Too many NCAA golf scholarships for women go unclaimed
Golf is so important as a junior because it promotes ideas of consistency in your game and in your life. Claiming girls golf scholarship can be time consuming and in fact many scholarships offered to girls go unclaimed. According to The National College Athletic Assn. (NCAA) estimates that every year 200 college golf scholarships for young women go unclaimed. Too few girls compete in the sport to qualify for these scholarships, which means many young women are missing an opportunity that could make all the difference to their education, their income and their future (LA Times).
Stay on Top of Application & Recruiting
Education researchers have found that high school athletes have higher grade-point averages and fewer absentees than non-athletes. They learn teamwork, responsibility and the importance of persistence, patience and practice. Academics and sports. Keep building your skills. Depending on your school, playing on your high school team can be invaluable for gaining experience in competition. But, more and more, college coaches are looking at player results and ranking from competition outside of high school. This puts added importance on playing in local, regional, state and national level tournaments.
If you haven’t already, during your junior and senior years you will want to start making “unofficial” visits to the top colleges on your wishlist. Begin communicating with coaches at the colleges topping your list by calling or emailing so that you can introduce yourself, or schedule an unofficial visit. Frequent emails about your progress, including successes and failures with what you learned from them will show your interest and effort to improve, motivation. They will help the coach get to know you.
Stay Realistic but Optimistic
As you do your best to win girl golf scholarships, stay realistic. Here are the numbers.
At the Division 1 level, 256 universities have golf teams for women. There are 6 girl golf scholarships available per team. A total of 1536 scholarships are offered to women.
At the Division 2 level, 139 universities have golf teams for women. There are 5.4 scholarships available per team to be divided among the players. A total of 750.6 scholarships are offered to women in Division 2 . Girls’ golf is seeing explosive growth with recruiting and scouting becoming part of the game in a way few could have imagined (athleticscholarships.net). There are far more great golfers than there are available girl golf scholarships. Your commitment will greatly increase your odds of winning a girls golf scholarship. A great start would be our mental game starter package.
Tour Coaching For Junior Golfers
“This process is real, my daughter’s scores have suffered the last 12 months, thinking about earning a scholarship instead of just enjoying the round. In the last three rounds since trying the concepts presented, she has had three of her lowest rounds in a year as well as a 73 last week. Her lowest score ever. More importantly, she is having fun again.”
– Scott “T”, about Danielle using the GolfPsych Mental Game Builder Package
I have a 13 year old daughter that has been playing golf for 3 1/2 years. She is shooting in the 70’s and 80’s and plays competitive golf tournaments 2-3 times a month. When should we start emailing college coaches? Can we do that now?
Hi Jill, Your daughter is certainly playing well for her age. You can start emailing and mailing college golf coaches now. It is early days and you want to get her on their radar but you do not want to be a pest. I suggest emailing or contacting them every 3-4 months with status updates. When she is a sophomore start emailing monthly and continue that through her commitment to a school and beyond.
The emails should include her tournaments and performances, scores and places out of how many players. Do not cherry pick the results, include all of them. Include videos of her swings and play, short clips please. Include details of her practice, lessons and progress.
Don’t just include her golf but her academic achievements and extracurriculars as well. The coaches are looking for good golfers, good students and well rounded people that will fit in and contribute in all ways.
Send to 4-6 programs that you and she like.
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This story is quite misleading and very dated.
While there may be a few…and I mean very few scholarship opportunities that go unused, the NCAA allows schools to accumulate.
But more importantly, all the Division I scholarships get used. Mire than half of them are given to foreign born golfers.
If you want your daughter to get a full ride to a D-1 school, she’s going to have to start playing sone great golf. She will need to acquire a world ranking ( POLO, GOLFWEEK OR JUNIOR GOLF SCOREBOARD) in the top 200
BTW,this in and of itself will cost you nearly the same $ as if you had just paid for college through a trust.
Hi Don, You took some time to write your comments so I will reply. First, the NCAA generated the 200 per year number and the LA Times quoted them. We wrote our comments in January of this year, so nothing about this is dated. We are not saying it will be easy to earn a scholarship or, less likely, a full ride scholarship to a Div. I school. Yes, girls will need to play some great golf and get ranked to get coaches attention. It is our experience that coaches and the NCAA are emphasizing more than scores and rankings and recruiting accordingly. Yes, a lot of foreign players are recruited and given scholarships each year. Is it more than half of all scholarships, I doubt it. Most coaches are dividing their scholarships among their players. Very few get full ride scholarships. Yes, parents will spend lots of money supporting their Junior golfer’s college goals. But getting college paid for is not the primary focus for most parents. Most want their child to make the most of their talents and to pursue their dreams. The parents that are pushing their child for the primary goal of earning their college are focussed on the wrong things and the child will suffer for it.
You are so right Don! My daughter was blessed to get a full scholarship to a Div 1 university, but man was it competitive! We traveled around the country and had fun and some days were full of tears-but that’s golf! We probably spent more on the clubs, lessons, fees, traveling accomodations in 4 years that it would have cost to pay for her tuition! And I am sorry to report, that the demanding schedule and coach burned her out. When she graduated from college, she put away her clubs.She still shoots in low 70’s but has no desire to be involved or play the sport.
My advice…pursue AN ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP! Less demanding and gets your child better prepared for the job market!
