If you are a high school student who wants to build a career in professional golf, one of the best options you can consider are college sports in USA. By getting into a USA college golf program, you can pursue a career in golf without compromising on your academics. If you are a promising candidate with good academic & sporting credentials, you have a chance of getting a full golf scholarship.
Indian golfers like Jeev Milkha Singh and Shiv Kapur have also taken this route of College Sports in USA which helped them build a career in professional golfing.
Why choose USA?
USA colleges give extreme importance to your sports achievement and have a holistic approach in their admission process. The infrastructure & support provided to the student athletes in the USA is top of the line and this reflects in their performance in major international events like Olympics.
Young and talented Indian athletes often have no option but to give up sports to pursue their academics, however, by getting into a USA college, they an opportunity to pursue professional sports & academics simultaneously.
When it comes to golf, many great golf programs are being run by some of the most reputed universities & colleges in the USA. Golf is quickly becoming popular amongst student athletes, and universities are providing golf scholarships to attract promising golfers.
Best Golfing programs in the USA
Golf in the USA like most other sports is administered by NCAA (National Colligate Athletic Association). The NCAA has classified USA Universities & colleges into three divisions, namely Division I, II & III. The Large and most reputed colleges of USA fall under Divisions I & II, while Division III includes some of the smaller colleges.
The approx number of golf teams in Division I colleges is 300 men’s teams and 260 women’s teams. In Division II colleges there are approx. 240 men’s teams & 190 women’s teams. Some of the best Division I colleges for golfing are:
- Stanford University
- Florida State University
- Duke University
- Oklahoma State University
- UCLA
- Arizona State University
- University of HoUSAton
- University of Carolina
Getting a golf scholarship
Apart from golf scholarships provided by the universities and colleges themselves, there are also some national sponsorship available for student golfers. These include The NCAA Golf scholarships, NAIA Golf scholarships, and NJCAA Golf scholarships.
If you wish to qualify for a golf scholarship in the USA, you must have excellent performance in both sports and academics. Coaches play a very important role in giving athletic scholarships, and they often help fund students who show effort both in their golf and their academics.
Here are a few things that coaches and scholarship administrators often look for:
- Academics – Your SAT & TOFEL scores and your overall academic performance
- Sports Achievements – Details of your performance in tournaments that you have played
- Golfing Skills – You can showcase your golfing skills to the coaches by showing them videos that demonstrate your skill level and versatility.
How CASE can help
Winning a golf scholarship can be quite a long and hectic path, and to navigate through this path you need help from the experts. CASE being college sports counsellors can give you the support and guidance that will help you give your best shot at a sports scholarship. Some of the ways by which CASE helps student athletes are:
- Mentoring and guiding students from a young age and their formative years.
- Building sports resume
- Developing talent showcasing videos
- Identifying best means to contact college coaches & recruitment coordinators
- Provide a realistic approach towards earning scholarships
- Help attend Identification (ID) Camps or Showcase Events in USA.
