Golf Digest 2006 College Golf Guide

[littleprov1x]

Check it out if you don't get the magazine

I know this helped me in my search last year. It's definitely worth a look. http://www.golfdigest.com/collegeguide/

[GehenHerzog]

Where are you going to school?

[r7425]

I thought it was interesting that Oklahoma State was ranked so low, even after being national champs. I was suprised at how bad their academics were.

[bk4]

I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock into the academic ratings. USC-Aiken is not a good school. Yet they have it over Baylor. Baylor is probably a better school than any school in South Carolina and I've been to two of them.

[littleprov1x]

Claremont McKenna, it's #7 on the academic list.

[slicer365]

It's biased. Texas Tech University is not even mentioned in that article, which is ridiculous, they just built a new Course called the Rawls Course (2002-03), and it has been ranked #5 in the country. Tech also was in the top 25 most of the year, last year. Give Tech a look.

 

Gentlemen, Tech is also a great place to meet women. I met mine there. Women out number men 2-1. Women are gorgeous here.

[SheriffBooth]

I have a little trouble understanding how Duke, Carolina, Tech, Wake and Clemson out of the ACC are all Top 20 golf schools and NC State isn't. You've got a hall of fame coach, an amazing new practice facility, a championship Arnold Palmer Sig. course under construction, two recent NC State grads in the Top 30 World ranking, and a pretty daggone good school academically to boot.

 

I think the problem with this ranking is that it overemphasizes team performance for this year. I'm not sure what State's scoring average was for the entire season, but I know they finished fourth at the ACC Championship with an average around 71. But even if they had an off-year scoring wise, all of the sudden schools like Mercer and Lamar and SC-Aiken and Charlotte and Campbell have better programs? Baloney.

[Cameron Circle T]

Those rankings are a little weird,

 

They use golf as a big determinant in academic worthiness.

 

US News and World Report, which is the standard by which schools academics are truly ranked, not accounting for anything but academics, endowment, etc. no athletics, puts Amherst College at number two, right behind Williams College, and Claremont Mckenna is at ten. Undoubtedly all good schools as seen by them being in the top ten, but they clearly take golf into serious consideration in those rankings, which is misleading. Harvard would be 1 over all otherwise, and Amherst would be higher than Claremont, and Princeton would be a little bit farther down etc. The rankings are taking golf into account big time clearly, which is somewhat misleading.

[Goose]

The Golf Digest college Golf Guide definately has some good points. the rankings are a little wierd just because of the importance that they put on certain criteria. I would wait til golf digest publishes the expanded rankings on their website before making a decision on whether you like it or not. The points that they make about starting early in you high school career is probably the most important imformation that they give.

 

 

goose

[littleprov1x]

I don't really understand the improve decline ratio. I think the xx/xx means number improved over number declined and the other number is the average +/- improvement/decline in stroke average, but I'm not sure. Golf accounts for 15% of the academic rating, climate 10%, coaches/facilities 10%, player growth 7% and academics 58%. I don't get how UC-SD (they barely make the academic ranking cut) is ranked above Amherst, Swarthmore, Dartmouth, Brown, etc. I think things like weather are factored too heavily in the academic rating- if you care first about academics, how much of a difference does weather make? This is the link to the math behind the rankings

http://www.golfdigest.com/features/index.s...owrankings.html

[Cameron Circle T]

Ahh schools like Amherst, Swarthmore, Dartmouth, Brown, etc. got f-ed because we're D3 and D1 Ivy League, so theres no scholarship money at all, no academic, no golf, so the golf digest rankings screw us over in that. As well because Amhersts golf ranking and Swarthmores etc. is fairly low as compared to the Academic ranking Golf digest uses that against them even in the Academic rankings, because the Academic rankings still are made up of almost one fifth golfing so that extremely low National Golf Coaches ranking we receive kills as compared to UCSD's higher golf ranking. The weather killed us as well as the other Northeastern schools you mentioned bc the number of playable days btwn sept 1 and may 31 is like 60 to 80 which they seem to factor into academics heavily for some reason etc. The rankings are pretty much retarded in that as you said, weather weighs heavily not only on the golf ranking but also on the Academic ranking. Fine I can see them saying that New England isn't the greatest place in the country for golf bc the weather is kinda cold for a good portion of the school yr but to factor that into academics is kind of ridiculous.

 

 

Here is when you know something is wrong:

 

Under the Academics listing, only 58 percent of the ranking was computed based on the US News ranking and academic prowess, something is wrong there.

 

Schools like UCSD, Claremont, Cal Poly (who is also barely ranked if at all), Trinity (tx.) (though Claremont is a great school, UCSD, Trinity (tx.), and Cal Poly shows the bizarre nature of the ranking) etc. end up having an advantage on the academic ranking bc they all have weather thats warmer so more playable days etc. Kinda funny the way that thing is ranked.