Hi All,
My daughter is a Senior we started late in the game and has plaid competitive for one year. She enjoys golf and want to intern with the PGA/LPGA and major in Sports PR. Can you give any suggestions on how she can remain connected to golf while in college if she is not on a team.
Hi Tami, There are several ways to stay connected with golf or engaged in golf while she is in college. Of course she can play and practice on her own. There are probably public courses nearby that are not too expensive. Until she is 19, she can participate in Junior Golf Tours and tournaments. Once she is 19 the opportunities to play in amateur women’s competitions declines. She can play in any amateur and open events in the area or in the state. Many cities have amateur and open tournaments. Most states do too. As she improves she may be able to tryout for a spot on the team. As she improves it may also be possible to find another college program that she could play for, but it would mean changing schools. After she graduates, she could attend one of the programs that prepare students for positions in the golf industry, through the PGA of America or the LPGA Teaching Division or organizations like the Professional Golfers Career College.
If my daughter did not make the High School golf team as a freshman (6 spots with 14 trying out), is there still a possibility, as long as she continues to practice, to receive a scholarship?
Hi Dorothy, Your daughter did not make the team this time but could next year. She will be older, stronger and more experienced. Does she love golf? Does she want to work on her game? We have found that motivation and perseverance help a lot. There are no guarantees. If she shoots good scores when she is a Junior, then she will get a look from the college coaches. It is not too late. Further, playing on a high school team is no guarantee. Many of our Junior clients are not playing for their high school team. Performance in the AJGA tournaments makes a better resume. There are lots of other Tours to play on outside of high school.
Hi Jon,
I was a gymnast cheerleader and track runner, for quite a few years. I had an injury that removed me from these sports. This school year I’m going to be a junior and now need a new backup plan for a sport for college. What is the likely hood that I could manage to get a scholarship at a D2/3 school. I would like you to be honest so that I know what I am getting myself into. Thank you !
Hi Hannah, You are going to be a Junior in high school this year. Have you been playing golf before this? Competing? What is your competitive scoring average? This is the most important year for the college coaches. This is when they are looking hard and committing to players. Many are looking hard at Sophomore year performance and this Summer too. So if you do not have any competitive record and you are not playing larger tournaments, it will be very hard to get anyone’s attention and commitment.
Golf is hard. Those other sports are easier in a number of ways. The swing is just part of the game. Short game skills take time to develop. The Mental Game is a challenge. Scoring in competition is not easy for most. Your competition has been playing and competing for years.
Your chances are not good. A scholastic scholarship is more realistic if your grades are good.
I need more information to give you a better response.
John,
My Daughter played in her first competitive high school varsity event just today, she is an incoming freshman. She only started last year and has allot of potential and allot to improve upon. She is also a Jr. Caddie at a world class golf resort, which helps from allot of different perspectives. I have read over several comments and see discussion about “outside” of high school events/tourneys being critical for both improving and being noticed. Can you direct me to the best organizations to start with (jr. golf, etc). I don’t ever want my daughter (or any of the other 3 behind her) to get burned out, so I would like to be careful with regards to what extras we participate. Thank you ahead of time for your thoughts. Warmest regards!
Hi Todd,
You are right to be concerned about burning out your daughters with too much golf and pressure to compete. This does happen. Since she just started you should work to make sure she is having fun with her golf. If she wants to compete and perhaps play college golf, then your support is crucial. We wrote an article for our website, “How many Junior Tournaments are Too Many“. If your daughter is excited to play and to practice, then let her decide how much practice and how many tournaments to play. If she is showing signs of burn-out; declining scores, irritable, more emotional than normal during and around competition, over-tired or injuries, then it is time to dial it back.
There should be a PGA Section sponsored Tour in your area with good competitions for a newer golfer. As her play improves, then qualifying for and playing in as many AJGA Tournaments as possible is the best way to get noticed by the college coaches. Regular high school tournaments do not get much attention from the coaches. Her performance in the State tournament is the exception. Good Luck with her journey and improvement.
Hi! Im 18 years old and in my senior year in high school. i am a 4 handicap player exact is 3.9. I have been Pakistan no1 and represented the country in international tournaments.i have won a lot of tournaments in Pakistan. I have also had score of 74 in srilanka in a tournament where our team got second place. I want to apply for colleges and universities in the US. I want to apply to get full scholarship. what do you recommend I do? which colleges/universities will be best for me?
Hi Rimsha,
There are lots of colleges that could use your talent. You need to think about what you want and apply to those colleges that have the major you want. Apply to at least half a dozen. Send regular emails to their coaches. The Ping Guide has all the contact information you need. Get on the internet and investigate which colleges you want to play for.
Of course you want a full scholarship but that may not be possible. Are you academically strong too? An academic scholarship is also possible. Good Luck!!
I’ve been playing golf for 6 years, been committed to my school’s team for 3, and my average is still a 91. I’m a junior in high school, I LOVE playing golf, but I’m just not improving as much as I want to. Should I work and attempt to get scholarships, or do you think it’s too late?
Hi Piper, Thanks for contacting us. To answer your question, I need to know more about how you are trying to improve. Averaging 91 will not get any college coaches attention or the opportunity to play college golf. There are many ways to get there. Improving your scoring will help the most. It is not too late if you can do that. A high grade point average will help. Academic scholarships will help you be more attractive to the coaches. Are you wanting Division 1 schools or is any Division OK? Some players have not been recruited, walked on and qualified later as their skills improved. That takes a Coach that is willing to give you a chance.