JUCO?

Hey, Im a junior in high school and I am talking to a few Junior college coaches, and was wondering if junior college is a decent way to get experience and then maybe transfer and play for a bigger school? My grades are alright, 3.0 out of 4, and my tournament scoring avg. is 76

I play Juco Golf right now, The competition is definitely there, It's a lot of fun, If your Coach does a good job and you play well enough he can talk to 4 year schools for you and back you up, But you have to bring it!

alright cool, ya the coach of the school that im looking at is really good..where do you play?

Chad Cambell played his first two years at a juco. Worked out well for him............. Talent, desire, and hard work is what you need, not a big name D1 school.

alright cool, ya the coach of the school that im looking at is really good..where do you play?

I play in Iowa, Im from Minnesota originally but this is a cheap way to go and cant beat playing college golf, btw I noticed our bags are A LOT alike

Thats cool, the team im looking at is ranked 6th in div 2 juco..ya they are quite a bit alike, i was going to get ap2's but i decided to go with the rac tp's mainly because of price and i think the tp's are solid sticks

Hey, Im a junior in high school and I am talking to a few Junior college coaches, and was wondering if junior college is a decent way to get experience and then maybe transfer and play for a bigger school? My grades are alright, 3.0 out of 4, and my tournament scoring avg. is 76

Hello

It sounds like you have your academic future mapped out pretty well. Attending a solid JC can be a really good way to familiarize yourself with the rigors associated with maintaining a course load while playing a sport (in your case, golf). Two of my buddies played on their JC golf teams and they had a blast. One of them ended up transferring to the University of Akron where he completed his Bachelors Degree while playing on a really solid team.

Also, in selecting the JC route, you will be able to get a start on your way as a student athlete, and you will save yourself a bunch of money (which you will definitely appreciate down the road). Good luck with your decision.

Loren

Hey, Im a junior in high school and I am talking to a few Junior college coaches, and was wondering if junior college is a decent way to get experience and then maybe transfer and play for a bigger school? My grades are alright, 3.0 out of 4, and my tournament scoring avg. is 76

Hello

It sounds like you have your academic future mapped out pretty well. Attending a solid JC can be a really good way to familiarize yourself with the rigors associated with maintaining a course load while playing a sport (in your case, golf). Two of my buddies played on their JC golf teams and they had a blast. One of them ended up transferring to the University of Akron where he completed his Bachelors Degree while playing on a really solid team.

Also, in selecting the JC route, you will be able to get a start on your way as a student athlete, and you will save yourself a bunch of money (which you will definitely appreciate down the road). Good luck with your decision.

Loren

Jr college is a great way to go! I played at one of the top Jr colleges in the country, I would have played there for 4 years if I could have. The PGA, Nationwide and European tours are full of former junior college golfers. It's a great way to play for 2 years and get you core classes out of the way before transfering to a bigger school.

If I had the choice over again, I probably would've gone to a big school and walked on rather than go to a juco. It's tough to really get any attention from D-1 coaches as a JUCO player unless you're really going to stand out. If you want to go from playing JUCO to D-1 you really should consider finishing in the top-20 or so at Nationals. Anything less than that and you won't get many looks. Go to the big school, walk on, work on your game, and by junior year you'll be playing with the big boys.

A lot depends on which JUCO that you go to. There are a handful of schools where most of the top JUCO players play and coaches know to look at players coming out of those schools. If you aren't finishing in the top 20 at the national championships, then you probably aren't D1 material. At least not D1 material at a good school. There are plenty of D1 schools where the quality of golf isn't very good.

Right, but JUCO golf in Illinois isn't real competitive. There's a couple schools, but they're mainly Division II JUCO and if you're looking for top JUCO then Division I would be your best pick. I dont know many of them, I'm pretty sure Indian Hills CC in Iowa is DI but they're aren't many. If you're a top caliber golfer already, I'm not sure JUCO is a good choice unless of course grades are down, but doesnt seem like that in your case.

Most of the good JUCO golf is in the southeast and Texas. Scotsdale CC is good too.

Ya ive noticed the juco teams in illinois arnt that great, but the one im looking at is Parkland cc which is ranked 6th in d II, but im not sure, the main reason i would want to go juco is because i thought it might help me get ready for d I golf and to get my core classes out of the way at an easier school.

the reason I chose JUCO was my coach is a damn cool guy and I am saving SOOOO much money this way, I could have attended other colleges as my grades are fine, but I didnt feel like coming out of school having to pay back student loans and such

There's more to college than just golf. I went to a Division 1 school to play golf and ended up only playing for two years because I decided my heart wasn't in it anymore. The type of experience and connections you are going to make at a junior college can in no ways compare to the possibilities a regular 4-year institution can offer. Just my 2 cents.

I'm also goin through the process. My question though is if you go to a JUCO, will the two years you play golf there count towards your 4 years of NCAA elgibility? Or do you still have 4 years to play if you transfer to a 4 year?

You will have 2 years of eligibility left. You could redshirt and be on the team for 3 more years, but you could only play for 2.

You need to be careful of 2 issues if considering JUCO transfer to 4-yr college:

1. Are you academically prepared? One of the problems larger universities are having is with ill-prepared transfer students (in general, not just athletes), that find the academic work/program is exceedingly more difficult in the traditional/larger 4-yr school than where they came from....they keep percentages on stuff like that and the percentages of juco's graduating after transfer has not been great.

2. Will you have enough transferable credit? My understanding is that the percentage of course credit that must be accepted by the accepting school in order to transfer has been increased in recent years (forgot the percentage, thought it went something like 25 => 40% of credits, which still means that if you're only getting credit for 40% of credit taken in 2 years, you've lost 60%, which is more than 1 year already, which is mute point if you red shirt, you'll be there an extra year anyway....but you still have to contend with #1 above).

Before you go down that road, find out what the issues are, both athletically and academically.

Thanx! I wasnt sure about that NCAA rule. Im definitely going to go to a JUCO cause my grades arent the best. i screwed around my freshman and sophomore year when i didnt get how important grades were. my grades are definitely better now but my gpa was so low after those two years only a 4.0 would have drug me out of it and that is impossible with some of the classes im taking. but why dont all credits at a JUCO transfer to a 4 year? does that mean i might have to take classes over to get credit for them? or do classes that count for like 10 credits at a JUCO only count for 4 credits after the transfer?

You'll need to talk to an academic advisor at the school you are going to go to, hopefully they will have an athletic academic advisor who will be familar with NCAA transfer rules. As long as you stick to the main core classes, you won't lose much when you transfer. But it depends on the school you transfer too.

I also ended up at JUCO because of my high school grades, I never took studying seriously. Big regret there. I had a full ride to the University of Miami, but I couldn't get in there with my grades. So I went to jr college with the intent to transfer to Miami after 2 years. After my 1st year at jr college, Miami dropped men's golf. Title IX crap. Oh well, I still ended up going to a great school. I had just always dreamed of going to Miami. So make sure you study kids! :)

Dealing with the whole grades thing, many of the big university's have deals with the junior colleges to transfer all of the credits over. Most of these are for colleges in the state where you went to junior college. Talk with an advisor though, they'll know...sometimes.

Thanx everyone! When i go to finalize my paperwork i willl make sure to talk to an advisor and get everything sorted out. My main goal is to just play college golf. i really dont care where, but to just continue to play this great game at a higher competitve level would be a dream come true.

^^Nolan your right your grades arent great, but youll be find at a juco. Youll sure do fine at a 4 year college too once you transfer over. You shouldnt worry about that too early in the year.

P.S. See you tommorow at practice