Late bloomer, college golf still a possibility

[SirHackAlot]

I have a junior golfer, 18 yrs old, recently started with him (January 2016) on course strategy and his short game

 

last week set high school scoring record with a 33 (4 birdies1 bogey), won jtnc (jtnc.org) tourney last weekend shooting 65 (8 birdies, 1bogey), 76

 

problem is, he doesn't post scores after his rounds (too tired, done playing golf, just wants to go home) so his index is 5.0

 

he recently received an acceptance letter from his 1st choice college with no men's golf program

 

I am aware there are many paths in competitive golf, would love to hear others experiences and what other pathways are to pursue competitive golf....

 

any help, shared experiences would be greatly appreciated :)

[SirHackAlot]

3.0 gpa, he's working on getting his science grade up at the current moment

[Shawn Foley]

I have a junior golfer, 18 yrs old, recently started with him (January 2016) on course strategy and his short game

 

last week set high school scoring record with a 33 (4 birdies1 bogey), won jtnc (jtnc.org) tourney last weekend shooting 65 (8 birdies, 1bogey), 76

 

problem is, he doesn't post scores after his rounds (too tired, done playing golf, just wants to go home) so his index is 5.0

 

he recently received an acceptance letter from his 1st choice college with no men's golf program

 

I am aware there are many paths in competitive golf, would love to hear others experiences and what other pathways are to pursue competitive golf....

 

any help, shared experiences would be greatly appreciated :)

 

Congratulations to your junior golfer, these are very impressive scores! I am the owner of Rain or Shine Golf and former Division 1 collegiate golfer at Northern Illinois University. I can say with experience that the college golf coaches will most likely put very little emphasis on the handicap index of your player. If you were still concerned about it, you could also have the junior go back and post some recent scores by backdating to the date of the actual timing of the round being played.

 

Make sure to really have him sell himself to these coaches. Sell the fact that he is developing and improving his game extremely quickly and this will give them a glimpse of the true potential of this player. Very rarely does a college golf coach recruit a player for immediate talent, the best will always put more of an emphasis on the players that seem very coachable and can be coached to a level well beyond their current abilities.

 

If your junior is a fierce competitor and is shooting these scores even prior to collegiate level coaching, he will be very successful. If he does not receive many offers at first but is still passionate about playing college golf, don't give up! Some of my very successful teammates on my college golf team were transfers from community colleges who simply developed their game to the highest level a little after high school.

 

- Shawn

[Tag42]

Doesn’t sound like he has any interest in playing golf at the next level