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what is needed to play D1 golf


benw

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low 70's average or scratch or maybe even better... You need to win some JGA tournaments whether it be your state's JGA tournaments or AJGA... Make it to state and shoot well. Qualify for and play in your state's Amateur Tournaments or Opens... Honestly, for Division 1 you basically need to shoot scratch under pressure rounds. 76 plus ain't gonna get you anything but maybe D3/NAIA... I'm not kidding when I say scratch or better in tournaments.

another thing... pray for a scholarship because if you're planning on walking on at a D1 school you'll just be wasting everyone's time... Well, unless you go out and shoot the course record!

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There are so many Div 1 schools out there that if you can consistently fire in the 72-74 range, you can play on a golf team. It may not be the one that you necessarily want, but if all you want to do is play...

Someone said you have to average 71 or below on 7100+ courses...hogwash. If you average below 71, you are most likely an All-American or close to it.

I broke par once (once!) before I went to a Division 1 school. I wasn't on scholarship but was a member of the team from the very first day. I played awful my first year, didn't even qualify for a tournament. Second year, played 6 events, then my junior and senior years played every event and was all-conference the last year.

Bottom line, you don't have to shoot under par every day.

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Agreed. If you're shooting under par or around par every time, you'd already be a top player on a lot of good college teams. If you want to play for some huge golf school like Stanford or ASU, yeah, you probably will need to be winning tons of junior tourneys and breaking par every time. But if you just want to play on a D1 team, you need to be able to shoot low to mid 70's consistently on tougher courses, not under par every time.

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[quote name='benw' post='2119948' date='Dec 12 2009, 12:22 AM']i am a sophomore in high school and shoot in the upper 70s. I realize that each school is different, but what scores are usually needed to play D1 golf.[/quote]

Playing D1 golf is one thing....being recruited and receiving full scholarship is another.
Some of the more pessimistic posts above may be correct relative to big-time golf factories in warmer states that have 5 or more scholarships to use.
However, there are plenty of schools that need to fill out their team with non-scholarship players.
The example of the walk-on that worked his way to all-conference as a senior may be rare, but not as rare as you would be led to believe.

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Seems to me your focus should be on banging balls as often as you can. Scores will take care of themselves. Hogan as we know found his swing "in the dirt" you can do the same. Come up with a plan and stick to it. Keep working as hard as possible, at the range, on the course, and in the [b]classroom[/b]! One thing to always keep in mind. Do not listen to anyone who tells you you can't do what you're trying to do. Best of luck.

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[quote name='tmfool ' post='2121369' date='Dec 12 2009, 07:53 PM'][quote name='benw' post='2119948' date='Dec 12 2009, 12:22 AM']i am a sophomore in high school and shoot in the upper 70s. I realize that each school is different, but what scores are usually needed to play D1 golf.[/quote]
Some of the more pessimistic posts above may be correct relative to big-time golf factories in warmer states that have 5 or more scholarships to use.
[/quote]
DI max is 4.5

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Having played D-1 college golf there is one distinction about scoring that needs to be pointed out to all juniors trying to make a D-1 team. There is an ENORMOUS difference between being able to shoot 70-74 every round and being able to do it every round or 4 of 5 IN TOURNAMENTS.

I played on a lower level D-1 team and we probably averaged in practice/qualifying around 270-275(in the 250's once or twice too) as a team and easily 300-305 in tournaments. That being said, we were mainly local, in-state players, and every one was capable of shooting at least 67-68, and that includes non-scholarship or walk on players.

But in reality, it depends on the school, the program, where in the country, and what level D-1 we're talking about here. I know kids that played D-1 that couldn't smell 72, but they could shoot 78-80 almost every time and that was enough at that school. I also know kids that are/were top 100 world ranked amateurs that couldn't make the top 5 on their team to travel....

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[quote name='TMBob' post='2127578' date='Dec 15 2009, 09:59 PM']As I posted in a another thread, can some explain to me if a kid cannot get into a D1 school for reasons, is a step back to go to a DII school? Can a top player not come out of all D divisions and not just out of D1?
TMBOB[/quote]
Great players come from all levels including NAIA and some never play college golf and still turn out great.

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There are D-II teams which could easily compete on the D-I level, and do. That being said, the biggest difference in the divisions, besides depth, is the schools themselves. Not only pertaining to size, because the D-I school I played at was tiny, but in terms of academics as well. You can get a quality education anywhere, but you don't get the name brand education at D-II. D-III has some great teams, and some really great schools, but they caliber of play there, with a few exceptions, is much lower than that of D-I and D-II. I don't know much about NAIA, but it's a bunch of schools that people from outside that region don't know about, or so it seems.

