My Sophomore daughter is interested in playing golf at a Division I, (not highly ranked) smaller school. Her current golf scores show that she should be able to play at many of these schools. She has sent letters to several coaches at these schools to see if they might be able to meet her and show her their facilities over Spring Break. We realize that they are not able to contact her directly due to the NCAA regulations, so we have given her coaches contact information as a means for communicating. However, none of these schools, (she has sent letters to about 3 or 4 schools at this point), have responded to her request. She is attaching a short letter and her resume, she has good grades. Why are they not responding? Is she sending these out to early? Help!!! She is becoming discouraged so early in the process - yikes.
Is women’s golf a spring sport? If so and they are in season, they are busy. Very busy. Some of the smaller programs might not have much staff to handle emails and letters, so the coaches have to do everything and there just isn’t time. You can call the athletic office to see if you can visit during your break (which may not be their break) and see what the office can offer. She can also call, but if she gets a coach’s answering machine he can’t call back.
Thanks for your reply. Yes, golf is a spring sport. Is it frowned upon for a student to call the coach and leave a message?
I’m not sure how golf coaches do their recruiting. My great suspicion is that they have a lot of people referred to them by people they know in the sport. Also, it may be that they aren’t very interested in early contact with potential applicants and recruits.
You’re saying that her current scores indicate she might be competitive. My sense is that golf coaches attach very heavy weight to scores recorded in official competitions, and the performance in local and regional and state level open competitions get the most weight.
I think its also true that at some of the smaller programs, golf may not be regarded as an important sport, and the selection of the coach (and the coaches behaviour) might reflect that.
Tell her not to get discouraged. Just keep studying and playing well.
It is probably a little early to contact coaches. In order to get college coaches attention, normally you have to be ranked in Junior Golf Scoreboard (two day or longer tournaments) and have played in AJGA or similar tournaments and/or Junior PGA events. High school golf means little to colleges. I suggest you go online to Junior Golf Scoreboard and GolfStat.com. GolfStat.com (the Prep Report) contains a listing of all college golf teams, the five player’s scores and grades and contact information. If your score is comparable to the number three player on the team you can be recruited at that school. However, college courses are much more difficult than high school courses so subtract at least three shots from the high school scores to get a comparable score. Ping American College Golf Guide is another excellent site. Be sure to fill out the on-line questionnaires at each college as well. Finally, my D had to send four or five e-mails or contacts before many coaches replied. Good luck!
Not sure what you mean by given coaches contact information so they can. They can’t!! No calls, emails, to her, to you, to a friend… None of that is allowed as she it too young. What you need to do is call the coach, you will probably get a message then leave message as to when you will be calling back. Make sure you are aware of the current teams schedules as they are in season and very busy. It is very likely they can’t meet with you over her spring break because of this. Golfstat as mentioned above is a great resource to use. Honestly it’s good they are not breaking the rules, that’s an indication of a good coach. My son when he went thru recruiting had one school that was doing things totally illegal and it showed what poor character he had. You want coaches who are above board and obey the rules. PM me if you have any other questions as I have been thru the process, just with a son not a daughter.
The college coaches can contact the club or high school coaches and make a connection that way. I think that’s what she meant by giving the contact info, the hs/club coaches’ info.