College Golf Question.

[CincyCreech]

I have been thinking about trying to walk on for a college in cincinnati area.. Kinda kicking around the idea. I played for a couple years in highschool. Just wondering if anybody else has walked on to a college and played, and if they enjoyed it.

Oh i ended last season shooting mid 70's

23 years old. Start school back in the fall.

Any thoughts, directions, anything appreciated.

[The_Pharaoh]

Do it man! Mid 70s is not bad. Golf is a numbers game, if you shoot lower than the current crop of players, the coach will take you. It's as simple as that. You've got nothing to lose.

Good luck!

[Aquaguru]

What college are you going to.  I have thought of doing the same.  I am a college student in cincinnati area as well.  I shoot in the mid 70's about 80% of the time.  I go to a small D3 school and am a junior now.

[Radford Wooly]

You have nothing to lose. One of my buddies shoots in the 70's all the time and was playing in a group with a college coach in it. He asked him to try out for the college team because he shot lower than most the team. My friend was in his early 40's at the time.

[clubchamp]

It's not hard to look up what current players at your school shooting in tournaments that will give you an idea if you think you can make the team. When I was in college we had a 2 day walk on try out and of the 4 years I was there usually 1 or 2 kids made the team. It was a D2 school so there was only 6 partial scholarship players and 3 walk ons. I say go for it you got nothing to lose!

[WUTiger]

Many years ago, I walked onto my junior college golf team. Non-scholarship - play for glory. We had seven people total on the squad, and you had to field four players for a match. If someone was sick, or had to work, finding four got dicey. In both freshman and soph year, I was able to prevent my team from forfeiting a match for insufficient players. Most players shot in the mid-70s, and my pal and I shot in the high 80s - but, we prevented forfeits.

Our former home course got bulldozed and subdivided about 1975, and the golf team is getting cut next year due to the recession.

---

So, what about college golf? I teach at private university with Division III athletics.

I suggest you look around for smaller programs. Division III schools offer no scholarships, and NAIA schools often have a mix of partial-scholarship and non-scholarship players. Look for a program where the coach is a member of the faculty. If the coach is some guy whose main business a housepainting operation, this tends to hurt the golf program.

Also, being a golfer probably requires the best time management of any collegiate scholar-athlete. In the spring, you may go on the road a week at a time to tournaments and matches.  So , you have to work with your professors to keep up on your coursework. You have to be able to do your homework and course readings as the team van rolls along the highway to the next golf course.

Note: Most Div. III and NAIA teams have a couple of players who started out on scholarship at Div. I or Div. II schools, but crashed and burned academically. And, if they don't get their time management down, they crash and burn again in the smaller program.

If you can manage all this, you will get to play a variety of golf courses, sometimes in other states. The first place where I taught had a solid Div. II program, and the golfers got to play lots of well-known courses throughout the Southwest USA. The players were some of our better students - Heck, they had to be in order to survive as academic road warriors.

Keep us posted. As an older player, you have maturity on your side.

[jamo]

I'm thinking of trying to walk onto my college's team in the fall. One thing that I've heard (from a former LPGA player and college golfer) is that making it is about more than just being good- you have to show that you are good. You not only have to be able to score well when you go out by yourself on a sunday, but you need to be able to score well in tournaments. You should enter a few events and see how you do. Then you need to email the coach to see if there are any spots, and see if you can get a tryout. And finally, you need to impress the coach. Be sociable, act like a leader, and basically act like a golfer should.

And of course you need to make sure you don't slip academically. That is really what is preventing me. I'm a mechanical engineering major so I have a lot of work, a lot of studying, and I think it's be tough for me to miss a lot of classes and spend entire weekends a few states away. It's not that I don't think that I could pull it off, at this point I don't think that's it's worth taking the chance. In the end, if I don't do it, that'll be the reason, but that's that's a decision you need to make for yourself.

[WUTiger]

Quote:

I'm thinking of trying to walk onto my college's team in the fall. ...

And of course you need to make sure you don't slip academically. That is really what is preventing me. I'm a mechanical engineering major so I have a lot of work, a lot of studying, and I think it's be tough for me to miss a lot of classes ...

With engineering, you have advanced math and specific science classes which only have a few sections offered per semester; not much flexibility in scheduling - and, these courses take a lot of time. Possibly you could "get ahead" on your credit-hour count, and then take a reduced load during later spring semesters. In most sports, players take fewer courses in season than out-of-season.

Definitely talk to the college's golf coach, and your academic advisor, and see what they say. I've seen your comments for the past couple of years, and I sense you have the proper attitude to be a college golfer.

