Official visits

[Golfquant]

For those who have already committed or gone through the process in the past, how many OVs did you do before deciding?
 

Did parents accompany?  If so, anything they didn’t attend?  What was their role besides chaperone?
 

Everything paid for?  If not, what was included/omitted?
 

Do’s & don’ts?

 

How soon after was an offer given?

 

Any horror stories?

 

Anything else I’ve missed?

[leezer99]

1 hour ago, Golfquant said:

For those who have already committed or gone through the process in the past, how many OVs did you do before deciding?
 

Did parents accompany?  If so, anything they didn’t attend?  What was their role besides chaperone?
 

Everything paid for?  If not, what was included/omitted?
 

Do’s & don’ts?

 

How soon after was an offer given?

 

Any horror stories?

 

Anything else I’ve missed?

Well, my wife's roommate in college was a 'guide' for the USC football recruits... you want to hear those stories? 🤣

[golfdad1]

Loaded question.

 

We were limited to 5 but only scheduled 4 b/c he had offers from his top choices. The athlete's flight and hotel is paid for by the school, and they provide tickets to a sporting event to the family. Family plane tickets were on our dime. All meals for the athlete and family were paid by the school. We did everything besides golf with him, and were on our own while he golfed.

 

We got offers from some right away, and some waited a few weeks.

 

Do: let your athlete answer questions themself, don't answer for them.

 

Don't: schedule 3 straight weekends.

 

No horror stories, they were all fun but tiring!

 

[wegobomber31]

The school can pay for the parents travel, accommodations, meals over the course of the visit. 
 

about to go on our first in about 12 hours!

[MahalNeneng]

If they hold out on OV carrot style be wary.
 

Most will try to schedule around football weekend. We didnt partake in that ever just had the boy play with the teams. 
 

what you would expect meals travel covered full tour of everything. 
 

make sure to have your child get some detailed personal questions prepared. After a couple the experience will feel the same looking back but if you have those ?s you can refer back.  Take opportunity to ask very pointed questions and get answers. 
 

we had offers at most during. 
 

biggest surprise during the visits was the robots tooling around everywhere.  like on campus uber eats 

[jigsaw1011]

Not a horror story but we had some confusion on one visit. The coach had expected my son to stay overnight  

on campus the very first night with one of the team members.  We assumed he would be staying with us at the hotel off campus. The itinerary was a bit ambiguous. It was awkward as my son wasn’t comfortable spending a night on campus we hadn’t toured yet with someone he just met. He is a slow to warm up kind of kid so we supported him with the decision.  

Edited August 23, 2024 by jigsaw1011
Typo

[jda]

This is different for each level and/or organization.  It also depends on the school - just because a division/level allows fully paid visits does not mean that every school will do so, even though most do.

 

As for "how long before deciding?"  I have no idea how anybody could answer this.  If your kid has multiple offers, then I would take as many visits as you can.  If one, then if you are comfortable, then give it a shot unless there are warning signs.  This is so personal...

 

My typical advice is to scout/recruit the area just as much as the school and program.  Tiny towns are not for everybody just like big cities are not.  Seen more transfers because of the town than the school... what seemed great at first wears off quickly.  It is easier to stick out a hard situation in a great town.

 

Lastly, do not helicopter or snowplow.  Let your kid drive your involvement and support them where they need it, even if that means skipping something that they can handle themselves.

 

If you know the org and level, you can likely get some better answers.  Power 5 is going to have different rules and regs than NAIA, CC or Div 3.

[leezer99]

23 hours ago, wegobomber31 said:

The school can pay for the parents travel, accommodations, meals over the course of the visit. 
 

about to go on our first in about 12 hours!

How’d it go?

[LOB-Dwight]

On 8/22/2024 at 8:20 PM, wegobomber31 said:

The school can pay for the parents travel, accommodations, meals over the course of the visit. 
 

about to go on our first in about 12 hours!

Give us a hint of which school you’re visiting 

[MahalNeneng]

20 hours ago, jda said:

This is different for each level and/or organization.  It also depends on the school - just because a division/level allows fully paid visits does not mean that every school will do so, even though most do.

