen for your kid?

>

> To provide some context, the child loves golf and will continue to play casually and competitively (high school team), but will redirect hours and hours of practice and competition (especially tournaments requiring travel) required to have a shot at being recruited to play in college; those hours saved would be redirected towards other activities/interests

>

I cannot comment on the specific kid; however I agree that parents and kids have to pick and choose extracurricular activities very carefully once at high school, and decide how much time it makes sense to dedicate to golf. With heavy school work load and everything else at high school, there is only so much time one can spend out of school; golf unfortunately is very time consuming in order to stay and excel at high level. There are many other extracurricular activities that can not only strength college admission resume but can also help the overall growth and development for kids in the long run. To spend too much time on golf will obviously take time away from participating in these valuable activities. It is a tough call for every one including kids who excel at junior level and have a good chance to play college golf.

> @tiger1873 said:

> I believe Greg Norman and lee Trevino didn’t break out until later in life on the women’s side you have Babe Zaharias and Stacy Lewis.

>

> The problem is you can’t just say X score means your never going to make it. Golf is made up of many skills and learning to apply them to achieve a low score.

>

> What I see a lot kids do golf because they hope they will use it for a resume to get in college those kids are wasting there time because plenty of other kids have a burning desire to just play golf. If you have a burning desire to play golf you will almost certainly find a way to play and that means at the end of day playing for fun and everything else is just gravy.

>

> If I read between the lines the kid CTGolf is talking about just wants golf on the resume and probably shouldn’t be putting time and effort into something that more then likely will not pay off. If he loves golf he wouldn’t care about school and just want to get better.

Listen, playing a sport collegiality for your professional resume is more important than playing high school golf for the college resume. My daughter was just interviewed to intern at one of the largest Financial Firms in the world. Her last interview was about playing golf at Pinehurst. She got the internship.

> @CTgolf said:

> Without getting too specific, the friend's child is in high school and it seems that unless scores drop significantly is not going to get recruited to play golf at any of the ideal target schools

>

> The general consensus seems to be that, if a student is not recruited to play for college then there is no benefit to admissions other than having another nice extra-curricular on the application

>

> So the (obviously subjective) question the friend asked me was, at what point do you know it's not realistically going to happen for your kid?

>

> To provide some context, the child loves golf and will continue to play casually and competitively (high school team), but will redirect hours and hours of practice and competition (especially tournaments requiring travel) required to have a shot at being recruited to play in college; those hours saved would be redirected towards other activities/interests

>

If you are a Junior and your average isn't at 75, you need to move on.

> @CTgolf said:

> Without getting too specific, the friend's child is in high school and it seems that unless scores drop significantly is not going to get recruited to play golf at any of the ideal target schools

>

> The general consensus seems to be that, if a student is not recruited to play for college then there is no benefit to admissions other than having another nice extra-curricular on the application

>

> So the (obviously subjective) question the friend asked me was, at what point do you know it's not realistically going to happen for your kid?

>

> To provide some context, the child loves golf and will continue to play casually and competitively (high school team), but will redirect hours and hours of practice and competition (especially tournaments requiring travel) required to have a shot at being recruited to play in college; those hours saved would be redirected towards other activities/interests

>

And probably the best thing to do is to look at JGS rankings to make a determination.

> @heavy_hitter said:

> > @tiger1873 said:

> > I believe Greg Norman and lee Trevino didn’t break out until later in life on the women’s side you have Babe Zaharias and Stacy Lewis.

> >

> > The problem is you can’t just say X score means your never going to make it. Golf is made up of many skills and learning to apply them to achieve a low score.

> >

> > What I see a lot kids do golf because they hope they will use it for a resume to get in college those kids are wasting there time because plenty of other kids have a burning desire to just play golf. If you have a burning desire to play golf you will almost certainly find a way to play and that means at the end of day playing for fun and everything else is just gravy.

> >

> > If I read between the lines the kid CTGolf is talking about just wants golf on the resume and probably shouldn’t be putting time and effort into something that more then likely will not pay off. If he loves golf he wouldn’t care about school and just want to get better.

>

> Listen, playing a sport collegiality for your professional resume is more important than playing high school golf for the college resume. My daughter was just interviewed to intern at one of the largest Financial Firms in the world. Her last interview was about playing golf at Pinehurst. She got the internship.

I think we all know there are real benefits to playing college golf. If a kid decides that golf is their ticket but really doesn't have the passion then I truly think it's uphill battle they are playing or the wrong reasons. Better to spend their time in other pursuits. There are more ways than one way to get an interview and job somewhere.

If the friends son is playing to help get into college, he will be far better off upping his GPA and blowing up the SAT. I believe HH has said that college coaches look at performance in big time junior events, more so than high school scores. Realistically, the son needs to drop 15-20 shots, play in some top level junior events and do well in those events. That is a lot to put on a kid.

> @CTgolf said:

> Without getting too specific, the friend's child is in high school and it seems that unless scores drop significantly is not going to get recruited to play golf at any of the ideal target schools

>

> The general consensus seems to be that, if a student is not recruited to play for college then there is no benefit to admissions other than having another nice extra-curricular on the application

>

> So the (obviously subjective) question the friend asked me was, at what point do you know it's not realistically going to happen for your kid?

>

> To provide some context, the child loves golf and will continue to play casually and competitively (high school team), but will redirect hours and hours of practice and competition (especially tournaments requiring travel) required to have a shot at being recruited to play in college; those hours saved would be redirected towards other activities/interests

>

Does this kid know why the scores are higher than they would like? Do they strike the ball consistently and are they putting well? You can easily do both and have high scores because of course management and the fact the kid has no clue on what it takes to score low and needs someone to teach them how to score low. Realistically can they drop a few strokes every month or is there score all over the place?

