Girls Golf College Scholarships
Despite golf's growing popularity there are still a surprising amount of parents and their daughters that don't know the first thing about girls golf scholarships - information like the fact that colleges are scouring the country trying to find people to take the money that they're giving away.
Unlike sports such as basketball, volleyball, or track where size and speed play critical roles in both recruitment and collegiate success female golfing prospects are not confined by physical genetic restrictions. The two biggest factors keeping high school aged girls and their families from taking full advantage of scholarship money that universities leave just sitting on the table is (1) a lack of exposure and (2) a lack of confidence. With regards to self-doubt the truth of the matter is that a women doesn't have to play at Annika Sorenstam's level to have her school paid for. The confusion regarding a lack of understanding of the minimal ability needed to get a foot in the door with a small time college program is a reflection of the tight budgets that these sorts of programs are working with. What I'm saying is that women's golf teams at all but the largest division-1 schools have limited budgets that prevent them from recruiting outside of a very close network. Without the proper tools to adequately recruit women golfers from a wider area the coaches become limited in who they can contact and the golfers and their parents are oblivious to college golfing standards because the system isn't conducive to them coming in contact with college recruiters unless their daughter is a blue chip standout player that receives wide exposure. No one expects regional colleges with at best modestly successful women's golf teams to have recruiting budgets that rival the football budgets of Ohio State and the University of Texas but the fact still remains that these schools do have scholarships to hand out and believe it or not many of them do in fact go unused because the current system is so flawed and ineffective. The good news though is that by coming across this site and reading this far you've put yourself in a great position to take advantage of the systems shortcomings. Yes, while it is a shame that more families aren't aware of this unique form of financial aid the truth of the matter is that while you certainly aren't responsible for the current state of affairs you are completely within your rights to exploit this situation in which the competition is artificially low. The burden of finding a girls golf scholarship for better or worse falls on the player herself and if she's lucky enough to have one, her supporting family. When all of the dust settles regardless of the attention that national signing day garners for top flight basketball recruits and young men signing to play football at the University of Florida at the end of the day a full ride men's football scholarship is worth the same amount as a full ride women's golf scholarship. Same value of scholarship, just without the concussions.
Unlike sports such as basketball, volleyball, or track where size and speed play critical roles in both recruitment and collegiate success female golfing prospects are not confined by physical genetic restrictions. The two biggest factors keeping high school aged girls and their families from taking full advantage of scholarship money that universities leave just sitting on the table is (1) a lack of exposure and (2) a lack of confidence. With regards to self-doubt the truth of the matter is that a women doesn't have to play at Annika Sorenstam's level to have her school paid for. The confusion regarding a lack of understanding of the minimal ability needed to get a foot in the door with a small time college program is a reflection of the tight budgets that these sorts of programs are working with. What I'm saying is that women's golf teams at all but the largest division-1 schools have limited budgets that prevent them from recruiting outside of a very close network. Without the proper tools to adequately recruit women golfers from a wider area the coaches become limited in who they can contact and the golfers and their parents are oblivious to college golfing standards because the system isn't conducive to them coming in contact with college recruiters unless their daughter is a blue chip standout player that receives wide exposure. No one expects regional colleges with at best modestly successful women's golf teams to have recruiting budgets that rival the football budgets of Ohio State and the University of Texas but the fact still remains that these schools do have scholarships to hand out and believe it or not many of them do in fact go unused because the current system is so flawed and ineffective. The good news though is that by coming across this site and reading this far you've put yourself in a great position to take advantage of the systems shortcomings. Yes, while it is a shame that more families aren't aware of this unique form of financial aid the truth of the matter is that while you certainly aren't responsible for the current state of affairs you are completely within your rights to exploit this situation in which the competition is artificially low. The burden of finding a girls golf scholarship for better or worse falls on the player herself and if she's lucky enough to have one, her supporting family. When all of the dust settles regardless of the attention that national signing day garners for top flight basketball recruits and young men signing to play football at the University of Florida at the end of the day a full ride men's football scholarship is worth the same amount as a full ride women's golf scholarship. Same value of scholarship, just without the concussions.
