college golf schlorship

golfman1229 · October 20, 2006

looking to get a golf schlorship to d1 or d2 school. any advide would be very helpful. like how to contact coaches. im 15 and got a 5 handicap, tell me if i got a shot.

AirTime23 · October 20, 2006

I too would be interested in answers to that question. And I add some more of those if that's okay.

How important is the golf part vs. the intellectual part in the consideration for a scholarship?

Are there different rules of thumb for prospective international students?

When checking this year's college final results, I'm not overly impressed. Out of over 50 guys a mere 19 of them finished under par for 4 rounds. Yes it was a pretty long track, and I don't know what the weather and other conditions were like, but I probably expected something better.

BTW a friend of mine wants to go study in the US, hopefully on a golf scholarship. Aged 18, finishes school next June and plays currently around 1.

Cameron Circle T · October 20, 2006

It really depends...

I'll answer the questions in order.

At 15 it is still early to contact coaches, they're busy recruiting people graduating in 2007 and 2008. Unless you are playing incredibly well and are really something special at 15, they're not gonna start following your progress yet.

At a 5 you could probably get a small scholarship to a small D1 or D2 school, but improvement would be needed, and big improvement to play at the big schools i.e. Florida, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech etc.

For a golf scholarship golf is really the big consideration not intellect...in fact the more intellectually endowed you are the less likely the athletic dept. will want to give you money, bc they'll want to hope that you get academic money from the school.

Rules are pretty much the same for international kids.

The big D1 NCAA's a lot of guys are breaking par on a regular basis...the conditions of NCAA's (assuming that is what you are referring to) are darn near impossible. They make the courses very long, with long rough, etc. The top teams are shooting under par as a team...I remember a couple weeks ago looking and seeing that Alabama or Oklahoma State or one of the other big D1 golf schools shot about 42 under as a team. Which means they all shot under par and all 3 days likely.

Aside from that I can't really help you bc there is so much to tell and it really depends. You need to play in anything and everything etc. and play as well as you can.

Good luck.

AirTime23 · October 21, 2006

Thanks for that so far.

Just calculated his USGA hcp and was surprised to find out that it is actually +0,3 whereas by german handicapping he'd be at -1,1. I always was under the expression that the german system is much easier to get lower.

emc · October 21, 2006

Is the german system using SSS and CSS like GB&I? I'm intersted as well in scholarships for D1 colleges as I'd like to play college golf in America

AirTime23 · October 22, 2006

I checked the GB&I system and it is close but not quite the same. The 5 categories are basically identical as are the values for improvements in handicap and the buffer zones except you get 2 strokes in category 1.

I'm not quite sure about the rest, they may be the same. Maybe I'm too dumb to understand the SSS and CSS system. I gather they correspond to the german game handicap which is calculated before each round from your handicap using the CR and SL values for the course.

This is how we do it in Germany: your score will be kept using stableford points, regardless of what type of

game you're actually playing, provided you're playing your own ball.

Your net points are counted at the end.

If you are below your buffer you go up 0,1.

If you're in the buffer zone nothing happens.

For every point better than 36 you'll improve by your corresponding value (0,1-0,5).

Example: I have a handicap of 5,7. With CR 72,0 and SL 132 this gives me a game handicap of 8 strokes.

Our course is par 71 so if I shoot a 6 over 77 (which would under normal circumstances equal to 38 net points) my handicap would improve to 5,3.

tm8838 · October 22, 2006

I coach a high school team and have two players who are in the plus side of handicap at a course with slope and rating of 74.0/140 and they have gotten no offers in terms of scholarships to any schools. If you want scholarship money to a major D1 school you should come and play in the summer tournaments, ex. US AM, Publinks, US Junior AM, Western AM, North South am, or any AJGA event. That is where the majority of college recruting is done. Just my thoughts.

lhsgolfer2 · October 22, 2006

golf is a lot different than other sports. There isn't a ton of recuiting done unless you're one of the top in the nation. I played with 5 kids who went to play college golf and they were all + handicaps and none got full scholarships. Two of them are playing NCAA D2 and the others D1. You have to do a lot of self recuiting, pick out schools you are interested in and then send emails showing interest. Alos, make sure you are realistic about your abilities, check out the athletic sites and check the results to see what the players are shooting. If you are willing to work, you can definitely find a place to play.

good luck!

mike

emc · October 22, 2006

I checked the GB&I system and it is close but not quite the same. The 5 categories are basically identical as are the values for improvements in handicap and the buffer zones except you get 2 strokes in category 1.
I'm not quite sure about the rest, they may be the same. Maybe I'm too dumb to understand the SSS and CSS system. I gather they correspond to the german game handicap which is calculated before each round from your handicap using the CR and SL values for the course.

This is how we do it in Germany: your score will be kept using stableford points, regardless of what type of
game you're actually playing, provided you're playing your own ball.
Your net points are counted at the end.

If you are below your buffer you go up 0,1.
If you're in the buffer zone nothing happens.
For every point better than 36 you'll improve by your corresponding value (0,1-0,5).

Example: I have a handicap of 5,7. With CR 72,0 and SL 132 this gives me a game handicap of 8 strokes.
Our course is par 71 so if I shoot a 6 over 77 (which would under normal circumstances equal to 38 net points) my handicap would improve to 5,3.

In Ireland we do it that there is a Standard Scratch Score of 71 (par 72) on my home course off the whites. Therefore on normal days you have to shoot 38 points to get cut according to category. It's harder for the lower handicap or if you're consistently playing just better than the handicap, ex. I shot 38, 39, 38, 39, & 39 points 5 weeks in a row and got cut 1.2 shots even though I was doing better than that the whole time. Confusing to say the least

golfman1229 · October 26, 2006

how do u get the college coaches email adress

SheriffBooth · October 26, 2006

golf is a lot different than other sports. There isn't a ton of recuiting done unless you're one of the top in the nation. I played with 5 kids who went to play college golf and they were all + handicaps and none got full scholarships. Two of them are playing NCAA D2 and the others D1. You have to do a lot of self recuiting, pick out schools you are interested in and then send emails showing interest. Alos, make sure you are realistic about your abilities, check out the athletic sites and check the results to see what the players are shooting. If you are willing to work, you can definitely find a place to play.

good luck!

mike

This is great advice but I'd say use a regular paper letter instead of email. Nothing is easier to delete than an email. You have a much better chance of getting a response from a well written paper letter. Landing a golf scholarship is similar to landing a great job - you not only have to have the necessary skills but you also have to set yourself apart from the crowd.

Work with your english teacher to craft an introductory letter to schools you are interested in attending. If the schools are near where you live, don't hesitate to call the coach on the telephone and ask to meet with him/her to discuss what you need to do to get a scholarship. Assuming it's not the middle of the NCAA season, most coaches will be happy to spend some time with you to talk about how to make their team. If you're nervous about calling a coach directly, ask your HS coach to make a call for you.

15 is a great age to start thinking about this stuff - you've got plenty of time to work on your game and make the contacts you need to make. The advice above about tournament play is great, too. The more tournaments you can play the better - every event will be more experience.