Class of 2027 and College camps

[Ray Jackson]

We are starting to get some invites to camps of different types. From what we think, some are more recruiting focused (one day low cost) and others are probably "nice to see a few kids if they are willing to pay a bit for 2-3 days".......

 

My kids coach says on the latter it doesn't hurt to go and we think he is right to get my son on the radar, when you can't communicate with coaches' day to day.

Definitely going to the first type as we are keeping options open to all prominent schools at this point. 

 

Thoughts??

[MahalNeneng]

On 10/7/2023 at 5:21 PM, Ray Jackson said:

We are starting to get some invites to camps of different types. From what we think, some are more recruiting focused (one day low cost) and others are probably "nice to see a few kids if they are willing to pay a bit for 2-3 days".......

 

My kids coach says on the latter it doesn't hurt to go and we think he is right to get my son on the radar, when you can't communicate with coaches' day to day.

Definitely going to the first type as we are keeping options open to all prominent schools at this point. 

 

Thoughts??

We had friends that did them (top 50 in class) none were targeted any more in my opinion. 
we went to one elite that was very reasonably priced. Turns out that coach only had 1 call with boy. 
my advice is spend your 1-3k on tournaments in the coaches area during his recruiting year. Starting in winter of their year the coaches will show up to events. Be there play good. 

Edited October 10, 2023 by MahalNeneng

[Tugu]

23 hours ago, MahalNeneng said:

We had friends that did them (top 50 in class) none were targeting any more in my opinion. 
we went to one elite that was very reasonably priced. Turns out that coach only had 1 call with boy. 
my advice is spend your 1-3k on tournaments in the coaches area during his recruiting year. Starting in winter of their year the coaches will show up to events. Be there play good. 

 

Great advice. 

 

 

[wegobomber31]

I think the 1-day elite camps are great, especially in a time before you can talk to the coaches. It’s a great way to interact and find out if there’s mutual interest. 
 

if it doesn’t pan out, then you know that they saw enough to know they didn’t want your kid, not that it was a waste of time and money. Most of them are very reasonably priced. 
 

my son is doing two this month, one for the second time. And I’m actually kicking myself for skipping one last summer that I wish we had done. 

[Ray Jackson]

Thanks all, appreciate the input. Things will start to get serious in the next 12 months and we are finding our way through the process. 

[Tugu]

25 minutes ago, Ray Jackson said:

Thanks all, appreciate the input. Things will start to get serious in the next 12 months and we are finding our way through the process. 

Not being facetious, but shoot under par or build the stepping stones towards it and all these questions become superfluous.

 

Golf is hard and if your kid can go somewhere/anywhere under par on any kind of conaistent basis, then you will get emails in your inbox from coaches you had no idea about and schools you didn't even consider previously.

[Ray Jackson]

2 hours ago, Tugu said:

Not being facetious, but shoot under par or build the stepping stones towards it and all these questions become superfluous.

 

Golf is hard and if your kid can go somewhere/anywhere under par on any kind of conaistent basis, then you will get emails in your inbox from coaches you had no idea about and schools you didn't even consider previously.

He can do that right now (under par on 6500-6700 course), but sometimes struggles to do it on back-to-back days. 

I just think its going to be harder and harder for freshman, with the transfer portal to get to where you want to go and be the right fit in this next wave of 2025 onwards........

[Tugu]

15 hours ago, Ray Jackson said:

He can do that right now (under par on 6500-6700 course), but sometimes struggles to do it on back-to-back days. 

I just think its going to be harder and harder for freshman, with the transfer portal to get to where you want to go and be the right fit in this next wave of 2025 onwards........

If he's 2027, he's around 14 or 15? If so, the "struggles" are just a part of day to day skills acquisition. Sounds like he is on the right track. 

 

As for the transfer portal, it isn't as easy as one imagines. My elder boy is considering the portal to get to a better academically acknowledged school (his is already top 30). But there's a myriad of issues to consider. 

 

It's not like one just puts themselves in and walks over. He has to consider his relationship with his current coach. The next coach needs to consider his relationship with the kids current Coach. What happens if only lesser schools show interest? Is one allowed to contact the desired school coach first? This opens up a new NCAA can of worms. I could keep going...

