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High School Golf

post #1 of 13
4/7/10 at 10:58pm
Thread Starter 
My step son is heading to high school soon and has expressed interest in golf. I know by the time high school starts I will not have had near enough time to teach him enough. My question is, when a sport like golf is played for a school, do they require a certain level of experience? Do they teach them from scratch? I wasn't expecting him to come at me with this since he has never been interested before.
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post #2 of 13
4/7/10 at 11:06pm

Re: High School Golf

I don't play for school, but when I was deciding if I wanted to tryout I had to take into consideration I shoot around 100-110. With that being said, most of the guys on the team shoot between 80-90(Varsity). The coaches job is to conduct practices and to set his lineup to win, not necessarily to teach or provide instruction. Just my 2 cents about it, but I decided not even to tryout because I just picked up golf at the end of last golf season and was no where near good enough to play for school(wish I would have picked up the sport early as I'm a senior this year and won't get a chance to play for school or competitively until I join a club later in life). Good luck to your step son!
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post #3 of 13
4/7/10 at 11:06pm

Re: High School Golf

It depends on the school. Right now I'm coaching my high school team that I captained last year. We were pretty stacked last year so cuts were made, but this year we aren't returning any of our top 6 so there are a few beginners on the team.

If your stepson goes to a big school with a competitive golf team, and he's just starting out, he'll have to work very hard to make the squad. If he goes to a smaller school like mine was, he'll be able to be on the team, but he may not get into very many matches.

As far as the coaching goes, I don't like to tweak my player's swings who are working with pros unless I see some fundamental flaw that I know I can help them with. I just help them with course management and very fundamental things. If your stepson says to his coach, "I'm working with someone else who is teaching me differently" the coach will respect that and help him with different things.

You might want to think about getting your son to see a PGA professional this summer if he is starting to get hooked on the game.
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post #4 of 13
4/7/10 at 11:24pm
Thread Starter 

Re: High School Golf

How much do lessons usually run?? He is righty and I am pretty sure I could do little to really help him out.
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post #5 of 13
4/8/10 at 12:11am

Re: High School Golf

Most high school golf is for experienced juniors. In some areas, the golf level is low enough for beginners to play. Coach's are generally bus drivers/cheerleaders/administrators. They are not swing instructors. Many are simply teachers who have some knowledge of golf but want the extra income from coaching a sport. Most of the coach's I know won't mess with the player's swings because they all have their own instructor. Do they play spring or fall golf in CA? If it's the fall you're in good shape. You have enough time to get him into some clinics and/or lessons. If it's now, you're too late to get going on this. One of my son's former coaches has the rule of thumb that if a player can't break 50 for nine holes, he doesn't need to come out for the team. If he can, there's a potential to get him to a level of being a contributor to a team. As your son is just a frosh, he has time to develop. Since he is very green I wouldn't push too hard. If he really likes it and finds some success that will be the biggest indicator of how much to invest in this venture (time and $$). Playing in some Jr. events this summer would be a great way to get him going. Many of the jr. tour events have players of all skill levels so it's a great learning experience. Good luck!
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post #6 of 13
4/8/10 at 12:14am

Re: High School Golf

cant hurt to tryout.. worst case he doesnt make it, best case he makes it. The amount of practice you get on a high school team is great. I know when i played we had a match or practice monday-friday. Golf just like anything else the more you practice the better you get and you definetly practice. He'll never know if he doesnt try..
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post #7 of 13
4/8/10 at 12:14am

Re: High School Golf

Well for my school, we haven't had a full team for at least 20 years. So we take what we get, #1 player on our team of four guys
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post #8 of 13
4/8/10 at 12:28am

Re: High School Golf

My highschool team varsity team required to break 40, and i think JV was required to break 45 for 9 holes. I know we had a few guys who were scratch players, and just recently one of them made the qualifier to the US open.

I made the team once, my sophmore year. I only seriously started practicing golf about a year and half before. So if you get the kid lessons, get him going. Practice alot, he could possible make the team next year or the year after if he is just starting now. The good thing is most highschoolers are blank slates when it comes to sports, they can adapt well to change... So give it a shot.
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post #9 of 13
4/8/10 at 12:36am

Re: High School Golf

Depending on how big the school is, the level of play will be different in order to make the team. I know a few teams from our area can barely find enough players to send out a lineup of 8 varsity nd 8 JV, which is the amount that starts and counts for the team. Most schools will take extra, and for my high school, which is really big and particularly competitive, we kept 13 for varsity and 14 for JV. At most schools like mine, in order to make varsity you need to be shooting in the 70 consistently, and anything under 95 or so to make JV. We had almost 70 people try out though, so cuts had to be made. A few of the schools we played though, as i mentioned, could barely fill a lineup, and bogey golf was able to make varsity, and a bag of clubs would get you a spot on JV.

It just depends on the school. The biggest thing is to give him the opportunity, and let him take it as seriously as he wants. The only thing I would stress to him is the rules, and playing the game honestly, as it seems there are all too many players who try to cheat whenever possible.

-Gibby
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post #10 of 13
4/8/10 at 11:00am

Re: High School Golf

My son plays for his high school golf team and his school is fairly relaxed about trying out and if you are interested your in! I would recommend he try out and if he's passionate about golf its only a matter of time before he starts out drive you and post lower scores.
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post #11 of 13
4/8/10 at 3:24pm

Re: High School Golf

I play university golf i Canada, it is a lot smaller than in the states but every major university had a team. They way our team works is were separated into two groups. One group (5-10 players) is the competition team, we are the most heavily sponsored, we practice the most and train the hardest. Then there is the "development" team, every school I know of has a development team. The criteria to get into the development team is pretty much: you have golf clubs, you want to get better. Our development team ranges from people with a 40 handicap to about 20. You should check to see if your sons high school has a golf development program.

One thing I really want to warn you about though is get a PGA pro to teach your son, yes it's expensive but it is worth it in the end. If you end up teaching your son and he gets lessons later he is going to be screwed up for a little while. As a junior golf coach (I teach the 5-8 year olds, it's awesome) I've noticed that parents tend to push their own swing mechanics and "theories" on their children, right or most often wrong...
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post #12 of 13
4/8/10 at 6:53pm

Re: High School Golf

Definitely depends on the school. My school didn't make cuts, and everyone got to practice with the team. Other teams we played their top 8 were all under 40 for 9 holes.

Either way, I wholeheartedly recommend him joining the team. Playing 9 holes after school for 4 days a week is the best experience you could possibly ask for.
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post #13 of 13
4/8/10 at 7:00pm

Re: High School Golf

I think he should go and try out. It won't hurt him to try it and see what it's like to play in a serious event as a beginner. The high school I go to has 2200 kids, and a team last year of 20 kids. That was too much. This year it's going to be me and probably 8 other kids or so. I don't need to worry about trying out at all because I'll be golden, but what you're step-son wants to try and do is to stay out of the 50's. If he can get good enough to not shoot anything in the 50's, then he has a good chance of being on the team. Plus, he's going to be a freshman so he has a few more years to get better in golf to be on the team.
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