By Rex Grayner, SVP Business Development, Hurricane Junior Golf Tour
The start of the year has a way of creating urgency.
Families come out of the holidays refreshed, motivated, and ready to “get serious” about college golf. Schedules are being built. Goals are being written down. Questions that sat quietly in the background all fall into the same bucket.
Are we behind?
Are we doing this right?
What should we be focused on right now?
The truth is, there is no single moment when the college golf journey officially begins. It does not start with a commitment. It does not start with an offer. And it definitely does not start with a junior’s best round.
It starts much earlier, and it starts quietly.
Families who make the most progress early are rarely the ones chasing attention. They are the ones building alignment. Between development, competition, communication, and expectations.
If your family is looking to jumpstart the process in 2026, here are five practical ways to do it without forcing the timeline or adding unnecessary pressure.
1. Start with clarity, not comparisons
One of the most common mistakes families make early is using other players as their reference point.
Who is committing.
Who is traveling more.
Who is playing “bigger” events.
None of that helps without context.
The most productive starting point is an honest assessment of where your child is right now. That includes scoring range, shot tracking/strokes gained data, physical development, emotional maturity, practice habits, and how they respond to competition.
A freshman shooting 78 who competes well under pressure is in a very different position than a sophomore shooting 74 who struggles to finish rounds. The numbers matter, but the patterns matter more.
Clarity gives you a baseline. Comparisons create noise.
2. Build a competition plan that fits the player, not the calendar
College coaches evaluate golfers through patterns over time. Not isolated results.
That means your tournament schedule should be intentional. It should challenge your child appropriately, allow room for growth, and provide enough volume to show consistency.
More tournaments does not automatically mean better exposure. The wrong tournaments can actually slow progress by creating frustration or masking development.
A smart schedule balances:
- Courses that test different parts of the game
- Competitive fields that push but do not overwhelm
- Enough repetition to show trends, not just highs and lows
The goal is not to look busy. The goal is to build a resume that tells a clear story.
3. Understand how coaches actually discover players
This is where many families misunderstand the process.
College coaches are not scrolling social media waiting to discover the next recruit. They rely on trusted tournaments, recommendations, data, and direct communication.
Tournament play is the foundation. But it only works when coaches can interpret the results.
That means knowing when to reach out. Knowing what information matters. And understanding that coaches are evaluating fit just as much as performance.
A thoughtful email with context about improvement, schedule, and academics will always outperform a highlight video sent too early with no explanation.
4. Keep development ahead of recruiting attention
Early interest feels good. It can also become a distraction.
The best long-term outcomes happen when development stays the priority. Strength. Short game. Mental habits. Course management.
Recruiting attention comes and goes. Development compounds.
This is especially important for underclassmen. Coaches are projecting who a player will become, not just who they are today. Families who stay patient and keep building skill sets often find that the recruiting process accelerates naturally later.
5. Make communication a family skill
The college golf journey is not just the student-athlete’s responsibility. It is a family process.
That means regular conversations about goals, expectations, and stress. It means learning when to step in and when to step back.
Parents who serve as calm guides rather than managers help their kids stay confident and resilient. Coaches notice that too.
A few years ago, my team worked with a sophomore who was improving steadily but felt invisible in the recruiting process.
His scores were solid. His schedule was strong. But there was no momentum.
When we looked closer, the issue was not performance. It was communication. Coaches had no context for his progress.
We helped the family slow things down. They identified a few programs that fit academically and competitively. They shared tournament trends, not just results. They started focusing on round details and data that offered a more meaningful story. They focused on development through the spring instead of chasing exposure.
By summer, the conversations changed. Coaches started following his results. Momentum picked up early in his junior year. Visits followed. Interest became real.
Nothing dramatic happened. No viral moment. Just alignment.
That is how most recruiting stories actually work.
Starting the journey the right way
There is no perfect checklist for college golf. But there is a smarter way to begin.
Clarity before comparison.
Intentional competition.
Development before attention.
Thoughtful communication over noise.
Families who embrace that mindset early do not feel rushed later. They move with purpose, confidence, and perspective.
And that is what sets the tone for everything that follows.
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For families navigating this process, having the right competitive environment matters.
The Hurricane Junior Golf Tour is built to give players meaningful tournament experience. Strong fields. Trusted courses. Clear data. And events that college coaches know and respect.
Whether a player is just beginning to explore the college golf path or starting to build real momentum, competing in the right events at the right time helps turn development into opportunity.
You can explore upcoming HJGT tournaments and find events that fit your player’s stage of development at: https://tournaments.hjgt.org/Tournament
