Where college students go for golf

Not only is the PGA of America the world’s largest sports organization, but it is also committed to teaching and growing the game of golf. One of the cornerstones of their organization is the collegiate Professional Golf Management (PGM) program, which is administered by 19 different colleges across the U.S. According to the PGA, the PGM program provides college students the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to become a successful member of the golf industry.

The mission of Nextgengolf is "more golfers, more rounds". We are currently based in US but at some point, we would like to become a global organization helping grow the game outside the United States and get younger generation across the world in to the game. One of the places I personally would like to see golf grow is India. There are a few reasons why India is a good market to grow the game:

I come from an area where the sports world is dominated by football, basketball, and baseball. My town,New Orleans, Louisiana is far from a golf hot bed; the last and only person to have full membership on the PGA Tour from New Orleans was Kelly Gibson (1989-2003). As a kid growing up in New Orleans, I played anything and everything from roller hockey in the street to travel baseball andsoccer. I was introduced to the game of golf as a kid at a local Juniors only course in our City Park, which at the time had four 18-hole courses and played host to many professional tournaments and saw the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player. I never really picked up the game after that and mainly stuck to sports that my brothers, cousins, and friends played.

Are you the kind of golfer with thenever-been-washed ugly towel? Or the pristine never used towel? Maybe a large caddy towel that might as well be used at the beach is more your style? Have you ever tried the right sized, versatile towel which is great for all needs?

Every day we here at the NCCGA are working to make the jobs of club golf teams, and their Presidents, easier. Whether it's by building a comprehensive back-end to support roster management and payments, the ability to view leaderboards for past seasons, and everything in-between, our end goal is always the same: How can we improve the experience?

One of the most common questions I receive from recreational sports departments, and students, that have never heard of the National Collegiate Club Golf Association (NCCGA) is: "How is this different than intramural golf?". It's an interesting question with a simple answer. However, since the question continues to pop-up I wanted to show the five biggest ways club golf through the NCCGA is different than intramural golf on college campuses.

Did you know that the impetus for the City Tour was to create additional golfing opportunities for college kids after graduation? In fact, one of the best examples of the natural transition (and opportunity) from NCCGA to the City Tour is our very own Houston City Tour Leader Kevin Hamori. Kevin was part of the the Ohio State University club golf team and even served as the NCCGA President during the Spring and Fall 2013 seasons.

Getting a golf scholarship can be a long and winding road! High school students often reach out to us and ask about golf scholarships so we sought out an expert on the subject and asked some of the tough question about getting a scholarship. Kris Hart from Nextgengolf and the NCCGA interviewed Blaine Lynch, the former Head Golf Recruiting Coach for NCSA Recruiting. Have more questions? Blaine's contact info can be found below.

Playing NCAA Division 1 golf is a dream for many junior and high school golfers. However, even some of the most talented players in high school are overlooked by recruiters and never have the opportunity to play at that level. Sometimes the timing is simply not right, a change of scenery is needed, or academics take precedence over athletics.

Summer is a time for many people to go on vacation, work summer jobs, or visit family. For Christian Aguinaldo, he'll spend the summer biking from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. as part of Journey of Hope. Aguinaldo is a student at California-Berkeley, member of the club golf team, and serves as NCCGA Regional Coordinator of the Pacific Region.

OGIO has now been providing NCCGA and City Tour players with high-quality custom golf bags, backpacks, duffel bags for more than six months since the partnership was officially announced. We are very thankful for the relationship with OGIO and are excited to see how individuals and teams will continue to customize their equipment. I wanted to include some of my favorite products and college golf bags thus far.

The college golf season has officially come to a close. Congratulations to Stanford (Women) and LSU (Men) on taking home the NCAA Division 1 National Championships!

Oxford Golf was announced as the official Nexgengolf Apparel sponsor for 2015 earlier this year. Since that point, the support from the NCCGA club golf teams has been tremendous. Many teams and individuals have elected to purchase discount golf apparel.

This Spring the NCCGA will host 57 club golf tournaments all around the country: 56 regional tournaments, and the Spring 2017 National Championship. The tournament dates have been set for the season (and can be found here). We are currently in the process of booking the tournament locations, but I wanted to provide a glimpse into how we decide the dates for each event.

The second annual NCCGA #ClubGolf winner is........Towson Club Golf! The March monthly winners rolled through April to take home the honor. The club will receive free team dues for the Spring 2015 semester for their hardwork, as well as the recognition that comes along with winning.