Let us know what happens.

[michaeljames92]

Originally Posted by WUTiger

With engineering, you have advanced math and specific science classes which only have a few sections offered per semester; not much flexibility in scheduling - and, these courses take a lot of time. Possibly you could "get ahead" on your credit-hour count, and then take a reduced load during later spring semesters. In most sports, players take fewer courses in season than out-of-season.

Definitely talk to the college's golf coach, and your academic advisor, and see what they say. I've seen your comments for the past couple of years, and I sense you have the proper attitude to be a college golfer.

Let us know what happens.

Thank God for Lectopia. I am majoring in Civil Eng, and between drinking and a little work, golf is a priority. This semester I have only a couple of lectures on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so lots of time to practice and play during the week. :----)

[CincyCreech]

Thanks for all the input guys!

I went to miami of ohio for a little while. Not really sure if im going to go back to miami in the fall or not.

I guess it all depends if i am going to try to walk on for a team or not. I think it's all going to depend on how everything goes this season,

and if i feel like i would actually make an impact on the team.

Really appreciate all the feedback so quickly. Does anyone know actually when the season starts for them tryouts and so forth?! Highschool was late summer.

[jamo]

Originally Posted by CincyCreech

Really appreciate all the feedback so quickly. Does anyone know actually when the season starts for them tryouts and so forth?! Highschool was late summer.

Should be late summer as well, but you should email the coach and find out.

[mn723]

I played for a competitive DIII program a few years back.  My scores ranged from the low 70's to the low 80's, with most being in the 75-80 range during competition.  I moved back and forth between the 1st and 2nd teams throughout my 4 years on the squad.  Our top guys averaged around par and we also had guys on the team who rarely played in tourneys that averaged around 80.  We kept 12+ guys on the team.

I enjoyed the daily practice rounds more than the competition, great way to break up the days between class & studying (partying).  Give it a shot, you have nothing to lose.

[jamo]

I just want to add that it is harder to make the team on larger schools. I go to a large state school with 14,000 students, and it'd be a lot harder to make the team than if I went to another college on my list, Lafayette, which only has less than 3,000 students. I believe Miami of Ohio is a pretty large university.

So, just something to consider.

[CincyCreech]

Originally Posted by mn723

I played for a competitive DIII program a few years back.  My scores ranged from the low 70's to the low 80's, with most being in the 75-80 range during competition.  I moved back and forth between the 1st and 2nd teams throughout my 4 years on the squad.  Our top guys averaged around par and we also had guys on the team who rarely played in tourneys that averaged around 80.  We kept 12+ guys on the team.

I enjoyed the daily practice rounds more than the competition, great way to break up the days between class & studying (partying).  Give it a shot, you have nothing to lose.

The big thing for me is that i work full time for AT&T; as a sales rep. They will pay for school. Do you think you would have anytime to work like a part time job. Like weekends? or no job lol

[CincyCreech]

Originally Posted by jamo

I just want to add that it is harder to make the team on larger schools. I go to a large state school with 14,000 students, and it'd be a lot harder to make the team than if I went to another college on my list, Lafayette, which only has less than 3,000 students. I believe Miami of Ohio is a pretty large university.

So, just something to consider.

yea for sure. The thing with miami is miami has like 3 different campuses and i want to say that they have a couple set of teams for the college one for each campus. Not really sure.

Thanks again for the input!

[mn723]

Originally Posted by CincyCreech

The big thing for me is that i work full time for AT&T; as a sales rep. They will pay for school. Do you think you would have anytime to work like a part time job. Like weekends? or no job lol

Some guys on our team worked part time jobs on campus, I'm guessing 10-15 hours per week during the golf season if I remember right.  Full time (40hrs) would be a stretch, especially if you have class & studying to take care of.

[delav]

I played in high school with my dad pushing me pretty hard and I burned out.  I attended a smaller liberal arts college for undergrad, and decided not to play and instead rowed on the crew team.  Since undergrad I've picked up playing with a fever, and I really regret not playing for my undergrad years.  It was a mildly competitive D3 program, and would have been a ton of fun.

To Jamo - make sure you keep the GPA up.  Choosing between college golf and engineering is a hard choice, but not too many companies jump to hire engineers with lower GPAs.  College is expensive, and it's an important stone to step wisely on.  If you can swing good grades and college golf, go for it.

[stealthduffer]

Being a student-athlete is difficult at any level.  I played Varsity water-polo for 2 years in college and it was tough (and I was an A student).  As someone already said - time management is a key skill.  I'd give it a try - worst case might be a couple of rounds on the school course.