How do you know who to talk to about college golf scholarships?
Once alerted of the inequalities in the distribution of girls golf scholarships the first question that most people ask is who they should talk to in order to take advantage of this opportunity to literally save tens of thousands of dollars. The answer might surprise you when I say that you need to be talking to all the people that you would imagine you should be. If there is a high school golf coach at your school then certainly start there. Even if your daughter hasn't played for this particular coach don't be afraid to contact him or her for help. Unlike high school football where a standout recruit must almost certainly be an active member on his high school varsity team this is not as necessary with other sports, most notably golf. Don't just stop with speaking to your school's golf coach, in fact this is only the beginning. Personally speak to all of the golf coaches at the surrounding high schools and explain your situation and conclude every conversation with a request for a referral so that you can continue to spread your message to an increasingly wider circle of connections. Expand your search to include informal discussions with local golf pros that teach lessons and manage courses in the area. These individuals tend to have vast networks of friends in the golfing business as the sport has likely been their livelihood for their entire adult lives.
The degree of success that the above approach of contacting local leaders in the golf community has for your particular situation is dependent upon what sort of area you live in. Surprisingly both ends of the spectrum can be less than ideal when considering an area where golf is either not popular at all or one in which the game is extremely popular. One option typically has a lack of knowledgeable resources while the other has such an abundance of qualified individuals that the competition can quickly increase to repressive levels. The best option if you live in a less than optimal spot (and even if you do) is to take advantage of the internet to broaden your search to a level that will almost undoubtedly ensure your success. Assuming you're not opposed to the idea of going off to college then I implore you to broaden your search and be proactive when it comes to contacting the golf programs at the colleges beyond your immediate area. While I encourage you not to unnecessarily sacrifice your academic or quality of life standards you should keep in mind that the more options you open yourself up to the better the chance will be that you'll find a scholarship offer that you can slide into. Begin by identifying as many as one hundred colleges that you're both interested in and that seem like plausible options. Visit each college's websites and find contact emails for the women's golf teams (look under the athletic department section). Create an email account specifically for handling these girls golf scholarship inquiries and keep it organized as such. Draft a template message that you can quickly send to each golf program. By designing the email message to only require a few alterations for each school. You'll greatly minimize the time that it takes to contact all of the college programs by following this template strategy. To avoid bombarding the women's golf coaches with an excessive amount of unsolicited information keep your message short, direct, and to the point. While you should have additional information available let it be known in your introductory email that if there's some interest and a possibility of a match then you can pass along the complete set of information.
Once alerted of the inequalities in the distribution of girls golf scholarships the first question that most people ask is who they should talk to in order to take advantage of this opportunity to literally save tens of thousands of dollars. The answer might surprise you when I say that you need to be talking to all the people that you would imagine you should be. If there is a high school golf coach at your school then certainly start there. Even if your daughter hasn't played for this particular coach don't be afraid to contact him or her for help. Unlike high school football where a standout recruit must almost certainly be an active member on his high school varsity team this is not as necessary with other sports, most notably golf. Don't just stop with speaking to your school's golf coach, in fact this is only the beginning. Personally speak to all of the golf coaches at the surrounding high schools and explain your situation and conclude every conversation with a request for a referral so that you can continue to spread your message to an increasingly wider circle of connections. Expand your search to include informal discussions with local golf pros that teach lessons and manage courses in the area. These individuals tend to have vast networks of friends in the golfing business as the sport has likely been their livelihood for their entire adult lives.
