During today's college recruiting process, it’s more important than ever to provide the right information to Coaches and to do it strategically at the right time.
Each year, college coaches across the country are inundated with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of emails and resumes. It’s important to remember that recruiting tactics differ greatly from program to program.
The vast majority of collegiate golf programs have a staff of one, the head coach, and many Division III and NAIA schools have a head coach who advises both the Men’s and Women’s programs! In contrast, many top programs in the country have large staffs consisting of directors of golf, head coaches, associate coaches, and assistant coaches who share different duties in the recruiting process. College assistants help offset the additional athletic duties of the head coach but still take on the obligations of sorting through the countless numbers of resumes, swing videos, trackman reports, transcripts, referral emails, and everything else they receive.
The bottom line is, college coaches simply don't have time to look at each and every detail on your resume. For this exact reason, it is crucial that you arrange your resume in the format they are looking for with the necessary information they will need to qualify you as a potential recruit.
Here's a list of things they will look for and below you will find a sample resume for formatting purposes:
Graduation year
Tournament finishes and scores
Personal Photo or Headshot
Junior Golf Scoreboard or WAGR Golf Ranking
Personal references, Instructor Contact Info, other points of contact
Academic profile (GPA, test scores & transcripts) and which parts
Community involvement
Leadership roles (sport or non-sport)
Fitness / other sport involvement
Swing video
Personal goal, motivation, or vision
Keep in mind: A well-written golf resume provides college coaches a quick and clear understanding of your ability to contribute, athletically and academically, to their respective golf program as a Freshman.
So, is your golf resume ready for college coaches? Take a look below at ForeCollegeGolf’s sample resume.
High school coaches, instructors, and other personal references serve as great recommendations. Attaching a recommendation letter to your resume could go a long way in impressing Coaches and grabbing their attention.
Additionally, your recruiting profile should also include an original cover letter addressed (individually) to each college coach. As you can see from the above image, all of your resume content should fit on one printed page and be neatly organized. Thus, giving college coaches the ability to quickly see your information, and qualify you on the spot.
While a few individual tournaments can be left out, the bulk of your recent tournament scores, good or bad, should be included on your resume. Upcoming tournaments should always be included. This way Coaches can see where you will be playing and be sure to follow your scores/progress and have an opportunity to come watch you play.
We hope this clears up some of the questions and confusion around what a proper resume or CV should look like! Please don’t hesitate to reach out for more information.
Mike Smith is the Founder & CEO of ForeCollegeGolf and specializes in assisting junior golfers & their families through the college recruiting process. Email him @ mike.smith@forecollegegolf.com
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