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High School golf tryouts - is this expected?

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golfguy2021

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My nephew has just finished the golf tryouts for his high school team, and he didn't make the team. I would like to know how the golf coach evaluates who can be on the golf team. This is public school and the golf coach is also a teacher in social studies and history. There are 25 kids tryouts on the team and they take only 12.

My nephew scored 45 each day on a 9 holes course, and he has been playing golf since August 2020. He double bogey two holes, birdie a hole, and bogey the rest of the hole. His score is the 9th best on the team and yet they select three kids with worse score than my nephew to be on the team. The coach reason is that those three kids have been in more tournaments than my nephew and they just have three bad days during tryouts so they got selected over my nephew. My nephew has zero tournaments experience so he didn't get selected to be on the golf team.

Is that even possible? Can the coach do that? If that is true, what is the purpose of the tryouts when the coach has already decided the outcome even before tryouts ended. Is there an recourse for this?

His mother, my sister, is very upset at the moment.
 
Well...some high school golf coaches are a**holes. When I tried out my junior year of high school something similar occurred. I went back in after cuts and asked him why I didn't make the team and his exact words were sorry kid you have no natural ability. TO THIS DAY....I regret not taking that insult and turning it into a personal mission to shove his words where the sun don't shine.

He was gone the next year and I made the team :rolleyes:

I bet @Jman has some insight to add as well.
 
I caveat this by saying I am old. My coach Bill Yoast - of Remember the Titans Fame, I don't remember him ever being at any practices. I made the team - by being old, and by not having a lot of players, I think everyone made the team. Bear with me, there is a point for consideration. As fate would have it, I was a lousy student (since corrected :D). I was not allowed to play/be on the team due to GPA - so I would ask if they have alternates or if anyone quits can't play, etc would your nephew be in line for a spot on the team?

For what it's worth though, it does sound like the coach knows some of the players and assumed they were just having bad days and was not aware of your nephew's ability (good or bad).

Good luck.
 
Yeah, this is pretty crappy. Even though he has no tournament experience, it already shows he does well under pressure. I tried out 2 years in a row in high school and choked both years under the pressure. I wish I could handle pressure then like I can now lol.
 
Some coaches are definitely jerks. Interesting that they only take 12 kids total. Every kid should make the team and get to practice, IMO. The only reason I can think of as to why they would only take 12 would be the availability of practice space and/or limited practice tee times at the home course.

Should never turn away a kid that wants to learn, compete, and improve
 
That is brutal. I wish your nephew had an experience like my high school. We allowed all players to be on the team to learn and get better. Did they make travelling squads? Not always but we had JV teams too. They eventually got an opportunity to play. I don't know what it is like to try and budget for a school these days so it is hard to have unlimited spots. Making golf teams is a lot of the eye test and not so much tryout based results. Coaches want to see that you are playing in summer tournaments to get you ready for the high school season. Hopefully he can get on the team someone.
 
I thought tryouts are more like US Olympic trials. You can be the current track 200M world champion but if you fail to make the top 3 in the US Olympic trial, you will NOT be going to the Olympic. Public High School golf tryouts should be like that without favortism or nepotism, IMHO.

I told my sister if she feels so strongly about it, she should file her complaint with the school principal. This kind of BS should not be allowed in public schools with tax payers money.
 
MattyD-MPLS said:
That is brutal. I wish your nephew had an experience like my high school. We allowed all players to be on the team to learn and get better. Did they make travelling squads? Not always but we had JV teams too. They eventually got an opportunity to play. I don't know what it is like to try and budget for a school these days so it is hard to have unlimited spots. Making golf teams is a lot of the eye test and not so much tryout based results. Coaches want to see that you are playing in summer tournaments to get you ready for the high school season. Hopefully he can get on the team someone.
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I am very sorry I have to disagree with you. Golf is an individual sport and your score tells you about your ability. Tennis is an individual sport and your record indicates your ability. You don't need eye test for that. I don't care how ugly someone hit or put the ball. If that person has a lower score than I, he wins, right?

