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.

1. What is your daily schedule when you are at home? How many days do you play and how many days do you practice?
2. 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?
3. How much do you instruct your players?
4. How many players do you normally carry on a roster?
5. How many spots do you have available in my recruiting class? Hopefully you will already know the answer to this question before you visit.
6. 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.
7. What is the Coaches timeline on making offers?
8. What junior events do you plan on attending this summer? This might help you plan your summer schedule.
9. 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.