Pat yourself on the back when you do something positive, whether this is golf related or a school test. Do not be too critical on yourself when things do not go your way. This way you will be able to build on all your small successes. This will increase your confidence levels and belief in yourself.

3) NEVER LET YOURSELF SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT YOURSELF- You eliminate the negativity and self put- downs. Instead of telling yourself you are a poor putter or driver, you rephrase things to say “ I am working on my putting and I can see that I am getting better.” Do you see how this works? You are creating a different picture in your mind when you phrase things in the positive.

4) KEEP THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE- The players that realize golf is just a game have the correct perspective. I think Jack Nicklaus once said that golf was about the third or fourth priority in his life. Don’t let golf become so big that you value yourself on how well you play. YOU are NOT your golf score. Great players keep golf in perspective.

THESE CONCEPTS WILL ALLOW YOU TO DEVELOP A STRONG SELF- ESTEEM. THEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO MOVE MUCH CLOSER TO THE CONFIDENCE LEVEL YOU ARE SEEKING IN YOUR GAME.

As a Coach, it is imperative to sign players that have a great deal of confidence in themselves. COACHES WANT POSITIVE WINNERS ON THEIR TEAMS. BE THAT POSITIVE CONFIDENT PLAYER. PRESENT

THIS CONFIDENCE TO THE COACHES! They will be able to sense this from you when you meet them.

Many players have good technique. Far fewer players possess the necessary confidence in themselves to come through when the pressure gets turned up. Those players that really believe in themselves are the one’s that are successful almost every time. They are successful because they consistently see themselves as high achievers. THIS IS WHAT A COACH IS REALLY LOOKING FOR.

Try these simple yet highly effective concepts. I will guarantee you they will make a tremendous difference in your game and your life.

Best of luck.

I realize how difficult it can be starting off your search for a University and golf program. There can be hundreds to choose from. However, by asking yourselves these eight basic questions, you will effectively take a large pool of schools and narrow them down a select few.

1. Finances – How much money can you afford per year to send your son/daughter off to school? If scholarships are a primary concern, that is fine.

Simply calculate the percentage a scholarship you will need and go from there. For most people, their college searches may one focused on in-state schools.

2. Major – Does the school offer the major you are looking for? Most junior golfers have a pretty good idea of their intended major in college. I would suggest to only consider those schools that offer the exact major you are seeking.

3. Public or Private University – Does it matter to youwhether the college or university is public or private?

4. Large or small – What size university or college would you be interested in attending?

5. Geography – How far away from home will I be willing to travel to go to a school?

6. Social aspects – Every school is different in this regard. The main questions to ask yourself is do I like the people, the surroundings, and the overall feel of the campus.

7. Academic support – What types of programs does the school have in place to assist with academic development?

8. Competitiveness – How competitive are you versus the programs that you are looking at? JUNIOR GOLF HUB can help you determine the scores you’ll need to be shooting to let you know if you have an athletic fit with a school.

I advise junior golfers and parents to get a list of five to six schools they are interested in attending as a starting place for their search.

Good luck and let me know if I can be of any assistance.

I believe a lot of this should be dependent upon a player’s rank within their state. Players ranked among the top 15 in their state should be starting to consider colleges in their eighth or ninth grade year.

For players in the hotbed states of golf, like California, Texas, or Florida, this number might be within the top 30 in the state. You will know the cutoff as these are just parameters. The point is that if you are one of the best junior players in your state, most coaches will know about you by the time you are in ninth grade.

If I were among the top players in my state, I would encourage you to visit any campuses you are interested in attending as soon as possible. Even though you can no longer meet with the coach until September 1 of your junior year in high school, most importantly, you will find out if you like the size of a particular school or if you like their academics, campus and dorm life. Call the universities and colleges you are interested in attending and most likely they will provide you and your parents with a recruiting tour. You can then visit the golf courses and practice facilities after the campus tour. Then, when you really develop in your tenth grade year – by this time, you may even have scholarship offers on the table, You will have already done your homework on a particular school.