Take any top team from the rankings
D-I Stanford
D-II Chico State
D-III Emory
NAIA Oklahoma City University

This is overly simplistic, and not meant to offend anybody, but if golf doesn't work out, and say you want to get a higher profile job in a competitive market, ie: investment banker or lawyer in a major market, they are going to look at the generic student from those schools, and even if the kid from Stanford or Emory was the worst student in his class, he is going to have a leg up on even the best student from Chico State or Oklahoma City.

I'm speaking from experience. I picked a school solely for golf, and didn't like the school and ended up transferring out. Luckily the school I went to initially was a fairly respected school, but had I taked some of the other offers I had, I could have been in trouble.

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I don't know how truly correct your observation is in regards to academic quality between the top D1 schools vs D2 or D3..........You happenned to use Stanford as an example (which happens to be not only one of the top golf schools, but consistently one of the top academic schools as well). I think if you look at the top 25 teams in D1, you will find that although they are well known schools, they are only well known for their athletics, and are sub par in terms of GPA and graduation rates.
ie:
Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, UCF, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Ohio State.
I am not saying that these are bad schools, however if you look into the scholastic stats in these schools, you will most likely find that there are numerous D2 or D3 schools that academically exceed the above. Having said that, there are the Georgia Techs, Dukes, Stanfords of the world, but those are few and far between..........All in all, with respect to golf, there are many D2 teams that not only compete with D1 schools, but can beat them as well.

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I agree. I didn't do a good job really explaining. I was just going by the top golf teams, and Stanford throws that out of whack. Emory for example, is a much better school than Oklahoma State, but on the same hand Oklahoma State is a better school than Methodist, simply because of size and opportunities there, that don't exist at a small school like Methodist. The top caliber D-I schools and the top caliber D-III schools are very similar. You're just going to get a lot more name recognition with a Princeton, Stanford or Virginia than you are with a Middlebury, Trinity, Wesleyan. And, yes, there are some really bad D-I schools in terms of academics. It's unfair to throw Texas, Ohio State and Florida in that mix, because those are all top 25 public schools. I just don't know of many schools in D-II that are well known for their academics, but I am sure there are some out there.

In regards to golf, there are definitly D-II and D-III schools that can beat D-I schools. The top D-II teams would be Top 25 in D-I easy.

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You'd be surprised to see how many pros came from schools other than the top D-1 school. I play for a top ranked D-2 school and i know for a fact we could beat quite a few D-1 teams. Dont rule out some of the top ranked D-II schools because you'll probably get to play more and there isnt as much political pressure.

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I agree with what others mentioned...70-76 average in tournament play should be sufficient. I played D1 for a below average team and had a 73.1 scoring average my last two years of junior golf.

In order to travel, you had to be under par over 2-4 qualifying rounds. You'll be caught off guard if you base your assumptions on college tournament scores. My experience was that college set-ups were often brutally difficult with one foot in the rough on every tee box.

That said, there is nothing holding anyone back other than themselves. I have a friend that averaged around 80 in high school but now he's making solid $ as a pro and was an All-American in college.

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Too many high school players get there eyes set on D1 and lose focus of everything else. if u want to play D1 in general you need to be golfweek ranked, play AJGA's almost always, and maybe compete on the FCWT or other junior tours. State tours dont really count unless its Cali or Florida or for an in state school because D1 programs dont look at the state tours. Unfortunately high school golf isnt enough. Too many kids cheat, and the rounds are usually 9 holes, or on crappy courses. So U NEED TO PLAY AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL, ON COLLEGE QUALITY COURSES, AGAINST THE BEST PLAYERS IN HIGH SCHOOL GOLF. If u want to play in the south you need to travel to the south and beat out the southern players. Also DII is sometimes better than D1. A D1 team ranked 251 wont be as good as a D2 school in the top 25. The difference between what makes a school D1 and D2 is how much a school spends on its athletics. I play D2 golf in florida and to win a tourny youve normally gotta shoot lights out.

MOST IMPORTANT-
talk with as many schools as possible
coaches often string kids along when waiting for another recruit to commit
if u find a school you think u can play at, make sure you have at least 2 fall back schools you KNOW you can play at. Get verbal commitment from a coach that you can be on the team if u decide to go there.
Also talk with a coach about the likelihood that you will be redshirted, and decide if you want a school you will play at or ride the bench cause you do not want to go to a school and practice every day without the chance of ever playing

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I went to a top DII school...I really enjoyed it...We were always ranked top 10 in golf stat...beat UCLA twice in tourney's a couple of years...I was able to go to NCAA regionals and nationals 3 years...I had offers from dI schools as well but none that would ever compete for a DI national championship and I went to DII to gain the experiance of playing at regionals and nationals...

having said that to travel for our team you would have to avg at least ~71 on our home course...

