Success In The College Golf Recruiting Process

What is the goal?

What does success in the college golf recruiting process look like to you? Believe it or not, I could ask this question to 10 different people and get 10 different answers. So one of the first things I ask parents and students when we start working together is “what is the goal?” (Side note: you’d be surprised how often kids and parents give different answers!) We start broad — I try to get a sense of the student’s personality and goals for life beyond golf and college, so that I can help assess which school and experience can best set him or her up for longterm success.

Then we need to get more focused on the task in front of us — the recruiting process. We all need to be on the same page about what success looks like in the recruiting process, because a successful recruiting process means different things to different people. I also want to provide families a clear sense of what benchmarks will be necessary to achieve the kinds of recruiting outcomes we’re talking about. The School & Scholarship Finder has been a great tool for me in this regard.

Owning the goal

Early on in our work together I like to ask students, “if you got to choose the outcome right now — you’re good enough to play golf for any team and you’re academically able to get into any school — what would you choose?” It’s nice when students have a school in mind, but that’s not what matters most. What really matters is that a student knows why that school is their dream school. We can then look for schools that share as many of those qualities as possible. What’s more common, however, is for students to hum and haw. Deep down I think they know what they really want, but they’re afraid of what I (and/or others) will think if they say it out loud. They let their fear of failure override their desire for success.

At the end of the day, it is much easier to get over a disappointment than a regret! And it is so, SO helpful to know what your goals are at the start of the recruiting process and to own them. It is the only way you stand a chance of achieving your ideal outcome — by being honest with yourself about what you really want and owning your goal.

Staying on track

It’s normal for priorities to shift and for kids to change their mind throughout the recruiting process, so we often revisit the conversation about goals. It’s common for students to realize that a quality they thought was a “must-have” in a school doesn’t actually matter that much. This kind of reassessment is good, as long as it is self-motivated and doesn’t come from a fear of failure.

It’s also quite common for outside influences to make us question our goals. I see this happen in a few ways most often…

One common scenario is for a student who is holding out for their dream school to get nervous when they hear about how many of their peers have committed to schools. They get stressed and think, “oh my goodness, I’m missing the boat!” I ask them where their friends have committed, and inevitably most of the schools are ones that are inferior, either academically or athletically, to the student’s dream school. In these instances, I remind the student that if they wanted to be done with the recruiting process, they could be. They could commit, but it would be to a lesser school. They are aiming higher and that’s a good thing! They are acting in line with their long term goals. Don’t let what other people are doing or thinking influence your pursuit of your goals.

Another common scenario is when a student gets unprompted interested from a coach (meaning, a coach from a school that isn’t on their list, that they have not contacted). It feels great for the student, and it should! It’s super flattering that a coach either saw you at a tournament or found you online and is interested. It’s important to enjoy that moment and celebrate that feeling. It’s also important to keep things in perspective — is this coach from a school that would help you achieve your goals? Sometimes the answer is yes, and it’s awesome when it is, but more often the answer is no. And in those cases, it’s important to keep moving. Don’t waste precious time and energy communicating during the recruiting process with a coach whose school you aren’t going to attend.

If we spend the time upfront to really decide what the goals are, and we know what success looks like, then all of these conversations and decisions become a lot easier. Occasionally we get off track, but it’s easy to course-correct and remember that everything we are doing is in service of the big-picture goal.