The degree of success that the above approach of contacting local leaders in the golf community has for your particular situation is dependent upon what sort of area you live in. Surprisingly both ends of the spectrum can be less than ideal when considering an area where golf is either not popular at all or one in which the game is extremely popular. One option typically has a lack of knowledgeable resources while the other has such an abundance of qualified individuals that the competition can quickly increase to repressive levels. The best option if you live in a less than optimal spot (and even if you do) is to take advantage of the internet to broaden your search to a level that will almost undoubtedly ensure your success. Assuming you're not opposed to the idea of going off to college then I implore you to broaden your search and be proactive when it comes to contacting the golf programs at the colleges beyond your immediate area. While I encourage you not to unnecessarily sacrifice your academic or quality of life standards you should keep in mind that the more options you open yourself up to the better the chance will be that you'll find a scholarship offer that you can slide into. Begin by identifying as many as one hundred colleges that you're both interested in and that seem like plausible options. Visit each college's websites and find contact emails for the women's golf teams (look under the athletic department section). Create an email account specifically for handling these girls golf scholarship inquiries and keep it organized as such. Draft a template message that you can quickly send to each golf program. By designing the email message to only require a few alterations for each school. You'll greatly minimize the time that it takes to contact all of the college programs by following this template strategy. To avoid bombarding the women's golf coaches with an excessive amount of unsolicited information keep your message short, direct, and to the point. While you should have additional information available let it be known in your introductory email that if there's some interest and a possibility of a match then you can pass along the complete set of information.
What information should you send to college golf coaches?
While there isn't a blanket recruiting package that is standardized across all colleges at every level it is safe to assume that many of them want to know the same things. Namely, (1) how good the golfer they're looking at really is, (2) how well she'll get along with teammates and the coach, (3) her level of interest in the school and golf program.
For simplicities sake let's discuss those points in the reverse order that they were presented in. Regardless of your attempts at being impartial some school are just going to rank higher in terms of person preference and that's not only natural but it's the way it should be. Academic standing, location, amenities, and other intangibles play large roles in effecting which schools are the best fit. Not surprisingly, student athletes excel the most in the classroom and on the playing field (course) when they're happy and comfortable with their quality of life. During this very impressionable time in a young women's life many beliefs, feelings, and ideas that will last a lifetime begin to take shape. Clearly I'm saying that selecting the right fit when it comes to both a golf team and a college are decisions that shouldn't be taken lightly. Having said that I'm going to advise you to approach the initial round of contact during the golf recruitment period the same way you should approach job interviews. Make every potential golf coach (employer) believe that their team/school (company) is one that you're extremely interested in joining. I'm not suggesting that you be over the top dishonest but at the same time you don't want to shut any doors before they're even opened. Put yourself in the golf shoes of the coaches. Like everyone else on this planet they have limited time and don't want to use what little they have chasing after someone who doesn't even want to be at their university. If you want to optimize your chances of getting a golf scholarship be openly receptive to each and every program, even if it isn't your first choice. Many would be student athletes have been left scrambling when for whatever reasons things didn't work out at the school that was their first choice and they learned the hard way that you should always have a back up plan (or three).
Impress upon the golf coaches you're speaking to that you are a very coachable person that is also an encouraging and good teammate. Whatever slight edge you can gain in terms of desirability when only help you when you're competing for a limited number of spots on any particular college's golf team. For starters take extra precaution to be particularly courteous when directly engaging with coaches either in person, over the phone, or via email. While this behavior may not win you a spot on a roster it certainly can lose a spot if the behavior is especially difficult or uncompromising. Ask relevant personalities in your life to write you letters of recommendation that you can include copies of with your recruitment packages. These letters don't need to be formal but should focus on your positive qualities as they relate to being a productive team player. If you don't have a golf instructor in your life to pen a recommendation consider other coaching figures that you've had in your life. Perhaps a softball coach or a middle school volleyball coach. A favorite teacher or prominent member in your community that can write on your behalf can help your cause. Don't be afraid to ask for these letters of recommendation. Most people will be flattered that you consider them enough of a significantly influential role model to deem their blessing valuable. The final thing that I'll recommend that you do to establish yourself as the sort of golfer that any coach would love to have is to dig through your network to find out if you might have connections that are at least acquaintances with any of the coaches on your list. I realize that this is the most difficult option we've discussed because it's predicated on already knowing well connected people so I will say that while this sort of rapport would go a long way in terms of helping your scholarship chances it by no means is a requirement. If high school graduation isn't right around the corner it would probably be a good idea to start thinking about how you can lay the foundation for these types of relationships that could really help your cause down the line. I'm not a proponent of recklessly using people. I'm just saying that it would be beneficial to begin preparing yourself for the future by making the effort to genuinely get to know the people that can help you move in the right direction.
