Is 13 Too Young to Contact D1 College Coaches (Girls)?

[killer21]

Is there any criteria for this or is this best left to her swing coach?  Is it all tournament results driven or swing quality, driver distance?

Just curious for opinions.  My daughter is not shooting low scores but other younger kids appear to be contacting coaches but also have better scores.

[heavy_hitter]

1 hour ago, killer21 said:

Is there any criteria for this or is this best left to her swing coach?  Is it all tournament results driven or swing quality, driver distance?

Just curious for opinions.  My daughter is not shooting low scores but other younger kids appear to be contacting coaches but also have better scores.

You have to be realistic with the expectations.  At 13 I am assuming 7th grader.  I would wait until the 8th grade.  At that time is the time to start to let schools know she is interested.  She needs to do it though.  Not the Swing Coach, not the parent.

 

There is no reason to contact coaches if you are younger than 8th grade in my opinion.

[Abh159]

@heavy_hitter offered some good advice. I'll second the "realistic" piece, and also add that you/her need to be realistic with the programs you contact.

 

You stated that currently she is not shooting low scores compared to other kids. Therefore, I wouldn't spend a lot of time trying to contact the top programs. Find realistic programs for her skill level that she is interested in and start there. If she gets good enough the top programs will find her.

[wildcatden]

Agree with HH on 8th grade. If I recall the rules, the coach can not contact you back until after Sophomore year anyways.

[caniac6]

40 minutes ago, wildcatden said:

Agree with HH on 8th grade. If I recall the rules, the coach can not contact you back until after Sophomore year anyways.

We have a very good young player at our club, and they were not allowed to talk to her until her sophomore.year was over. She committed to Wake Forest.

[heavy_hitter]

21 hours ago, caniac6 said:

We have a very good young player at our club, and they were not allowed to talk to her until her sophomore.year was over. She committed to Wake Forest.

The way it is done is they are allowed to contact the kids coach.  Whenever emails are sent out always put the coaches contact info into the email.

[kekoa]

On 10/11/2022 at 9:07 AM, wildcatden said:

Agree with HH on 8th grade. If I recall the rules, the coach can not contact you back until after Sophomore year anyways.

I thought it was Junior year based on the new rules?

[heavy_hitter]

7 minutes ago, kekoa said:

I thought it was Junior year based on the new rules?

It is like June 15th after your sophomore year of high school.

[rflores2323]

Yes I highly recommend sending out communication. The earlier the better.  We started when my daughter was in 8th grade.  We understood that coaches were not able to respond and communicate until June 15 after her sophomore year.  What I did was send out a newsletter with scores, tournaments and stuff about her.  The newsletter was able to track opens etc.. that helped us to see if the coaches were interested and reading it.. Also cast the net to alot of coaches at first.  Include NAIA schools, D3, D2 and D1 programs that are of interest.  The coaches need to know who the player is to start following their career.  Also when my daughter was in 9th grade we started having calls with NAIA schools.  This way she got a start on how to talk to coaches and the process.  Now she is a junior and alot of schools are recruiting her and she is comfortable talking with them and asking questions etc.. 

 

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

On 10/12/2022 at 1:39 PM, rflores2323 said:

Yes I highly recommend sending out communication. The earlier the better.  We started when my daughter was in 8th grade.  We understood that coaches were not able to respond and communicate until June 15 after her sophomore year.  What I did was send out a newsletter with scores, tournaments and stuff about her.  The newsletter was able to track opens etc.. that helped us to see if the coaches were interested and reading it.. Also cast the net to alot of coaches at first.  Include NAIA schools, D3, D2 and D1 programs that are of interest.  The coaches need to know who the player is to start following their career.  Also when my daughter was in 9th grade we started having calls with NAIA schools.  This way she got a start on how to talk to coaches and the process.  Now she is a junior and alot of schools are recruiting her and she is comfortable talking with them and asking questions etc.. 

 

Where have you been this last years of my life. 😉  I honestly thought I was reading one of my old post.  My son started out with NAIA coaches cause they were the only ones that could talk to him.  He became very comfort talking with coaches.  Two offers he really liked but he ended up going a different direction.

[golferdad8]

On 10/11/2022 at 9:50 AM, caniac6 said:

We have a very good young player at our club, and they were not allowed to talk to her until her sophomore.year was over. She committed to Wake Forest.

I've seen many good early kid golfers peak from 8th to 11th grade, and even commitment to a school can become a distraction if the kid becomes complacent. Imho, the key is to help the kids LOVE the game & want to keep getting better. If this process is followed, there will be a good outcome(options) even in 11th or 12th grade (esp for the girls). P.S. Important to have good grades if want to maximize options and also financial support from the schools. 

[heavy_hitter]

31 minutes ago, golferdad8 said:

 P.S. Important to have good grades if want to maximize options and also financial support from the schools. 

Just as important as the golf itself in my opinion.

[leezer99]

8 hours ago, heavy_hitter said:

Just as important as the golf itself in my opinion.

 

We're skipping a pretty big two day camp with lots of great coaches because my son has finals on the Thursday - Friday before and the Monday - Tuesday after. 

[heavy_hitter]

On 12/9/2022 at 9:26 PM, leezer99 said:

 

We're skipping a pretty big two day camp with lots of great coaches because my son has finals on the Thursday - Friday before and the Monday - Tuesday after. 

I don't understand some of the schedules of tours, particularly AJGA.  I don't think they understand school year starts and school year endings.