 

 

My advice to anyone out there looking at schools, if you are looking for academic rank use US News and World Report, and for golf rank use Golf Coaches Association of America ranking for each of the divisions. They will give you a much more accurate depiction of what is actually the case

[littleprov1x]

I did read that none of the schools on the academic ranking offer scholarship money, which is one reason why a school like stanford or davidson isn't on there. As far as academics go, there are way too many really good schools (Ivy's, etc) with academic ratings above 86 that are too low on the list. I think that golf is factored in at a good amount, after all, it is a golf magazine (the key objective of the ranking seeming to be schools with excellent academics and good golf teams), and not a ranking of the best colleges, but I don't think things like weather should matter as much to the rankings. UCSD should not even be eligible for the academic ranking- too many non academic factors push a school like UCSD, LMU, Cal-Poly SLO, or Redlands up the list. Here is the link to US News and World Report for those of you who are interested : http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/r...index_brief.php

[GehenHerzog]

It's biased. Texas Tech University is not even mentioned in that article, which is ridiculous, they just built a new Course called the Rawls Course (2002-03), and it has been ranked #5 in the country. Tech also was in the top 25 most of the year, last year. Give Tech a look.

 

Gentlemen, Tech is also a great place to meet women. I met mine there. Women out number men 2-1. Women are gorgeous here.

 

 

College of Charleston tops TTech in the girls category.

 

Charleston is like 6 to 1 girls to guys ratio.

[GehenHerzog]

Why is Campbell listed on there? Campbell is in the middle of nowhere and they suck at golf.

[swings89]

how difficult is it to play golf in division 1 ivy? at least scratch? recruitable? ajga star?

[Cameron Circle T]

Depends on the IVY, some are good some are not. The guys at Princeton still shoot around even or so; however, the Harvard team isnt exactly stellar. So there really is no general statement that will include all the IVY league schools. Princeton you still have to play really well, Harvard not as much. Penn and Yale are in between. The Brown coach is trying to build up a team like the Princeton so I'd say youd have to play pretty well to play there as well.

[dougie189]

Thanks for the help. I am from the UK and considering collegiate golf in a couple of years

[abewley]

i don't buy the rankings..

 

the University of Arkansas has been in the top 25 ( women's for a few years now) the mens team made it to the championships.

 

the past two year a lady razorback golfer has made it to the semifinals of the US womens amateur ( one made it to the finals).

[swings89]

thanks for the ivy info.

 

I thought that it'd be easier to get recruited for golf for a school like Yale or Harvard but looks like I'll still need to be a top player to be recruited? Maybe it'll help my app if I'm a "solid player"? College apps are a pain .... :help:

[Lord Thomas]

titleist23,

 

Every so often, just mentioning an interest in golf in your application will get at least some interest from a coach. I applied to Macalester, and got a call from the coach there a few days later to talk about golf at Macalester and when did I want to come visit, so it can't hurt.....

 

I agree with Adam's assessment.....the US News and World Report rankings of academics are better (although I'm not a big fan of any of the major college rankings, but thats another story for another day), and the GCAA Ranking will give you a better idea of the pecking order of colleges.

 

-Thomas

[Cameron Circle T]

Titleist23

 

 

to be realistic with the IVY league those coaches dont have a ton of pull..Princeton and Yale being the real exception, and they usually get one player pick a year. The golf doesnt help the app much at all at Harvard. After talking to the coach their, and MIT, though MIT isnt an IVY they admit that for a sport like golf they can try but they dont carry much weight.

 

Macalester is definitely a good school and has a great coach. Coach Nause was a great person to talk to and was in constant contact. It was definitely one of my top choices. She is really trying to build a good team a la the Univ. of Rochester type team, where its D III but those guys can play for the most part. If you wanna play for a cool coach and go to a good smaller school, thats one to definitely check out. Heck, koffee annan went there.

[bk4]

A good friend of mine from high school really wanted to play for Princeton. Anyways, as was said, the coach at Princeton didn't have a ton of pull. He said the only way he could really help is if my friend had over a 1400 SAT score (may have been 1450 actually--this was pre SAT format change). He didn't get it, so he ended up playing for Brown.

[golfalot333]

say you had a stroke avg of like 76, could you play IVY League? Or in other words...would they even consider/look at oyu? I don't play aloooot of tournaments, mainly regional ones, but the competition is really stiff considering most of the elite players compete as well...I'm just interesting becuase I'm heading into ym final year of high school nd wondering what my options are right now...

[bk4]

say you had a stroke avg of like 76, could you play IVY League? Or in other words...would they even consider/look at oyu? I don't play aloooot of tournaments, mainly regional ones, but the competition is really stiff considering most of the elite players compete as well...I'm just interesting becuase I'm heading into ym final year of high school nd wondering what my options are right now...

If you had the grades to get in them, then you could probably play at some. Golf won't get you in to any of them regardless of what you shoot with very few exceptions.

[littleprov1x]

You could definitely play at some of the Ivy league schools if you have the grades and SAT scores that would get you in if you weren't a golfer. As most people have said, you have to be able to get in there as a student first, golfer second. Talk to the coaches early though, because those schools generate a lot of interest.