As the game of golf continues to grow and as new talent is fostered, the recruiting aspect of college golf becomes more murky and complex, especially among the different NCAA divisions. My name is Andy, and I’m an incoming recruit for the freshman class of 2028 at Carnegie Mellon, and I would like to share my own recruiting experience and offer some pieces of advice for any junior golfer looking to put themselves out there for a chance to play collegiate golf.
In terms of my experience as a junior golfer, I would consider myself a late bloomer. Every year, the top of the top recruits (~top 100 in their graduation class nationally) begin to speak to college coaches and gauge interests during their sophomore year summer, as per NCAA regulations. For me in particular, I was not at all a top recruit, as I was around the 1500 mark in Junior Golf Scoreboard (JGS) rankings, the main ranking system used by players, parents, and coaches to gauge recruits and their strength. In addition to my interest in golf, I had many academic pursuits that I put my energy into during this time as well. By the end of high school, I had a 4.0/4.88 unweighted and weighted GPA with a 1570 SAT. I had also taken 18 Advanced Placement (AP) classes, with all exams passed, and twelve 5s, alongside other extracurricular pursuits I had such as developing my own mobile app, National Honors Society (NHS), California Scholarship Federation (CSF), Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), and more.
As a result, I felt stuck as a recruit. I saw my fellow competitors who viewed golf as their entire life get recruited by top Division I colleges, while I was a decent golfer with collegiate potential, but more so had strong academic and outside extracurricular achievements. Fortunately, I took a big leap at the start of 2023 during the middle of my junior year, as I started pumping out results that hovered around even par to a couple over par in Toyota Tour Cup tournaments (an invitational-based circuit in Southern California). I took this momentum into the summer of my senior year, where I played in four AJGA tournaments around the nation. I was able to notch two top-15 finishes (in which I finished both one stroke out of a top-10), and I finished roughly middle of the pack in the other two tournaments. In the middle of these AJGAs, I had a breakout win in the Toyota Tour Cup circuit, firing a 5-under for two days, winning the tournament. By the end of the summer, I had gone from a 0.02 scoring differential at the start of my junior year to a -2.01 scoring differential, jumping over 500 spots in JGS rankings.
Throughout my junior year summer, I contacted a variety of programs and coaches that I felt would align with both my academic interests and my motivation to still compete in golf, mainly Ivy Leagues and a handful of Division III schools, one being Carnegie Mellon. Towards the end of my summer stretch, I began to understand that most Ivies had already finished recruiting, and although I played quite well, the fact that I rose up the rankings so late in the recruiting process meant most Ivies did not have much interest anymore. In addition, my passion for technology and engineering could have possibly been another factor that Ivy League coaches were not willing to bank on, as these majors traditionally have much more classwork, which could lead to less time for golf practice, and in theory, poorer performance.
After most of the recruiting process was complete, I ended up having several deep conversations with Ivies, but did not receive any offers from them. On the other hand, I received offers from two Division III schools, and ended up choosing Carnegie Mellon, as the balance of both what I wanted to do from an academic standpoint and their competitiveness in Division III golf was exactly what I wanted. In hindsight, although I was likely very qualified to play for an Ivy, I most likely would have chosen Carnegie Mellon anyway, as they were the perfect fit. I had the best conversation with Carnegie Mellon’s coach, Dan Rodgers. I also heard good things about chemistry from players that were on the team and felt like I could mesh in their culture. In addition, the opening of a new facility once I would get to Pittsburgh would make practicing very convenient within my busy schedule, further attracting me to Carnegie Mellon.
Division III schools are unique in the sense that not only do they not offer athletic scholarships, the potential recruit needs to get the “ok” from the academic admissions part of the college before they can be officially recruited. As a result, Division III schools have a much later timeline for recruiting compared to Division I schools. This aligned perfectly for me because it allowed me to be recruited within the Division III recruiting timeline, even though I was a late bloomer in terms of my tournament results. Although it was an extremely stressful time talking to programs while trying to focus on scoring well in my tournaments, I would not have changed it one bit because of all the knowledge I gained.
Now that I’ve described my experience, I want to point out certain lessons that can be gained and applied to your own recruiting process. The first and most important thing junior players and parents should realize is that the process of college recruiting is truly the process of finding the correct fit. Prior to my experience, I had set the expectation for myself that it was either an Ivy League or bust. However, as it turns out for me, Division III was the correct fit, because although I have no plan to compete seriously in golf as a career, I still have the motivation, talent, and work ethic to prep and compete in collegiate tournaments. Another important point in conjunction with finding your fit is how you feel around a certain coach. The coach who is overseeing the program will likely be there for your entire 4-plus years in college, and thus the relationship with them is extremely important. Therefore, the coach should be someone you respect and look to learn from throughout your college career.
The next piece of advice I would give to junior golfers aiming to be recruited is to do research early, as many college programs have information available on the current players on the team and their high school career statistics. Cross reference that information with your current skill level and what level you are aiming for in order to get an understanding of where you need to be, both on an academic level and a golf ranking level. In addition, it is important to understand that college recruiting is similar to admissions in the sense that many factors are out of your control and random. It is important to take comparison with a grain of salt, as if you dive too deep, thinking you are higher ranked or have better grades than certain players but still receive little interest from that same program, it ends up being a rabbit hole that is not worth exploring. It is also important to understand that talent is growing very fast in the realm of junior golf, and just like Division I programs trying to grab the best recruit they can to beat their fellow competitors, Division III programs are also slowly recruiting better and better players year by year as they try to construct the best team they can as the talent pool expands.
The final piece of advice I’d like to give is to start early with planning and emails. Just like a student who would be applying to college normally, begin building a master list of schools where you are interested in playing collegiate golf, and find the contact information of coaches and assistant coaches, which are usually listed on the program’s website. In order to have a higher chance of getting a reply, it is important to keep the subject line brief, but highlight your strongest points. It is also extremely important to customize the email, such as starting the initial paragraph by congratulating the program’s recent result in a tournament, such as the example below, which is a real email that I sent to Coach Rodgers during the beginning of my recruiting process:
“I have been following Carnegie Mellon’s Golf Roster for quite a while now, and their excellence on and off the course have been very impressive. The team’s strong finishes at the Wabash Invitational and The Tartan Invitational last season are testaments to the strength of the team and coaching. I am reaching out because I am tremendously interested in being a part of this competitive team, both on the golf course and in the classroom.”
You can copy and paste the rest of the email showcasing results, however the customization is vital in indicating interest, as it shows that you are keeping up with the results that the team has been achieving, instead of just being another recruit. It is also important to understand that coaches receive hundreds, if not thousands, of inquiries from potential recruits, so it is very likely that even after completing all of those steps, they simply accidentally miss your email. This is where starting early allows you to exercise patience, as after a month or so with new results, you can send an email again, and eventually, you will receive a reply if they find you intriguing as a prospect. Be persistent, be confident, but most of all, focus on your golf, as it is important to keep the main thing the main thing!
Commentaires