 

So fret not, kids who are good get recruited. Similarly, kids who are good have not shown a tendency to seek transfers for golf reasons. The caveat being I know of 2 good players to leave LA based schools just because of the logistics nightmare of trying to get meaningful practice and study in when one spends inordinate amount of time commuting in the LA traffic.

[Ray Jackson]

1 hour ago, Tugu said:

If he's 2027, he's around 14 or 15? If so, the "struggles" are just a part of day to day skills acquisition. Sounds like he is on the right track. 

 

As for the transfer portal, it isn't as easy as one imagines. My elder boy is considering the portal to get to a better academically acknowledged school (his is already top 30). But there's a myriad of issues to consider. 

 

It's not like one just puts themselves in and walks over. He has to consider his relationship with his current coach. The next coach needs to consider his relationship with the kids current Coach. What happens if only lesser schools show interest? Is one allowed to contact the desired school coach first? This opens up a new NCAA can of worms. I could keep going...

 

So fret not, kids who are good get recruited. Similarly, kids who are good have not shown a tendency to seek transfers for golf reasons. The caveat being I know of 2 good players to leave LA based schools just because of the logistics nightmare of trying to get meaningful practice and study in when one spends inordinate amount of time commuting in the LA traffic.

Tugu - thanks for the reply. Yeah he's a freshman in High School. On the higher score day, he somehow makes the easy stuff look difficult but the hard stuff look easy and leaks some shots......all part of the learning process as you say. 

[MahalNeneng]

18 hours ago, Ray Jackson said:

He can do that right now (under par on 6500-6700 course), but sometimes struggles to do it on back-to-back days. 

I just think its going to be harder and harder for freshman, with the transfer portal to get to where you want to go and be the right fit in this next wave of 2025 onwards........

I have observed that the inconsistency is normal part of the process. Once they are “capable” that is the potential. Being able to do it more often is what separates a -2 from a -4 from a -6  diff (although the latter requires $$$ and the right events). Have a look at scoring over past year of your child vs those a couple of points higher, you will find a direct correlation between their differential and how often they can post lower scores (strength of field is a part of the equation as well) but gaining access to events with stronger fields is dependent on how often they can produce the lower scores. 

 

As many coaches have told us “play good golf and the rankings / event access will take care of itself” and subsequently the eyes and notice of coaches will fall upon them. But no matter how well they play $$$ is on you 😕

[golferdad8]

You're doing the right thing staring in 9th grade as it's a great time to begin doing your homework. 

It's ok if they can't put up two great days. You will see that many top D1 players can shoot 80, but the key is that they can shoot 65 the next day, and it helps the team. 

 

In my opinion, camps are great ways to connect with coaches but only if your kid will show well - or it might end up hurting the first impression. 

If your kid is already able to shoot par/below, it's a good place to be in. 

 

My suggestion to try to cast a wide net of about 30 schools and reach out to coaches where there's a good match for academics and golf.

Academics ranges are easy to check on the website, and for golf you can check their schedule/results to see what the top 3 players are shooting(coaches are not looking more 4th to 9th players). Also, due to college work load, many coaches will add 2 strokes to your son's current tournament averages to predict how they'll do on the team. 

 

Fwiw, my son couldn't break par in tournaments until May of his 9th grade (usually carded 72-81) and he continued to work hard in 10th grade, and played in some AJGAs and amateur tournaments (he learned a lot playing against college players). Importantly, he began using Decade so he knew what to work on (where he was gaining/losing strokes), and he worked with his coach on course management. By the end of the sophomore year summer, he had several top 5 finishes - and got lots of interest (and offers) from Power 5/D1 schools. 

 

One final thought that might help. In 10th grade, my son reached out to many D3 schools and get some good interest(D3 coaches can talk before June 15th). There are lots of great academic schools that are D3, and the top T20 can probably beat half of the D1 schools in the country. In addition, it's good practice for your child to interact with coaches, practice researching schools, make mistakes on saying the wrong things, and most importantly, gain some good confidence on where he might have good options. The confidence piece of the puzzle should not be overlooked - it's tough to shoot low scores if he feels like every round is life or death. Help him to have fun and just see what happens. 

 

Good luck to all!