Womens D3 Golf

[9andwine]

During recruiting cycle should the top end Womens D3(ranked in top 10 or 20) be considered over the bottom of D1 ?  Seeing if anyone has experience with this decision, as the 2026 class seems to be getting really tight with the portal and roster limitations etc etc

[LawGenius305]

Not in women's. Women's D3 golf is pretty bad after the top 4-6 schools. Only schools I would consider over a D1 would be Emory, Carnegie, Pomona Pitzer, George Fox, Wash U and Williams. After that there is a huge drop off in talent. D3 women's generally plays 5700 max. 

 

Bottom line, you would choose D3 for the Academic route. Those schools I listed are top women's golf schools and top academic schools. The other part of this, if you are asking the question, they probably don't have a chance to play professionally.  Pick the better academic school.

[jda]

I would go to most D3 schools over lower end D1 if the kid is more into the degree than the game and the school has your major.  You get to avoid all of the new NCAA settlement rules/stuff.  Plus, better players in D3 often get nice deals and don't pay for much.  You also don't have to worry about getting recruited over or cut (as much.)

 

If the kid is only going to college for golf, the pick the best fit in terms of playing time and team composition & team culture - it could be either level.  Don't value the coaches too much since they can always disappear without much notice.  Sometimes, a middling D3 has more security over some D1s.

 

For my kids, the town mattered a lot too.  You are only playing golf part of the year, but they have to live in the city 100% of the time.  IMO, too many overlook this.

[golfortennis]

1 hour ago, jda said:

I would go to most D3 schools over lower end D1 if the kid is more into the degree than the game and the school has your major.  You get to avoid all of the new NCAA settlement rules/stuff.  Plus, better players in D3 often get nice deals and don't pay for much.  You also don't have to worry about getting recruited over or cut (as much.)

 

If the kid is only going to college for golf, the pick the best fit in terms of playing time and team composition & team culture - it could be either level.  Don't value the coaches too much since they can always disappear without much notice.  Sometimes, a middling D3 has more security over some D1s.

 

For my kids, the town mattered a lot too.  You are only playing golf part of the year, but they have to live in the city 100% of the time.  IMO, too many overlook this.

 

Was going to add that.  One girl from my club was at a D3 school.  PLayed well, but turned her ankle.  Coach did everything but kick her off the team.  She went to a D1 school and showed very solidly.  She never had any illusions about a professional golfer career, but she did not deserve the treatment she got.

 

Even some D3 coaches are more interested in their resumes than their athletes. 

[MB19]

6 hours ago, 9andwine said:

During recruiting cycle should the top end Womens D3(ranked in top 10 or 20) be considered over the bottom of D1 ?  Seeing if anyone has experience with this decision, as the 2026 class seems to be getting really tight with the portal and roster limitations etc etc

This is a good question for sure.

4 hours ago, LawGenius305 said:

Not in women's. Women's D3 golf is pretty bad after the top 4-6 schools. Only schools I would consider over a D1 would be Emory, Carnegie, Pomona Pitzer, George Fox, Wash U and Williams. After that there is a huge drop off in talent. D3 women's generally plays 5700 max. 

 

Bottom line, you would choose D3 for the Academic route. Those schools I listed are top women's golf schools and top academic schools. The other part of this, if you are asking the question, they probably don't have a chance to play professionally.  Pick the better academic school.

...and this looks like a great answer.

 

I do wonder where the tipping point is between Mid-major D1 and top D2 is.

 

While I don't pretend to be this ambitious, a cool project would be a tree hierarchy chart for the layers of D1/D2/D3 with plug-in variables to suit players like handicap, JGS rank/class rank, and academic profile.  I have to think for-pay recruiting coordinators use something like this for clients.

[9andwine]

29 minutes ago, MB19 said:

This is a good question for sure.

...and this looks like a great answer.

 

I do wonder where the tipping point is between Mid-major D1 and top D2 is.

 

While I don't pretend to be this ambitious, a cool project would be a tree hierarchy chart for the layers of D1/D2/D3 with plug-in variables to suit players like handicap, JGS rank/class rank, and academic profile.  I have to think for-pay recruiting coordinators use something like this for clients.

Im sure they have something like that.  We know very talented girls who play D3 that routinely beat D1 girls in the tournaments at home.  I am wondering what the tipping point was in the decision.  Not being recruited by D1 schools?  Did not market themselves? Peaked later on?  Some D3 programs look really good IMO

[golferdad8]

5 hours ago, LawGenius305 said:

Not in women's. Women's D3 golf is pretty bad after the top 4-6 schools. Only schools I would consider over a D1 would be Emory, Carnegie, Pomona Pitzer, George Fox, Wash U and Williams. After that there is a huge drop off in talent. D3 women's generally plays 5700 max. 

