College Golf Seminar encourages proactive approach in process

  Through the perspectives of seeker, student, coach and recruiter, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 9th College Golf Seminar offered a firsthand peek into the process.

  The free event, held Nov. 12 at Plymouth Country Club, aimed to educate high school student athletes in pursuit of golf at the collegiate level. Featured speakers included Aurora Kan, former member of Purdue University’s women’s golf team; Steve Oh, former men’s and women’s golf coach at Columbia University; and Claire Sheldon, founder of Prospective Student-Athlete College Counseling.

  Kan, a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree at Purdue, outlined her college golf expedition. Mailed questionnaires, she reassured participants, mark a good launch point.

  “It really made me think about how to narrow down the choices of schools,” Kan said. “I highly recommend making a list of what you do want out of a college. I knew I wanted to be out of state. I wanted to get away from home. That’s an example. If you want to look for a small school, that will help you narrow down your search.”

  Oh, a Philadelphia Cricket Club member and head of ETF Capital Markets, emphasized the importance of schedule balancing for college golfers.

  “It’s not going to be very easy when you’re at school,” he said. “You’re managing a course load; you have four to six classes and you’re trying to manage your schedule around golf and also around working out. You’re going to be in a different environment. The reality is that as much as you want to, you’re not going to be able to do everything. You’re going to have to be able to prioritize.”

  In June, Sheldon, a former collegiate player and assistant coach at Harvard University, started Prospective Student-Athlete College Counseling, a platform that offers advising and guidance to high school students who are navigating the college athletic recruiting process. She provided best practices for a recruiting timeline, an introductory e-mail to a potential coach and a golf résumé.

  “This process is about finding out what you want,” Sheldon said. “One analogy that I like is imagine if you’ve never had ice cream before. If someone asked you what’s your favorite flavor of ice cream, you should have no context for answering that question. Going through this process, you’re finding out what different flavors are like. Spending time on a campus is trying a flavor of ice cream.”

  Video presentations, in their entirety, will be made available on the Association’s YouTube channel.

Golf Association of Philadelphia
  Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional golf association in the United States and serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. Its 150 Full Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.