I don’t recommend taking a lot of visits before researching the various universities a player may be interested in attending. A browse through a school’s roster and scoring averages will tell you approximately how much scholarship a school might have available. Find out the classification of all the players on the team that will be a senior in college the year you will be a senior in high school. Then look what scoring averages these players possess. The following are some guidelines.

72 or better – this player will probably be on somewhere between 75 to 100%
73 or better – this player will probably be on 30 to 60%
74 or better – this player is probably on 25 to 40%

This would be typical for a competitive Division I program. In other divisions, these scores may be slightly higher.

From here, you should be able to come pretty close to what each school may have in scholarship money for your particular recruiting class. If you need a particular amount of scholarship money and yet the team does not appear that it will have the scholarship money you are looking for, then it doesn’t make any sense to spend the time and money taking a visit to a particular school, especially if this cost is over $400.

Obviously, the best way to get the answer to this question is by calling the coach and asking them the question of how much scholarship money they have available in a particular recruiting class. Keep in mind that these coaches will not be able to return your calls until September 1st of your junior year in high school.

Remember you are not asking for a particular scholarship for yourself, you will be asking the coach a general question about their scholarship situation. I believe most coaches will be happy to share this information with you.

Obviously, your talent level needs to be matching up with the schools you are looking at.

If you are not ranked among the top 25 or so players in your state, I would wait until my resume becomes a little more polished before I begin my college search.

Go to Golf Hub.com to learn how to play in the correct tournaments to get ranked.

Players and parents do not panic if you are still uncommitted during your tenth and eleventh grade years. Do not be concerned if you begin your college search during these years. There will be plenty of opportunity for good players at all levels of Division I, II, III, NAIA and junior colleges. Remember only a handful of Division I programs are committing ninth and tenth grade players. Everyone else in college golf will be recruiting players in their eleventh grade year. Who knows, the new NCAA recruiting rules may be slowing the recruiting process down.

The most important thing to know is that if you play to a high level – the coaches will know about you.

You will want to take Unofficial and Official Visits to your select group of schools. Per NCAA rules, you cannot meet with any coaches until September 1 of your junior year in high school. This is the same date that Official Visits can occur. Whether you go to a school on an Official Visit or Unofficial Visit is not critical. Obviously, those making Official Visits will be higher up on the coaches list than those making an Unofficial Visit.

THIS WILL BE YOUR TIME TO MAKE A LASTING IMPRESSION ON THE COACH. During my career my best players always seemed to be the ones that asked me a lot of questions about the program. It is impressive to see a young person prepared with questions. This shows a great deal of maturity and self confidence – two traits that every college coach is looking for. I have actually given a scholarship out over the phone to a player I was super impressed with. It helped that this player had won the Irish Amateur, but it was this players maturity over the phone that won me over.

SO WHAT ARE SOME GOOD QUESTIONS TO ASK COACHES?

How do you select your teams, or what qualifying process do you use? This will vary widely from program to program. From having junior varsity squads to having totally open qualifying. I have found that most coaches do a system of 2/3 spots exempt and 2/3 open qualifying spots.

What is your daily schedule when you are at home? How many days do you play and how many days do you practice?
How do you coach at tournaments? Do you walk around with players? How often? Do you work the par 3’s? Do you cover the par 5’s?
How much do you instruct your players?
How many players do you normally carry on a roster?
How many spots do you have available in my recruiting class? Hopefully you will already know the answer to this question before you visit.
What is the amount of scholarship money that is available for my class? Note you are not asking for the scholarship but rather you are simply asking what they have available. There are particular instances when a Coach may not be able to answer this question, however I believe that most Coaches would be happy to share this information.
What is the Coaches timeline on making offers?
What junior events do you plan on attending this summer? This might help you plan your summer schedule.
Once you get the answers to these questions, then you will really have an insight as to how that particular program operates on a daily basis.

Now you are ready to make an informed decision on which schools you prefer.