 

Bottom line, you would choose D3 for the Academic route. Those schools I listed are top women's golf schools and top academic schools. The other part of this, if you are asking the question, they probably don't have a chance to play professionally.  Pick the better academic school.

Listen to the D3 podcast.
 

Personally, I’d suggest adding Claremont & Amherst to that list…and would take those two over Georgia Fox or Emory. 

[jda]

At least listen to the D3 coach.  Had one D3 text my kid that she would get a "whole pile of money" which meant 100% off campus 12 month room, board, school and more than $1000 a month walking around money.  It was a good school too.  She was a legit D1 player, so it would have been a get for them.  Some D3s have Leadership, Blue Eyes, Left Handed, Oldest Sibling, Ears Pierced More than Once and other scholarships that they can give out in addition to academic stuff with low requirements for kids with outside activities (like sports, engineering teams, etc).  Some D3s don't do much with money.

 

A lot of lower level D1 are only there for football and football money - don't expect them to invest just as much in other sports.  In many cases, they do not.  This all depends on the school.

 

Lastly, don't fall into the trap of just wanting to be a "D1 Player/Family."  Nobody cares but you all.  I played Big 8 Baseball (and golf) at a school now in the SEC and nobody cares.  It is just as good to say that you "played in College."  Do D1 because the rest of it makes sense.

 

We have sent kids to Embry Riddle, Tufts, MIT, Emory and Trinity in a few sports that got great degrees and got hired fast.  I have no idea if any of them are good in any sports.

[Golfingdawg19]

I can only speak for the women’s side but some of the top D2 teams would definitely beat some lower level D1 teams. The problem is going to be that the D2 teams don’t have the facilities or budgets that the D1 teams have. That matters to a lot of kids.

[Golfingdawg19]

The way things are working now, kids going to big schools will get 1-2 to produce. If they aren’t making the travel team on a regular basis then they will process them out. Those kids will end up at smaller schools and do well. On the flip side, if a kid plays well we D2-D3 or a mid major, they will get paid to go to a bigger school. Just how things work these days 

[darter79]

if you replace D3 with d2 in this question then I think thats valid. But d3 at the women level isn't super great. So I would take a bottom feeder D1 over funding and facilities and likely better education as well over a top level D3.

[RmoorePE]

On 7/24/2025 at 8:51 AM, 9andwine said:

During recruiting cycle should the top end Womens D3(ranked in top 10 or 20) be considered over the bottom of D1 ?  Seeing if anyone has experience with this decision, as the 2026 class seems to be getting really tight with the portal and roster limitations etc etc

 

Just keep repeating to yourself Town, Team and Coach. There are quite a few D1 schools in places that aren't that attractive to most people, except those that already live in the area. Some can overcome that with their facilities and sports prestige, many do not.

 

The goal is to get your kid through college. If she likes the Town and makes friends on the team, the chances of making it through college golf go way up. Coach is next on the list but they can change without notice.

 

My daughter is really trying hard to get into a college in a town she wants to live in. Plenty of opportunities in places she doesn't want to go. I told her that she needed to spend today, thanking every coach who gave offers, because coaches can change, and one of them may end up somewhere she wants to be.

[Petethreeput]

Unless I were on the fast track to professional golf I would definitely look at D3 schools.  In my opinion, school is the vehicle for the rest of the kids life, and not just sports, but academics, friends, connections, and learning how to be an adult.  But if you ask any high school junior or senior they are already mature enough and the sole focus is sport and ranking, but I think many of them are missing the boat.

 

The rules of engagement are significantly different for D1 to D3 in regards to the amount of time the student can have coach and team based activities.  D1 hours are much more, and if they are paying the tuition they are going to make sure the player is playing golf, working out in the gym, doing one on one practices, meetings, etc.  D3 the coach has a comparatively miniscule amount of time they are permitted to guide the student in the sport.  At a D3, the kid gets to be a college student and learn the basic skills of life, plus gets to play competitive golf with the team.

 

It is never surprise (to me anyway) when a rookie professional athlete goes off the rails.  Through their college career they lived and breathed their sport and to make sure they qualified academically they had study halls.  It isn't these kids are bad kids, they just have never not had someone telling them where to be and when.

