By Brian Davidson
The trend towards early commitments continues to spread across college athletics and into golf. The official visit that used to help a senior make his or her final decision is slowly becoming a thing of the past in exchange for early commitments and verbal commitments.
Stanford Coach Conrad Ray finds the trend disappointing, according to a recent San Diego Union Tribune article where he said, “It's kind of sad, because the official college visit has gone away. Most of the coaches you talk to say this is speeding up way too fast, but at the end of the day, every year the kids we talk to are getting younger and younger.”
The San Diego Union Tribune reports that despite his reservations, Ray continues to recruit athletes as young as 16 and under mainly due to the fact that there are more young players posting consistently better scores.
College coaches can not begin to contact teenagers by phone until July 1 before their senior year. But they can send players letters beginning Sept. 1 of their junior year, and even before that student-athletes can make unofficial visits to campus to speak to a coach. As athletes able to call coaches as early as their Freshman year, things can happen early and fast – earlier than ever before.
The emergence of numerous high profile tournaments and more credible ranking systems has made discovering talented prospects ever easier. Their presence has made a significant impact. Among the boys who will enter college in the fall of 2008, five of the top six juniors in the Golf Week national rankings have already orally committed to a school.
However, the bottom line for players remains; it is never too soon to begin the recruiting process.
