Best Round Of the Year

[APowell1990]

I carded a 39 in practice for my high school golf team. It is the first time anybody has broke 40 since I broke it my freshman year. Anyways I was wondering what it took to get a full ride somewhere? I have heard an average of under 40 and a good regional performance. The thing is that I didn't hit ONE good drive today. I am very pleased with how gritty I was today.

[Davebud]

Solid my man, solid.

[JEFF4i]

Extremely good. As far as collegiate/professional golf you need to get yourself known, keep moving the bar up. It also depends on the region. Shoot I was among others who made state and was never spoken too. Granted, I didn't play my senior year.

**EDIT** To make state you need to have at least 3 scores under 78(Give or take a stroke dependant upon course).

[APowell1990]

We recently moved regions. I remember that like a 72 won regionals. I just want to get into a decent college with a full ride. I dont have any intentions on chasing a big time program if they just pay part of my scholarship. I figured you would know Jeff.

[cypressperch]

among other things in Louisiana for thirty years. Golf was played year 'round down there. The best golfers tended to go to the private schools and were members at the best country clubs. But we did have some people who went to college on full scholarships. They were scratch or very close to scratch golfers. A few went to college and "walked on" and were able to play. But there were plenty over the years who shot in the mid to high seventies that got absolutely no interest shown in them. If a person does not have parents with connections at some college (Such connections sometimes pay off.), you are going to have to be really good to get a full scholarship. There are colleges that have golf teams that have no players on scholarship. Some give half scholarships. I knew a golf coach who only recruited golfers who qualified for at least partial academic scholarships to which he added a half golf scholarship. I thought that was a very good way to handle a golf program.

So work at your game and get as good as you can. Even if you do not make a college team, you will not regret having improved. I am somewhat amazed how often on different golf forums, young folks sound as if getting on a college team is fairly easy. We had a pretty good program where I coached, and in a typical good year, you had to shoot below 80 to make the top five. In college they usually play from the tips, so length off the tee is pretty important. Whether right or wrong, I know most college golf coaches pay a lot of attention to driver distance. Courses are usually set up to be as difficult as they can be made, so you better be a good putter and be able to get your ball below the hole most of the time.

There are a lot of parents out there who are sparing no expense to get their kids on college golf teams. Their clubs and other equipment are the best. The go to David Ledbetter's golf academy or something similar. They play junior golf tours that have tournaments all over the country during the summer. They are into weight training, motivational tapes, anything that might give them an edge over everyone else. Believe me, this stuff works. But I would not dare suggest that anyone do all of this stuff unless it was absolutely what the kid involved wanted to do. I have seen kids get burned out with such a program, and the parents get so enraged that it became obvious that the parents, usually one of them, were trying to live unfilled dreams through their children. That should be a crime because it does get abusive. Tiger and his dad are an ideal situation that is really pretty rare. Wasn't it Shawn O'Hare whose dad put him under such extreme pressure to make it in the pros? Spent all his money so that it was all right to have his kid give up every thing else in life. Lots of stuff to consider when you think about it.

The really good golfers that I coached, the ones that made it to college level golf--they were all very accomplished when freshmen in high school. I played some college golf and I was pretty good when I was in junior high, but the kids today are super golfers with the equipment they have today and with the improved instruction and other opportunities. You got to be really good these days.

The very best of luck to you with your golf dreams. Sincerely, Cypressperch

[kow_ciller]

well, here in texas, its MURDER to just get to regionals. Last year in my district we had a guy who would shoot 4-5 under consistantly and the #1 ranked player in mexico, yet, when he got to state he still came in something crazy like 23rd.

[APowell1990]

I am not downplaying a full ride, but I know a guy going to a good school that is barely breaking 40. He is huge off the tee though. I am pretty long, but not as long as I need to be. I am about 250-260 most of the time. I do hit my irons as long as most pros though.

[warbirdlover]

250-260 off the tee is good if it's in the fairway. I don't know if any more with the driver would really lower your scores that much. I think I'd look at the putting and short game closely and you might gain the most strokes there.

[APowell1990]

yeah the good thing about my short game is that my wedge is really trusty on long pitch shots. Most have trouble with it, but I just close everything and hit it normally. My putting stroke is absolutely horrible, but it finds the bottom of the cup and I am great at making those knee knockers. I tend to hit it off the toe to slow the greens down. I have to get a long iron/fairway wood game though. I hit my long irons low and sometimes with a hook. My driver is really the only question mark in my bag most days. I have the hooks with it right now and it is terrible.

[Dave Ireland]

Hey guys, could you expand a little bit on the Golf Scholarship gig for the unitiated (me) please. We do have sports scholarships here but they're more pointed towards ahtletics and football.

I know from watching some factual documentaries like Hoop Dreams and reading Brian Bosworth's autobiography, that any excellance in sports - basketball, football etc is courted big time by the major colleges in the US. A 250lb linebacker doesn't necessarily have to show an aptitiude for academia to gain entry to the college system. Is it the same for golf ? Do the state colleges use local high schools as their feeder system or do they court from near and far ?

Once you're accepted, what's the % time spent devoted to the sport against normal tuition ? ... is there like 9 holes in the morning ...lectures ..9 holes evening ... psychological/mental fortitude conditioning etc.

And finally the role of a golf coach... again my background is from Gaelic Football - which is 15 aside game ... the varying degrees of talent within the 15 footballers was harnessed by the coach into a team whose constituents parts outweighed the individual talent within the team. Is a golf coach's role to oversee the team selection or do they actively participate in furthering the golfer's game ?