No matter how many influential personal recommendations you have or how much your burning desire to attend the college of your dreams is all that you can talk about the bottom line is that your golf scores will ultimately play the largest role in determining your options. If you've played for your high school golf team then a lot of your scoring will be well documented. If those scores aren't as good as you'd like them to be you can work on your game and make a point of explaining what you've done to improve. There are golf tournaments all the time that require nothing more than a modest entry fee to compete in. If you're someone that didn't play for a girls high school golf team (maybe your school didn't have one) then competing in some of these tournaments is an excellent way to prove that you can shoot competitively when in playing in a tournament format -exactly what college scouts want to see. While there are many exceptional players in almost any tournament this shouldn't be intimidated. Just concern yourself with competing within your division (age and sex) and everything will be fine. For a number of reasons girls generally tend to embrace competition differently than boys do. This probably says something about our society but for the purpose of discussing girls golf college scholarships it's relevant because most young women never even give themselves a chance to be successful because they're too concerned with the possibility of failure. I can unequivocally tell you right now that the standards for playing golf at many lower tiered schools aren't as high as most people think. There are many opportunities out there. You just have to know where to look and then to put yourself on the line. I'm pretty confident that most girls desperately in need of a way to pay for college would gladly trade being a lower level contributor on a mediocre women's golf team in exchange for a free exchange from a top flight academic institution. If you're not shooting where you think you need to be in order to attend the schools you want to go to don't worry. Later in this website we'll talk about simple ways that girls can improve their golf game to increase their chances of receiving college scholarships.
While there isn't a blanket recruiting package that is standardized across all colleges at every level it is safe to assume that many of them want to know the same things. Namely, (1) how good the golfer they're looking at really is, (2) how well she'll get along with teammates and the coach, (3) her level of interest in the school and golf program.
For simplicities sake let's discuss those points in the reverse order that they were presented in. Regardless of your attempts at being impartial some school are just going to rank higher in terms of person preference and that's not only natural but it's the way it should be. Academic standing, location, amenities, and other intangibles play large roles in effecting which schools are the best fit. Not surprisingly, student athletes excel the most in the classroom and on the playing field (course) when they're happy and comfortable with their quality of life. During this very impressionable time in a young women's life many beliefs, feelings, and ideas that will last a lifetime begin to take shape. Clearly I'm saying that selecting the right fit when it comes to both a golf team and a college are decisions that shouldn't be taken lightly. Having said that I'm going to advise you to approach the initial round of contact during the golf recruitment period the same way you should approach job interviews. Make every potential golf coach (employer) believe that their team/school (company) is one that you're extremely interested in joining. I'm not suggesting that you be over the top dishonest but at the same time you don't want to shut any doors before they're even opened. Put yourself in the golf shoes of the coaches. Like everyone else on this planet they have limited time and don't want to use what little they have chasing after someone who doesn't even want to be at their university. If you want to optimize your chances of getting a golf scholarship be openly receptive to each and every program, even if it isn't your first choice. Many would be student athletes have been left scrambling when for whatever reasons things didn't work out at the school that was their first choice and they learned the hard way that you should always have a back up plan (or three).