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[quote name='obsessedgolfer' post='2129789' date='Dec 16 2009, 11:01 PM']I am a decent player 4.6 handicap at age 14, I want presue a degree in business any strong business schools that have a good golf team?[/quote]
You'll notice a very strong correlation between the two, as schools with lots of endowment money tend to have better business programs and pretty well funded athletic teams. They also tend to be well connected and therefore have good off-campus facilities to practice at.

See Cal, UMich, UNC, UVA, Texas, and USC. All ranked in the top 10 business schools in the country, all great programs.

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I didn't play golf in college. Not sure that I could have, but the school I went to (Cal Poly SLO) didn't have a golf team until my sophomore year, and by then I wasn't practicing anymore.

Anyways - here is my point. If you really, really want to play golf (D1, d2 whatever) make sure that it is a place that you want to go to school at as well. I read today that 95% of pro golfers (on tour at least) are college grads. College might be a ton of fun if you play golf, but it will really suck if you don't make the team/don't get to play. Better to have the place that you love to go to school in case the golf thing doesn't work out.

Mind you, if you are a Ricky Barnes type (BTW I competed against him in high school, so I can say this) go wherever you want, you are going to be a pro of some type anyway.

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Someone has already covered this yet I would like to reiterate, Its not all about scores. The biggest part about playing on a high level collegiate golf team is PLAYING UNDER PRESSURE. Like other people have said, its not about shooting 68 with your buddies, its about being able to score under pressure. This is why you must apply yourself by playing in statewide or national tournaments to try to prepare yourself for playing under pressure in college. I played nationally as a junior and it still took me a year in college to be able to settle myself and get the most out of my round. And , when coaches come and watch you play in tournaments, this is what they look for. They look for the kid who still has his head up after bogeying four out of his first five holes, not the kid who is throwing clubs, cursing. Because thats what its all about, its about limiting your mistakes and grinding your round out, that is what a coach wants to see.

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IM A 2 HANDICAP, I WAS SHOOTING LOW 70'S SINCE I WAS IN THE 8th GRADE. I HAD HORRIBLE GRADES IN HIGH SCHOOL AND EVEN THOUGH I WAS ALL CONFERNCE, TOP TEN STATE PLAYER, WON SOME OF THE STATE JUNIOR PGA EVENTS IT ALL DIDNT MATTER. IF YOU ARE GETTING C'S IN THE CLASS ROOM YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE BUT JUCO, UNLESS DADDY CAN PULL SOME STRINGS. THE BEST AND ONLY ADVISE YOU NEED TO MAKE IT TO D1 IS EXCELL IN THE CLASS ROOM AS WELL AS ON THE GOLF COURSE, BUT MORE SO IN THE CLASSROOM IF YOU ARE ABLE TO HAVE A 3.5 GPA OR HIGHER HIGH SAT SCORES YOUR WILL BE GOLDEN.( GRANTED YOU GOT TO BE SHOOTING MID 70'S ) BUT I KNOW GUYS THAT I PLAYED WITH IN HIGH SCHOOL WITH GREAT GRADES THAT WERE ABLE TO PLAY THAT SHOT AROUND 80. :drinks:

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Some doom and gloom in this thread, and also some good information.

I played D-I golf here in Utah...I wasn't shooting 68 every time out previous to my playing days. I wasn't shooting 68 every time out during my playing days. I'm not shooting 68 every time out after my playing days.

Had I been, I would have played for a high-caliber school, been an All-American, and I'd be enjoying success on the PGA Tour.

An AVERAGE of 68 under tournament conditions is VERY, VERY good. Great.

If you've got your heart set on playing college golf my suggestions would be:

- Work hard on the golf course AND in the classroom. Lots of guys forget that second part.
- Keep your options open. You may not play for Arizona State, but that doesn't mean you can't play.
- Play as much competitive golf as possible. It doesn't HAVE to be national level, as some are leading you to beleive. But lots of competitive rounds are a great advantage.
- Don't be a dumbass. Self-explanatory, but coaches aren't looking for guys they're gonna have to babysit for four years. (Or for two and then kick them off the team.) Be smart.

Good luck man...if you're averaging 75 or under in competition you'll be in very good shape to play college golf somewhere, bottom line.

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