Universities in America

[Tristan]

I am thinking of applying from England to play golf in America at University. Can anybody tell me the best universities golfing wise and academically (bussiness/economics SATs at 1250)? This would help me alot in finding out more about the different universities, and where it is possible to target.

Many thanks appreicate the help

[907golfer12]

Last year Oklahoma State won Nationals, and the year before that Florida won, and they are both solid schools for golf. Some other good schools for golf are Stanford is solid, Arizona State, I think USC and UCLA both have solid programs. Hope this helps, and also if you are a junior or senior I would suggest starting to talk to coaches, especially since you are in England. Good luck with getting into a good college.

[Arsenal Forever]

There was an issue of Golf Digest a little back that had an article about good golf Universities and everything about them, I'll see if I can try and find it online...

Well, I couldn't find it on their site, but I'm sure with enough searching you can...I believe it was the issue with Ernie Els on the cover.

[nevets88]

Didn't Luke Donald go to Northwestern? Northwestern is home to Kellogg, a highly ranked MBA program.

Try this for rankings (but don't take too seriously):

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandre...ndex_brief.php

[nevets88]

Oh, and by the way, if u didn't already know, what you call university, we call ollege here. In the UK I think, college is more like junior/community college here, which are 2 year programs mostly.

[Q.Q.Quillume]

I've been wrong before and I'm just thinking out loud here and hope it's constructive.

First, I think you need to figure out what colleges/universities might be looking for golfers at your skill level. My thought would be the top golf teams in the country wouldn't be looking for players with a 7.7 index. Of course, improvement is always possible. But, to give you an idea I checked on the Oklahoma State University 2006/2007 golf team here http://www.okstate.com/pdf3/78511.pd...&DB;_OEM_ID=200 . Of the seven team members five had an average score lower than 73.00 for the year and the average score for the season for all OSU golfers was 72.87.

Second, after you figure out what colleges/universities might be looking for golfers of your skill level, then examine them for what you are looking for in a college. You should consider geographical preferences, type of school (liberal arts, engineering, whatever) and one that meets your academic requirements.

Unfortunately I have no idea in the world how to do all of that. Maybe the guidance counselors, teachers and others at your high school would be able to point you in the right direction.

Good luck!

[boothyuk123]

One of the best pieces of advice I could give you is to go through a recruitment company. I am currently out here in the USA from England on a golf scholarship at the NJCAA level but am transferring to NCAA at the end of this semester to a college in Oklahoma. I went through a company back in England, well they are actually based in Scotland run by former Walker Cup player Lorne Kelly called ProDreamUSA.

The website is www.prodreamusa.com

I would certainly advise you to get in contact with Lorne if you are seriously interested in pursuing your ambitions out here in USA. There are options available for everyone but to do it alone would be very very difficult. I would suggest also that although you want to set your targets high, to be able to get into the top colleges like UCLA, USC, Georgia, OU and OSU you need to be a very special talent - the coaches have the very best from all over the world to choose from so it is certainly not easy to get into these colleges.

Good luck with your endeavours, if you want any information about how I am enjoying my time over here or what the process involves, please feel free to get in contact with me through this forum by sending me a message!

[Big_M]

here's a link to the golf digest article from 07'... it has a lot of info...

http://www.golfdigest.com/rankings/c...gegolfrankings

[choran]

I'm a student at Purdue...Our golf teams aren't bad, but are facilties are very nice. We host the NCAA men's tournament this year. Here is the site if you want to check it out. www.purduegolf.com

We also are pretty good academically (well known for engineering).

Best of luck to you!

[Tristan]

Thanks for your help;
I am truely playing to about a 5 but am waiting for comps etc to close to get cut that way.
I have spoken to Lorne and Bobby at Pro Dream but the captain at my golf club is on their books and has not had an offer yet. I have also spoken to a company called first point to also didn't seem to do that much.
I have spoken to coaches at Duke and Stanford who also say that companies like that don't really work. How long did it take you to find your placement?
I appreciate that I dont really look like i am low enough but i have got 2/3 years to go.
I would also like to know what the workk/life/golf balance is like because I know a proportion of people from England who go often come back because they are in the classroom rather than the golf course

[boothyuk123]

There are a lot of kids that come out here from England with totally the wrong attitude - they believe they are coming out here solely to play golf! If you are expecting that, then college golf is not for you! You have to be willing to put the effort in academically, you have classes generally every morning until lunch and then the afternoon is spent on the golf course/range. I came out here in August 2006, and went through proDreamUSA starting in November 2005 so it really didnt take that long for me to get my offer from my Coach in Feb 2006 I think.

I am not sure why the coaches told you that recruitment companies don't really work, I have first hand experience that a lot of coaches actually take a lot of notice of what Lorne has to tell them about the kids he is sending over. He has an excellent reputation over here in the States and believe me it is certainly the best way to get yourself out here and placed at an appropriate level. Maybe your handicap is a little high right now but you can work on that - you have to be able to prove that you are capable of producing the scores that matter and when it counts. Handicaps are not used out here in college golf so it really doesn't matter once you have been placed, all coaches are interested in are the quality scores you can produce and ensuring you are willing to put in the effort.

If you fit this category, and are academically strong enough to cope with the day to day workload then you will enjoy it out here. I came out here with a friend who went to a college in Kentucky but he went home after just 2 weeks, claiming that the standard was not what he expected. In fact, I actually found out it was because he wasn't able to cope with the work and just expected it to be pure golf. Unfortunately, if this is the impression that kids back in England are getting, it is far from the truth! I don't want to put you off at all, I am just giving my honest opinion because I am currently enjoying it out here so much!

Let me know if you want to know anything else!

[JaY_B]

Thanks for your help;

Which captains that??, no one accept you and Chris are thinking of going to America to play golf.

[Tristan]

Jamie it is Mark Hogan at Sundridge now I am a member there as well and i see him at school. Btw Chris can't go to america any more

[JaY_B]

ahh I see, Chris was never that fussed about going tbh, I'm not sure its worth it either.

[Bowker]

I've heard that Arizona, Arizona St., Texas, Oklahoma/St., Wake Forest and Clemson are all known for golf. However I don't know where they got WF and Clemson from.