 

As for "how long before deciding?"  I have no idea how anybody could answer this.  If your kid has multiple offers, then I would take as many visits as you can.  If one, then if you are comfortable, then give it a shot unless there are warning signs.  This is so personal...

 

My typical advice is to scout/recruit the area just as much as the school and program.  Tiny towns are not for everybody just like big cities are not.  Seen more transfers because of the town than the school... what seemed great at first wears off quickly.  It is easier to stick out a hard situation in a great town.

 

Lastly, do not helicopter or snowplow.  Let your kid drive your involvement and support them where they need it, even if that means skipping something that they can handle themselves.

 

If you know the org and level, you can likely get some better answers.  Power 5 is going to have different rules and regs than NAIA, CC or Div 3.

For let child take the reins. He/she has to develop relationship with coach/s.  
 

be straight forward with coach about visits they will likely ask how many and when. 
 

you may get a timeline for answer, we did not, but have heard of it. 
 

we were super straight forward and above board on visits didnt play any games. Since we have heard from coach some of the interesting…. Negation tactics used by some patents. 

[Golfquant]

when on an OV, how do you respond if team members or coaches ask what other schools you are visiting?

[golfdad1]

13 minutes ago, Golfquant said:

when on an OV, how do you respond if team members or coaches ask what other schools you are visiting?

Be completely honest about where you are visiting and where they stand on your list. They all talk and know anyway.

[Golfquant]

assuming there is legit interest to every school...how many OVs are too many?

[wegobomber31]

23 hours ago, leezer99 said:

How’d it go?

Still on it!

[leezer99]

5 hours ago, wegobomber31 said:

Still on it!

Was it exciting watching GT win? 

[MahalNeneng]

14 hours ago, Golfquant said:

when on an OV, how do you respond if team members or coaches ask what other schools you are visiting?

We didnt have that much interaction with the team members outside of playing round ( i guess they could of discussed) but we were asked and were straight forward) didnt see any reason to be coy. In this age every coach sees other coaches “liking” in social media ao they know who your dealing with. 

[MahalNeneng]

14 hours ago, Golfquant said:

assuming there is legit interest to every school...how many OVs are too many?

At the end of summer We had a list of about 20 ish we wanted. Which turned into 5 or 6 more serious. Have them do their research build a grading scale. 
After we started ovs was asked if he shud take ov to a school lower down on his list my reaponse was would you choose that school over what you already visited, reply was no i said why go…

[MahalNeneng]

2 hours ago, leezer99 said:

Was it exciting watching GT win? 

What a great practice facility 🙂 

[golfdad1]

4 hours ago, leezer99 said:

Was it exciting watching GT win? 

Doubt that's where they were!

[golferdad8]

12 hours ago, wegobomber31 said:

Still on it!

If placing odds, I'd place a 90% chance it'll be a southern school that has a nice NIL pkg 🙂

 

[happygolucky]

11 minutes ago, golferdad8 said:

If placing odds, I'd place a 90% chance it'll be a southern school that has a nice NIL pkg 🙂

 

Agree! These programs are going to be stacked. Maybe it’s a good thing the roster limit is coming so teams can’t hoard all the good players. 

[Golfingdawg19]

My daughter is about to start her visits in two weeks. We have seen a variety of different things from the coaches. The programs she is talking to are mid majors so take that into consideration. One is paying for everything for my daughter and I and the visit is really one full day. The second one is a two day visit and they cover everything once we get there but we pay for our airfare. The third one wants us to come for an unofficial visit and then if we sign with them, they will pay for everything on an official visit. When you get outside of the big schools, the smaller mid majors are limited on funds. I knew that going in from talking to other parents. 

[kekoa]

Know a kid who went on an OV a few weeks ago.  From what I heard, they paid for airfare and room for the kid and his mom.  I think it was a two day visit whereby he was able to practice with the team.   Funny thing is they invited him out there in the dead of summer when the weather is nice and sunny.  Winters are brutally cold and the kid is from Socal used to playing in shorts most of the year. 🤣

[golferdad8]

1 hour ago, kekoa said:

 I think it was a two day visit whereby he was able to practice with the team.   Funny thing is they invited him out there in the dead of summer when the weather is nice and sunny.  Winters are brutally cold and the kid is from Socal used to playing in shorts most of the year. 🤣

This is normal protocol...I think half the Ivy golfers are from CA/FL, so you KNOW none of them were recruited from Nov to April, haha!  

