Info for prospective college players

[mrpheebz]

I've been reading a lot of topics about what is needed to play Division I and there is a wide variety of answers. I've seen everything from shooting anywhere in the 70's with a 4.0 GPA to averaging 72 or better in tournaments. I've personally seen a lot of kids go Division I who had no business playing at that level and I've also seen kids with DI talent play DIII. So I have scoring averages from 5 Division I teams from the Fall season of 09 so everyone can see what is needed to play DI at any level. I understand that to be a scholarship player at a big time school you need to average a lot better than this, but to say that a 72 average in high school is needed to play at ANY DI school just isn't true.

 

MAAC team

77.50

77.45

78.14

78.89

79.80

79.50

79.78

82.00

85.50

 

CAA team 1

73.92

74.08

75.10

76.67

76.46

76.71

80.67

80.60

 

CAA Team 2

81.3

85.4

85.4

88.0

88.5

90.3

98.5

 

MVC Team

76.6

77.3

77.9

81.5

82.3

82.8

83.0

 

Horizon League

75.5

76.7

79.0

79.0

81.1

81.6

82.0

86.3

 

I do not intend for this to become a controversial thread, I just want any high school players who want to play DI anywhere to know what it takes. Also, sorry if I'm beating a dead horse and if a Mod feels like I am then feel free to lock this thread.

[walts00]

One thing you may not have considered: High school events are typically played from the middle tees and college events are typically played on what I would consider "tournament" courses from the back tees. My experience playing D1 golf was that course set-ups were often brutal and tee markers were pushed back so that you have 1 foot in the rough. Naturally, just looking at #'s, you're not comparing apples to apples.

On the below average D1 team I played on, you had to be at least 2-3 under par over three or four rounds in order to travel for a tournament. Once you got to the events, and given the course set-ups, round of 73-77 would leave you in the middle of the pack which was acceptable (for me anyways). As a junior and high school player, I had a 73.1 scoring average in competitive events my last two years.

All that said, you are absolutely right, there is plenty of room on D1 teams if you can hang in the upper 70's in competitive play. This is certainly reachable by anyone as long as they put in a good amount of work. I just caution folks to avoid setting unrealistic expectations for themselves just by viewing college tournament scores.

[lowandslow]

Yea, those averages basically prove nothing. I had a kid on my team in college who was 19 under par for his 12 matches in high school and averaged 81 his first year in college. High school= Easy courses, up tees College= Harder Courses, Back tees. There is a big difference.

[owaisdurrani]

How hard is it to walk onto a college golf team? Just curious.

[lowandslow]

It all depends on how competitive the team is to be honest with you.

[mystic]

coaches look for different things. Grades are important and so are tournament results, but they are really interested in trends: how many times did you break 75 on a course over 6900... stuff like this.

they are also bombarded with info from juniors looking to get a spot on the team. sending a big package with a letter and a dvd just isn't cutting it nowadays. being more creative and playing either big events or other events with big fields are the way coaches will start putting you on their radar.

first and foremost: get a GPA above 3.3, SAT above 1300, and get through the clearinghouse.

I send kids to play college golf every year and I wouldn't be able to do this without a good network of coaches who are either looking or know schools who are looking for players. Unless your name appears on the top 50 in the AJGA, JGS, or GolfWeek rankings, YOU have to market yourself.

pm me if you want more details...

[mrpheebz]

I understand what you saying because a former state junior champion from my state who plays ACC golf now has shot over 90 more than a once in a college tournament. What I am saying is that not every team in the country is on the same level as Stanford, Ok State, and Florida, there are 303 Division I teams in the country and when people say that you can't play DI unless you average under 72 in high school, thats just not true.

[D3Coach]

Like i always say,

golf is a game where your competition doesn't matter. It's unlike baseball (or any other sport for that matter), where if you hit 40 home runs against a guy throwing 70 instead of a guy throwing 90, you're considered "not as good because your competition was weak".

No - Golf is a game where if you shoot a 68, you shoot a 68 regardless of if everyone else you're playing against shoots a 98. All that might possibly matter is the course rating & slope but that isn't my point.

The point is, go to a college where you can play as much as possible. If you shoot the low scores, you'll go far, regardless of what "school" you're playing at.