"College golf has really grown over the past few years," says TCU Lady Frog golf coach Angie Ravaioli-Larkin. "And there are lots of opportunities for scholarships. At the same time the quality of junior play has increased and acquiring the top scholarships is now more competitive."

"Playing in tournaments and developing a name for yourself is the best way to attract attention (of college coaches)," says Ravaioli-Larkin. "Resumes help, and should include the tournaments you have played since around the age of 12, your scores, where you finished, the yardage, and the course played. Videos also help, but I will usually go watch the player myself."

"The number one, bottom line is low scores. Beyond that I like to look at their character on the golf course and their disposition as well as their spirit of competitiveness," says Ravaioli-Larkin. "I watch what happens when they are playing bad, and how they are able to handle it."

"Believe it or not, I also like to watch their parents - how they treat their parents and how their parents treat them," continued Ravaioli-Larkin who believes that their relationship and respect for authority is important. "That is something all of our players have."

"Today the competition is very intense for college scholarships," says LPGA teaching instructor Cathy Mant. "For a Division I school, it is important to have the right tournament competition and exposure. College coaches are looking for consistent scoring or someone who has the potential to shoot a really low score. Initially, junior golfers should compete in high school competition. Then they should begin playing in city events and state championships. Texas has a wonderful junior program where juniors can play in an event almost every day of the summer," said Mant.

Finally, juniors should consider competing at the national level. The American Junior Golf Association is the most noted association that conducts competitions around the United States. It has been in business since 1970 and this year there are 40 different tournaments planned with 22 qualifying events. Currently there are 4,000 junior members. Amazingly 75% of the kids who participate in the AJGA events go on to college and out of these kids, 90% receive some type of college scholarship assistance.

Good Luck!

Don Dowell, Editor/Publisher, Golf in the SouthWest
(May 12, 1997)©