How to contact college coaches during your recruiting process is one area where you have to pay plenty of attention. How and when you talk to golf coaches can have a huge impact on you playing at your dream school.
We at Junior Golf Hub are going to share the ins and outs of college golf coach communication, though we recommend using our app as another official way to connect with college coaches. The NCAA golf rules on recruiting can be tricky, so we’re here to lift the burden in any way we can.
How to Contact College Coaches
There are three ways to contact college coaches, and each method has its own official timeline. It’s crucial to follow these timelines so your college golf recruiting process isn’t put in jeopardy with the NCAA.
Below are the dates for NCAA Division I recruits, though more timelines can be found for other NCAA and NAIA divisions in our college golf recruiting FAQs blog. We also have some information around men’s college golf and women’s college golf for additional context.
College Coach Phone Calls
Coach phone calls are one of the first types of official communication allowed according to the NCAA. On June 15th after your sophomore year, your communication can include unlimited calls, emails and texts. Both you and the college golf coach can initiate the call.
You may be wondering how to call a college coach; with their number listed on their school’s website, that is one way in. But once you’re actually talking to the golf coach, what do you say to a college coach on the phone?
The questions to ask a college coach on a phone call varies. You can ask about the team dynamic and tournament qualifying process, the institution’s academics and even the alumni network. Be sure to do your research before the call and follow the team’s season so the college coach knows you’re informed and interested.
Emailing College Golf Coaches
Emailing college golf coaches is another form of communication that can take place starting June 15th after your sophomore year of high school.
Using email is an easy way to share your golf swing videos, resume, tournament schedule and score updates. However, you can save a ton of time by using the Junior Golf Hub app, which aggregates all that information on your profile and automatically updates with results from eligible tournaments.
In-Person College Coach Recruiting Conversations
Starting August 1st before your junior year, you can begin meeting with college coaches off campus, typically at golf tournaments, and on campus for official visits. While you can “bump” into these coaches on campus during unofficial visits before August 1st before your junior year, these plans cannot be made beforehand.
Taking advantage of unofficial golf visits allows you to not only show off your game at a golf tournament, but also give you some face time with the coach. While unofficial visits to campus are unlimited for Division I prospects, you are limited to 5 official visits and can only have one official visit per school.
What Does It Mean if a College Coach Follows You on Instagram?
Social media is a newer player to the college golf recruiting scene. What does it mean if a college coach follows you on Twitter? Instagram? When college coaches follow you on social media, it’s a good sign because it means they want to get to know you better.
First and foremost, you’ll want to make sure your online presence is and remains clean. College coaches – and future employers – can search your social media accounts and infer information about your work ethic and extracurricular activities to see if you’ll be a good fit for the team. You definitely want them to leave with a good impression of your character.
Follow the college coaches back if you wish and follow their team accounts as well to demonstrate your interest in their schools.
How Do You Know a College Coach Is Interested in You?
All these forms of communication can tell you how interested a college golf coach is in you. If you receive any responses in the form of calls, emails or social media follows from coaches, they’re interested in learning more about you.
Once you’ve established a connection, you’ll be able to gauge the coach’s intentions better. Not only can you tell the college golf coach that you are interested, but they can also directly ask you to join their team.
At the end of the day, the NCAA rules for talking to coaches largely depend on timing. You’ll want to be sure you’re following the correct college golf recruiting rules per division in order to have the best shot of playing college golf. We recommend using a combination of different communication methods and leveraging our Junior Golf App to keep you organized and your interested golf coaches up to date.