It’s tournament season!

There’s a good chance that you’ll see a coach or 10 on the course this summer. They are hitting the recruiting trail to see which types of players would be good fits for their programs.

Spoiler alert: They probably know what kind of player you are BEFORE watching you tee it up. For over a year, coaches had to get really good at recruiting from their couches. I once had a coach tell me that he had 18 tabs open at any given time monitoring the players that he was recruiting. So if you think they are out there to watch you shoot 65, think again! There’s no pressure for you to go out and shoot 65, but if you do, here’s a high five.

What are coaches looking for? Coaches understand that golf is hard. They like to see how you handle adversity—do you pout and act like you’ve never made a 6 before, or do you handle it with grace and follow it with a birdie? One of my favorite Ivy League coach friends puts it this way, “I know all about your good scores. That’s why I’m here watching you. I’m watching so much more than scores. I like to see you make double because the next ten minutes will get a whole lot more interesting.” Coaches are also evaluating:

How you carry yourself - Are you confident and walk with your head held high or do you walk like you’re angry and can’t stop looking at your shoes?
How you react after bad shots - Did you just launch your 7 iron into the water?
How you treat your parents - Did you just yell at your mom to bring you a sandwich?
How you interact with your fellow competitors - Are you that guy who always steals the tee after someone else makes birdie?
Your parents - Did they just yell at you for 3-putting and tell you to get another ride home?
Your energy - Do you give off good vibes or are you a drag to be paired with?
+ Many more intangible factors because coaches, at the end of the day, want to fill their rosters with players that they enjoy spending time with who will make their teams better.

A note on withdrawing from tournaments when you’re not playing well: do NOT do that. The Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings are calculated by your last 75% best scoring differentials (your score relative to the course rating) so withdrawing takes away the opportunity that you have to come back and learn some valuable lessons along the way. Plus, coaches HATE when junior golfers do that. It looks like you’ve given up. Are you a quitter? No, you’re NOT. You’re a competitor, and you’re made for this.