[Golfquant]

what's a question that should get asked on an OV that is hard or impossible to otherwise?

 

what should players and parents look out for in the process?

[leezer99]

14 minutes ago, Golfquant said:

what's a question that should get asked on an OV that is hard or impossible to otherwise?

 

what should players and parents look out for in the process?

How does qualifying work at this school?

 

Why is this school a good fit for me?

 

Do professors at this school support their student athletes? 

 

Can you do a kickflip?

 

 

[golferdad8]

1 hour ago, leezer99 said:

How does qualifying work at this school?

 

Why is this school a good fit for me?

 

Do professors at this school support their student athletes? 

 

Can you do a kickflip?

 

 

The best Q are to ask players & not coaches. 
 

Ask the players how Q is decided by the coach to get the real answers. The coaches will say how Q is supposed to work but will often adjust if not working, ie rules change. 
 

As an example, if a player is great player during Q but plays poorly at tournaments, how does coach deal w that? 

What’s the team chemistry like - is there envy or support when incoming first years take spots from upper classmen? 

Do the players support each other on getting old tests & choosing classes? 

What’s the team’s culture on parents attending tournaments - do parents hang out for meals together or do their own thing?

 

How are the alums & coaches with helping on networking & future job placements for top options? 

Lastly, ask about the history of kids dropping/being asked to leave the team? The real answers might not be so obvious. 

[leezer99]

20 minutes ago, golferdad8 said:

The best Q are to ask players & not coaches. 
 

Ask the players how Q is decided by the coach to get the real answers. The coaches will say how Q is supposed to work but will often adjust if not working, ie rules change. 
 

As an example, if a player is great player during Q but plays poorly at tournaments, how does coach deal w that? 

What’s the team chemistry like - is there envy or support when incoming first years take spots from upper classmen? 

Do the players support each other on getting old tests & choosing classes? 

What’s the team’s culture on parents attending tournaments - do parents hang out for meals together or do their own thing?

 

How are the alums & coaches with helping on networking & future job placements for top options? 

Lastly, ask about the history of kids dropping/being asked to leave the team? The real answers might not be so obvious. 

 

All very good. My mind went to questions for coaches. I talk to a SoCal team pretty often and it's funny how candid they'll be with a member at a club they practice at. 

[jda]

We focused on culture and identity of the program.  Also, about the town and athletic department.

 

Want to know if the players are all support each other, even if they lose a spot, or if they are all independent contractors willing to shove knives in each other's backs.

 

We also asked the coaches if/how scholarships escalate over time - some give money as a freshman and never change it and some give more and time goes on.  Some give all to the starters and none to the rest.  Etc.

 

The program had an older coach, so we also met with the AD for a few minutes to talk about how coaching transitions might work.  We found out that the school will never let a new coach drop existing players and anybody who wants to say can finish their degree.

 

My kid was going to academic schools of her choosing, so the sport was never the main thing.  Don't ever care if she played as long as she got the degree for as cheap as possible.  She has played from almost the jump, but she uses it to go to school first.

 

My daughter gets good grades with relative ease, so there were no real concerns with academics at an academic school for us.  The Athletic Department as a whole (not just the individual teams) usually will find ways to support athletes and often you can end up getting tutors, classes, help also with somebody on the BB, water polo, fencing, whatever team at the same time.

 

Your questions should be tailored around the wants and needs of your kid.  If they are only in school to play, then focus on that.  However, more balance is a good idea for many since playing college sport can be a lot like a job that most kids are not ready for.  There can be real competition, people who don't really care about you, etc.

[LawGenius305]

4 hours ago, Golfquant said:

what's a question that should get asked on an OV that is hard or impossible to otherwise?

 

what should players and parents look out for in the process?

One question I would urge every parent to ask is what is the political landscape of the team. If you affiliate politically with A, you don't want to go to a team where the members affiliate with B and vice versa. If it is a mixture it is Ok. In the South, though the school itself will tend to lean one way politically, the golf teams do not lean this way.

 

I am not trying to make a political statement or political post. This is one thing I urge all parents to ask and I have friends that are all over the political spectrum. It is 100% a fair question.