Impress upon the golf coaches you're speaking to that you are a very coachable person that is also an encouraging and good teammate. Whatever slight edge you can gain in terms of desirability when only help you when you're competing for a limited number of spots on any particular college's golf team. For starters take extra precaution to be particularly courteous when directly engaging with coaches either in person, over the phone, or via email. While this behavior may not win you a spot on a roster it certainly can lose a spot if the behavior is especially difficult or uncompromising. Ask relevant personalities in your life to write you letters of recommendation that you can include copies of with your recruitment packages. These letters don't need to be formal but should focus on your positive qualities as they relate to being a productive team player. If you don't have a golf instructor in your life to pen a recommendation consider other coaching figures that you've had in your life. Perhaps a softball coach or a middle school volleyball coach. A favorite teacher or prominent member in your community that can write on your behalf can help your cause. Don't be afraid to ask for these letters of recommendation. Most people will be flattered that you consider them enough of a significantly influential role model to deem their blessing valuable. The final thing that I'll recommend that you do to establish yourself as the sort of golfer that any coach would love to have is to dig through your network to find out if you might have connections that are at least acquaintances with any of the coaches on your list. I realize that this is the most difficult option we've discussed because it's predicated on already knowing well connected people so I will say that while this sort of rapport would go a long way in terms of helping your scholarship chances it by no means is a requirement. If high school graduation isn't right around the corner it would probably be a good idea to start thinking about how you can lay the foundation for these types of relationships that could really help your cause down the line. I'm not a proponent of recklessly using people. I'm just saying that it would be beneficial to begin preparing yourself for the future by making the effort to genuinely get to know the people that can help you move in the right direction.
No matter how many influential personal recommendations you have or how much your burning desire to attend the college of your dreams is all that you can talk about the bottom line is that your golf scores will ultimately play the largest role in determining your options. If you've played for your high school golf team then a lot of your scoring will be well documented. If those scores aren't as good as you'd like them to be you can work on your game and make a point of explaining what you've done to improve. There are golf tournaments all the time that require nothing more than a modest entry fee to compete in. If you're someone that didn't play for a girls high school golf team (maybe your school didn't have one) then competing in some of these tournaments is an excellent way to prove that you can shoot competitively when in playing in a tournament format -exactly what college scouts want to see. While there are many exceptional players in almost any tournament this shouldn't be intimidated. Just concern yourself with competing within your division (age and sex) and everything will be fine. For a number of reasons girls generally tend to embrace competition differently than boys do. This probably says something about our society but for the purpose of discussing girls golf college scholarships it's relevant because most young women never even give themselves a chance to be successful because they're too concerned with the possibility of failure. I can unequivocally tell you right now that the standards for playing golf at many lower tiered schools aren't as high as most people think. There are many opportunities out there. You just have to know where to look and then to put yourself on the line. I'm pretty confident that most girls desperately in need of a way to pay for college would gladly trade being a lower level contributor on a mediocre women's golf team in exchange for a free exchange from a top flight academic institution. If you're not shooting where you think you need to be in order to attend the schools you want to go to don't worry. Later in this website we'll talk about simple ways that girls can improve their golf game to increase their chances of receiving college scholarships.
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3 comments:
I have created a great guide for junior golfers who want to play golf in college. I am a former division I golfer and know exactly what it takes to get a scholarship at any level. Check out my site for more info http://www.golfscholarshipexpert.com
So one question I have, is that I am a sophmore in highschool, trying to receive a college scholarship in golf. I have been playing for a year and a half, and 97 is my best score. I would like to know what score is the required amount to recieve a full-ride scholarship to a college?
Anonymous,
Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. Check out the recent post about how good of a score you need to get to. Don't be discouraged though. You have a lot of time and there are lots of scholarships with lower tier women's college golf programs.
George aka Travis Watson. You're website looks pretty good. Best of luck to you with the book sales. Hope you and your customers benefit.
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