Criteria · College Golf Recruiting
Stop deciding
from memory.
You will visit four programmes in six weeks, hear forty answers, and remember the last one best. This is the workbook that fixes it.
- 60 questions across five criteria, written to be asked out loud
- The questions nobody asks — renewable aid, qualifying format, winter access
- What to verify yourself, free, before you speak to anyone
- One weighted score per school, calculated for you
14 PAGES + 7 TABS
The problem
Every family builds a list. Almost nobody weights it.
A flat checklist treats the coach and the class sizes as equally important. They are not. So the decision gets made on whichever visit felt best, and the criteria become the justification rather than the reason.
The other half of the problem is recall. Four campuses, four coaches, dozens of answers, over several weeks. By the time you compare, you are comparing impressions, and impressions favour whoever you saw most recently.
This fixes both. Score in the moment, weight what actually matters, and let the totals be something you can argue with rather than something you feel.
What you get
Two files. One method.
The printable worksheet
14 pages, US Letter, built to be printed and written on during a visit.
- All 60 questions, grouped by criterion, with 1–5 scales
- Red flags to listen for in every section
- What to verify yourself from public records
- A scoring box per criterion and a full scorecard page
- Notes space on every questions page
The auto-calculating scorecard
Seven tabs. Type school names once, they flow everywhere.
- Rate every question 1–5 for up to five schools
- Averages calculate themselves, with a judgement override
- Change any weight and every total updates instantly
- Ranked totals, percentages and a highlighted winner
- Opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers
Inside the spreadsheet
Change one weight. Watch everything move.
The weights are a starting point, not a verdict. Disagree with them and type over them. Every section total and every ranking recalculates the moment you do.
Yellow cells are yours. Everything else works itself out.
| Criterion | Weight | Cedar Ridge | Lakeside |
|---|---|---|---|
| The coach | 4 | 16.00 | 8.00 |
| The money | 5 | 25.00 | 15.00 |
| The golf | 3 | 9.00 | 15.00 |
| The program | 4 | 16.00 | 16.00 |
| The school | 3 | 6.00 | 15.00 |
| Weighted total | 19 | 72.00 | 69.00 |
| Rank | 1 | 2 |
The weights
Five criteria, and what each one is worth.
These are the starting weights, with the reasoning. Both files are built for you to overwrite them.
| Criterion | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The money | The only one that can remove a school entirely | |
| The coach | Decides the daily experience, and can leave | |
| The program | Decides whether they actually compete | |
| The golf | Access matters more than quality | |
| The school | Until the sport stops. Then it is a five. |
How it works
Six steps, then get on with it.
Print one set per school
Or open the spreadsheet. Either works alone.
Ask the questions and rate as you go
1 to 5, in the moment, before you talk yourself round.
Give each criterion one overall score
Your judgement, not an average. One alarming answer should not get averaged away by eleven fine ones.
Multiply by the weight
The spreadsheet does this for you.
Compare the totals
A gap of two or three points is noise. A gap of ten is telling you something.
If the winner is a school nobody wants, the list is wrong
Go back and find the criterion you underweighted. It is usually the boring one.
Who this is for
Not for you if
- You want someone to tell you which school to pick
- You are looking for rankings or programme reviews
- The decision is already made and you want reassurance
- You want recruiting exposure or a highlight service
Built for you if
- You have three to five programmes and visits coming up
- You want to walk in with better questions than everyone else
- You are the parent doing the spreadsheet while your kid decides on feel
- You would rather argue with a number than with a memory
Straight answers
Questions
What exactly do I get?
Two files. A 14-page printable PDF worksheet with all 60 questions, red flags, verification steps and a scoring box for each criterion. And an Excel workbook with seven tabs that scores up to five schools and calculates the weighted totals automatically.
Is this only for golf?
The question set is written for college golf recruiting specifically, including course access, qualifying format and winter practice. The method and the scoring structure work for any sport, but roughly a third of the questions are golf-specific.
Does it work for Division I, II and III?
Yes. The criteria and the weighting are the same across divisions. The money answers differ, so the money section covers the 2025 Division I roster limits, Division II equivalency, and Division III where there is no athletic aid at all.
Do I need Excel?
The workbook opens in Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers. All formulas are standard. If you would rather work on paper, the PDF stands alone and includes its own scorecard page.
Can I change the weights?
Yes, and you should. The weights are pre-filled with a starting point and both files are built for you to overwrite them. In the spreadsheet, changing a weight recalculates every total instantly.
How many schools can I score?
Five in the spreadsheet. The PDF has three columns on its scorecard page, and you can print extra copies for more.
Is this recruiting advice?
No. It is a decision framework: the questions to ask, what to verify independently, and a way to score what you hear. It does not tell you which school to choose and it is not financial or legal advice.
One decision, four years
The list is not the decision.
It is how you find the one
or two things that are.
60 questions. Five weighted criteria. Five schools. Two files, instantly.
Get the workbook — $19