 

College sports are great, I played for four years.  I made a lot of great friends, I got a lot of perks academically and socially because I was on the team, but at the end of the day I never thought I was going to be a professional and I wanted to be a student first, athlete second (except when it got me a better schedule or food).

 

I would encourage any kid to go to the best academic school they can and then play sports there, but don't sleep on D3.  And JDA is correct, if you are good enough D3 schools have "academic" scholarships for kids who play sports.

[golferdad8]

9 hours ago, Petethreeput said:

And JDA is correct, if you are good enough D3 schools have "academic" scholarships for kids who play sports.

Lots of good tips here. However, most top D3 academic schools only have “financial aid” packages and not merit scholarships, ie northeast Nescac schools, Wash U, Pomona, Claremont, Emory, etc.

 

We know top 50-100 JGS kids going to academic D3s w 4.5 gpa/1500+SAT and getting zero merit dollars. Why? That’s the avg accepted kids’ background, so there’s no way to get merit $ or everyone at the school would get it. 

[Petethreeput]

7 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

most top D3 academic schools only have “financial aid” packages and not merit scholarships

This is a lot of chicken or the egg so if I sound circular I don't mean to.  But the academic was quoted facetiously.

 

In my opinion, the easiest way for a school to differentiate and garner attention is through athletic success.  We can't possibly think Williams College has the magic sauce so every attendee just happens to be an an elite athlete in most of their sports and has been for the past 40 years (maybe longer).  But we also know, one of the criteria for being D3 is the lack of athletic scholarships, so how does it happen?

 

A lot of those east coast D3 athletic juggernauts have a couple of things going for them.  Massive endowments and emphasis on athletic achievement for visibility in a crowded field.  These schools also have a direct line between ADs and Admissions so when a kid applies who can move the needle (or they believe they can) they receive "academic" scholarships, not student loans to alleviate the costs incurred by their otherwise eye watering tuitions.

 

The truth is, based on most every single study, the leading indicator of academic success/prowess is familial SES, so how many of these kids would qualify for Pell Grants and how many of these kids are that much smarter than the other students?  These academically competitive D3 schools will give scholarships because a coach wants them on their team and its a way to entice them to enroll.

[Petethreeput]

7 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

We know top 50-100 JGS kids going to academic D3s w 4.5 gpa/1500+SAT and getting zero merit dollars

This is a different discussion, and one that is golf specific.  Golf is not a sport that really moves any needles and is largely an affluent game.  At our little school there are sports which are coveted and then there is golf and swimming.  Those two sports DO NOT have the direct pipeline to admissions because they don't bring attention to the school.  This is what makes Stanford so incredible.  I realize they are D1, but how do they keep winning those non-revenue sports when most schools are football/basketball and forget the rest of the sports.

[smoova]

45 minutes ago, Petethreeput said:

A lot of those east coast D3 athletic juggernauts have a couple of things going for them.  Massive endowments and emphasis on athletic achievement for visibility in a crowded field.  These schools also have a direct line between ADs and Admissions so when a kid applies who can move the needle (or they believe they can) they receive "academic" scholarships, not student loans to alleviate the costs incurred by their otherwise eye watering tuitions.

 

I've got some experience* with NESCAC recruiting, so just wanted to add a little clarification.  Most first-choice NESCACs (Williams/Tufts/Amherst/Middlebury/Wesleyan/Bowdoin) give only need-based financial aid. At those schools, there are no scholarships or other aid that is not related to financial need; coach pull/juice/slots with admissions is the principal initial value of being a recruited athlete. There are a few NESCACs (e.g. Trinity and Conn College) that are slightly less selective during admissions and that do give financial aid based on criteria other than financial need.

 

*I've got one kiddo playing lacrosse at Midd and another playing soccer at Wes.  Both were recruited by multiple NESCACs (including Williams) and each turned down mid-level DI offers while they waited for the NESCAC pre-read/offer window to open.

Edited August 1 by smoova

[Petethreeput]

36 minutes ago, smoova said:

only need-based financial aid

I believe this, but I also don't.  And I should say, I was using the wrong verbiage, yes it's need based but for 90% of the student body it's because they want the student so I mis-stated calling it academic.

 

But I do agree there are a lot of D3 athletes who could have easily played D1 in their respective sports had they wanted to.

Edited August 1 by Petethreeput

[tatertot]

I have a freind that used to coach a mid-level D3 team. Breaking 80 was a rarity.

[LawGenius305]

21 minutes ago, tatertot said:

I have a freind that used to coach a mid-level D3 team. Breaking 80 was a rarity.

Forgot this was about girls. 100% accurate. 

Edited August 1 by LawGenius305