Thanks

[Bravo]

Dave:

In the states, there are numerous athletic scholarships where players get a 'full ride' - all tuition, books or a 'partial scholarship'
These include but are not limited to:

1) American football
2) Basketball - men's and women's
3) Baseball - men's
4) Softball - women's
5) Swimming - men's and women's
6) Tennis - men's and women's
7) Golf - men's and women's
8) Gymnastics - women's

To get a college golf scholarship on a men's team - you need to be scratch and have a documented track record of success in regional tournaments. On the women's side, golf scholarships go begging and if your daughter can break 80 - she will receive numerous offers.

The daily schedule for a college golfer is to organize academic classes in the morning and play in the late afternoon. Then study at night.

It is interesting to note that quite a few British golfers -including Colin Montgomerie attended American universities on golf scholarships (Houston Baptist University). As I have written here, Graeme McDowell played college golf right here in Birmingham. It is very common for American university teams to have players from all over the world on their rosters.

The better college golf programs are located in the South and Western U.S. where the weather is warmer. The college golf season begins in late February and is in full swing in March - May. Therefore universities in colder, northern climates usually do not have as strong programs.

Incidentally several of my neighbor's children have gotten full scholarships to excellent universities such as Dartmouth and University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University. Tuition at these universities can run $25,000 per year so a four year scholarship is genuninely quite valuable to a family.

The coach's job is both to select the team as well as give them instruction as well as manage them (a la a Ryder Cup Captain) in tournament play. It should be noted though that the tournament format is simply total team stroke play, so there is not the element of pairing players according to different formats like the Ryder Cup.

[Dave Ireland]

Cheers Bravo - yeah as you say a full/partial scholarship certainly removes the financial burden. If I remember correctly McDowell broke most of the scoring stats set by Woods while at Birmingham.

What really interests me is the degree of golf instruction these guys get at college - needless to say a scratch golfer playing everyday will attain a certain level in improvement, but I'm wondering if there's a certain "something" that's thought/instilled into these guys to take them to the next level or is it a case of rounding up a creditable team to represent your college for a 4/5 year period and renew the cycle as they graduate.

What happens if their academic grades decline ? are you bagged up and shipped out to the detriment of the golf team, or is there an alternative avenue they can take ? .... because ostensibly you're there to graduate with some kind of degree. It's just I imagine for sake of argument you had the leading quarter back in college football and he wasn't the sharpest tool in the box... there is very little likelihood of him being axed

[APowell1990]

I just got back from playing 9 holes. I shot a 36 (E) at my home golf course. It is pretty straightforward, but it is tough for me. Most holes require a right to left ballflight and I don't have that right now. I hit 8 greens in regulation and made 2 birdies. I still need to work on my driver, but my irons were great again today and I am still a machine from inside 10 feet.

[DaveE]

Originally Posted by APowell1990

I carded a 39 in practice for my high school golf team. It is the first time anybody has broke 40 since I broke it my freshman year. Anyways I was wondering what it took to get a full ride somewhere? I have heard an average of under 40 and a good regional performance. The thing is that I didn't hit ONE good drive today. I am very pleased with how gritty I was today.

Just saw this on golfdigest.com and thought it might help.

edit: I guess it would help if I included the links.

http://www.golfdigest.com/features/i...egesurvey.html

http://www.golfdigest.com/features/i...checklist.html

[Bravo]

DaveIreland:

Over the past few years, all athletic scholarships have become quite a bit stricter regarding the student/athlete maintaining a certain grade point average (GPA). Said differently, they can certainly flunk out and will promptly lose their scholarship. This applies to all sports and it is incumbent upon the coach of whatever team to insure that his/her kids keep their grades up...on the other hand "easy curriculums" usually taken by athletes, especially those in football and basketball - to insure that they don't flunk out and are lost from the team.

It is largely up to the athletic scholarship recipient to choose what they want to study. While many of them choose easy degrees, some of them indeed study business, engineering, pre-med and pre-law...so it is difficult to characterize/stereotype what they are going to study. I would expect that Graeme McDowell probably pursued a worthy degree and obtained it before going on tour.

Overall the number one responsibility of the coach is to recruit/assemble as talented a team as possible. This applies in all of the sports as it is widely agreed that "talent wins games" so this is true in football/basketball as it is in golf. (BTW I forgot to mention that many American colleges indeed have full scholarships for soccer/world football too).

Some college golf coaches are better known for their instructional capabilties than others. This is natural. While at the same time, they are constantly on the prowl for talent, therefore the ability for a non-U.S. player to receive a scholarship offer is good - if he can prove through his scores/tourney results that he is a real playa...often, they will travel with their parents to play in U.S. regional tournaments while at the same sending advance materials about their playing abilities to targeted colleges. The golf coach from that school is then able to meet the non-U.S. athlete at the tournament and watch them play. So in this regard, there is a lot of "courting' that goes on in American college golf recruiting, with savvy players/parents discretely seeking out targeted schools.

Notice players on UAB's roster here in Birmingham from Ireland and Australia...

http://uabsports.cstv.com/sports/m-g...-golf-mtt.html

Similarly, Oklahoma State has produced several PGA Tour stars and has players from Spain and Australia on their current team..

http://www.okstate.com/SportSelect.d...156&SPSID=1708