Update: Read part 1 if you missed it

Golf is fun to play in college. Its a blast. Its a great experience hopping onto a van filled with 6-7 of your fellow teammates to drive several states away or for a spring break tournament in Florida and playing against some of the best players in the country. Even if the teams your playing with are not in the top 100 in the country, they are still great players all around.Its not fun, though, when you are sitting in a hotel room with your coach and father talking about how you might need to not play a couple tournaments because your GPA is getting low.

That was my situation, my sophmore year. My freshmen year, my GPA was a 2.31. My sophmore year, the semester GPA fell below 2.0, even though my cumulative (the important one) was still around 2.18. Thing is, alot of colleges have rules in place that if your GPA drops to a certain number, then you could get suspended from the team.

I was not about to have any of that. Luckily, as an athlete, I was allowed free tutoriing. The reason for my low grades wasn’t partying or anything of that nature. I maybe went to 5 parties my entire college career (sure, call me a bore :)). I had a rough schedule and I was doing poorly on tests.

Well, my sophmore year was still slow, but the GPA slowly rose.

My junior year, I pulled in a 2.99 and a 3.25 respectively.

My senior year, I pulled in a 3.5 and then a 3.6 respectively.

My college career GPA was at a 2.85 give or take.

I was faced with adversity and the chance of not playing the sport I truly love. So I made my grades better and I stayed on the team.

You MUST have a backup plan while in college. Your education should be your primary concern, but also use it as a backup plan.

Some people have a dream of being a golf professional one day. Problem is, some get so lazy at school that they quit, drop out, or get expelled. Well, then if their dream of being a pro somewhere falls short, what are they left with? A high school diploma and a partial college transcript. Unfortuntely, sometimes a high school diploma doesn’t get you very far in life, whereas a college diploma can at least get you farther.

If you are going to play golf in college. Thats awesome! I am extremely happy for you. Just make sure your priorities are in line. Make sure you have a plan.

If you receive a golf scholarship, your priorities should follow like so:

  • Education
  • Golf
  • Job (if needed)
  • Anything else

Let me tell you my experiences with encountering people who wanted to play golf on a team and join a fraternity. Those players weren’t in the top 5 for very long, I will put it that way. The fraternity, at times, became a higher priority, and as a result, their golf scores rose, their practice time diminished, and ultimately, they no longer represented the TOP 5 of the team. Simple as that.

I probably could have been a SIG EP, as a legacy it might have helped, but I chose not to even pursue it.

For 1, my time was completely used up by class and golf. When those 2 were done, it was 8pm and I still had homework to do.

For the 2nd reason, a frat just wasn’t for me. Again, personal reasons. I just wasn’t ‘into them’ like other people were.

Focus on what is important in college, but also focus on what is important for your future.

Posted in: College Preparation