To compare has he been to a larger tournament with kids that are likely to get recruited? How did he hit the ball and putt against them? I am guessing not well otherwise the need for the question would not be there.

It's not about practice either if you have to bang balls or hit chips for 80 hours a week then either your doing something wrong or the talent is not there. You have to practice but not kill yourself either.

> @farmer said:

> If the friends son is playing to help get into college, he will be far better off upping his GPA and blowing up the SAT. I believe HH has said that college coaches look at performance in big time junior events, more so than high school scores. Realistically, the son needs to drop 15-20 shots, play in some top level junior events and do well in those events. That is a lot to put on a kid.

thanks

to clarify, the friend's kid is not shooting 90, that was just a hypothetical; and by de-prioritizing golf one of the alternative uses of time could be more focus on academics

> @golfer55082 said:

> > @CTgolf said:

> > Without getting too specific, the friend's child is in high school and it seems that unless scores drop significantly is not going to get recruited to play golf at any of the ideal target schools

> >

> > The general consensus seems to be that, if a student is not recruited to play for college then there is no benefit to admissions other than having another nice extra-curricular on the application

> >

> > So the (obviously subjective) question the friend asked me was, at what point do you know it's not realistically going to happen for your kid?

> >

> > To provide some context, the child loves golf and will continue to play casually and competitively (high school team), but will redirect hours and hours of practice and competition (especially tournaments requiring travel) required to have a shot at being recruited to play in college; those hours saved would be redirected towards other activities/interests

> >

>

> I cannot comment on the specific kid; however I agree that parents and kids have to pick and choose extracurricular activities very carefully once at high school, and decide how much time it makes sense to dedicate to golf. With heavy school work load and everything else at high school, there is only so much time one can spend out of school; golf unfortunately is very time consuming in order to stay and excel at high level. There are many other extracurricular activities that can not only strength college admission resume but can also help the overall growth and development for kids in the long run. To spend too much time on golf will obviously take time away from participating in these valuable activities. It is a tough call for every one including kids who excel at junior level and have a good chance to play college golf.

I think this response accurately reflects the conundrum

> @heavy_hitter said:

> > @CTgolf said:

> > Without getting too specific, the friend's child is in high school and it seems that unless scores drop significantly is not going to get recruited to play golf at any of the ideal target schools

> >

> > The general consensus seems to be that, if a student is not recruited to play for college then there is no benefit to admissions other than having another nice extra-curricular on the application

> >

> > So the (obviously subjective) question the friend asked me was, at what point do you know it's not realistically going to happen for your kid?

> >

> > To provide some context, the child loves golf and will continue to play casually and competitively (high school team), but will redirect hours and hours of practice and competition (especially tournaments requiring travel) required to have a shot at being recruited to play in college; those hours saved would be redirected towards other activities/interests

> >

>

> And probably the best thing to do is to look at JGS rankings to make a determination.

Yes I think they have looked at scores and rankings of previous recruits to target schools and realized it is a bit of a reach, hence they are considering what to do

> @CTgolf said:

> > @heavy_hitter said:

> > > @CTgolf said:

> > > Without getting too specific, the friend's child is in high school and it seems that unless scores drop significantly is not going to get recruited to play golf at any of the ideal target schools

> > >

> > > The general consensus seems to be that, if a student is not recruited to play for college then there is no benefit to admissions other than having another nice extra-curricular on the application

> > >

> > > So the (obviously subjective) question the friend asked me was, at what point do you know it's not realistically going to happen for your kid?

> > >

> > > To provide some context, the child loves golf and will continue to play casually and competitively (high school team), but will redirect hours and hours of practice and competition (especially tournaments requiring travel) required to have a shot at being recruited to play in college; those hours saved would be redirected towards other activities/interests

> > >

> >

> > And probably the best thing to do is to look at JGS rankings to make a determination.

>

> Yes I think they have looked at scores and rankings of previous recruits to target schools and realized it is a bit of a reach, hence they are considering what to do

How far is a bit out of reach? If it's not far at all, could look to play somewhere D1 and transfer up to a better D1 if things go well frosh/soph years.

Why is the 90 hypothetical. So what are the kids scores? They are a very important element to the advice you are looking for. My son is 9 and can likely shoot 90 from 6,700 yards.

> @kekoa said:

> Why is the 90 hypothetical. So what are the kids scores? They are a very important element to the advice you are looking for. My son is 9 and can likely shoot 90 from 6,700 yards.

Thanks for that non-sequitur brag

> @heavy_hitter said:

> > @CTgolf said:

> > Without getting too specific, the friend's child is in high school and it seems that unless scores drop significantly is not going to get recruited to play golf at any of the ideal target schools

> >

> > The general consensus seems to be that, if a student is not recruited to play for college then there is no benefit to admissions other than having another nice extra-curricular on the application

> >

> > So the (obviously subjective) question the friend asked me was, at what point do you know it's not realistically going to happen for your kid?

> >

> > To provide some context, the child loves golf and will continue to play casually and competitively (high school team), but will redirect hours and hours of practice and competition (especially tournaments requiring travel) required to have a shot at being recruited to play in college; those hours saved would be redirected towards other activities/interests

> >

>

> And probably the best thing to do is to look at JGS rankings to make a determination.

JGS ranking 500-600

Getting recruited for target schools, not just any college, are the goal, and so it looks like those rankings need to be closer to top 200-300

While that amount of improvement is *possible*, the problem is it would take a lot more time and effort than they have already put forth - and for a high school student that is a pretty big ask, with possibly very uncertain outcome