Why do you need eye test?
 
This is why school teams often have a hard time getting and keeping coaches. They have to make decisions on who plays and no matter what he does, there will always be some parents and students who aren’t happy.
 
Scott F said:
This is why school teams often have a hard time getting and keeping coaches. They have to make decisions on who plays and no matter what he does, there will always be some parents and students who aren’t happy.
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How do you decide who should make the team? Based on the lowest score, right? Otherwise, why even bother has the tryouts at all?
 
golfguy2021 said:
Is that even possible? Can the coach do that? If that is true, what is the purpose of the tryouts when the coach has already decided the outcome even before tryouts ended. Is there an recourse for this?
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I never played golf in high school but I imagine all sports are very politicized. I played baseball and basketball, and for the most part the tryouts were a dog and pony show for the optics of fairness. I was on the good side of politics where I grew up, I could have a terrible tryout but everyone already knew my greater body of work outside of it and was pretty much already assured a spot. I was also on the bad side of it when I moved and switched high schools. Coaches have been watching kids (or even coaching them) for years and a lot of times their minds are already made up prior to tryouts.

That said, true standouts can't be ignored. There is always time to get better and prove people wrong, but I speak from personal experience that it is very discouraging as a kid and hard to stay motivated when you feel like the deck is stacked against you.
 
golfguy2021 said:
I am very sorry I have to disagree with you. Golf is an individual sport and your score tells you about your ability. Tennis is an individual sport and your record indicates your ability. You don't need eye test for that. I don't care how ugly someone hit or put the ball. If that person has a lower score than I, he wins, right?

Why do you need eye test?
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I am not saying it is right, but it is happening in many tryouts. Politics and nepotism happen way too often! I think golf should be exactly what you are saying. Get the ball in the hole as quickly as possible.
 
Sounds like they should have playoffs every week to decide who "starts" for the team. For wrestling, you had to earn your spot every week if there were multiple people at a weight class. You were never guaranteed your spot without a wrestle-off.

Seems like having a single round tryout isn't the best way to pick a team to me, even if you only pick the players with the lowest scores.
 
golfguy2021 said:
How do you decide who should make the team? Based on the lowest score, right? Otherwise, why even bother has the tryouts at all?
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Not a coach or a parent but...I wouldn't base it only on scores. Attitude, work ethic, and coach-ability would be factors for me. Maybe it's a good thing I'm not a coach.

There are also a ton of politics (and even nepotism) in many high school sport scenes. I know it stinks for your nephew but that's the way it goes sometimes.
 
Scott F said:
This is why school teams often have a hard time getting and keeping coaches. They have to make decisions on who plays and no matter what he does, there will always be some parents and students who aren’t happy.
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Unless it was made known that the tryouts would be taking scores and past experience I wouldn't be happy. Even then, the kid proved he is good enough to be on the team. He did exactly what was asked of him. If you are going to cut him in favor of players who performed worse at least let them all play in one final tryout match.
 
Did anyone ask the coach how he chose the golfers for his team? What his criteria were? Once you get that information you can figure out what to do next.
 
jjjgolf500 said:
Unless it was made known that the tryouts would be taking scores and past experience I wouldn't be happy. Even then, the kid proved he is good enough to be on the team. He did exactly what was asked of him. If you are going to cut him in favor of players who performed worse at least let them all play in one final tryout match.
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I agree with this big time. I still believe there should be a cut line. I'm ok with having an A squad and a B squad, but don't give every kid a trophy. It's what is wrong with society today and kids as a whole. If you have an A and B squad, they should compete every week for who is traveling.
 
links_slayer said:
Not a coach or a parent but...I wouldn't base it only on scores. Attitude, work ethic, and coach-ability would be factors for me. Maybe it's a good thing I'm not a coach.

There are also a ton of politics (and even nepotism) in many high school sport scenes. I know it stinks for your nephew but that's the way it goes sometimes.
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I didn't pickup golf until in my 50's but I played tennis in high school and also at a D2 college. I can tell you that it happened to me in tennis. I transferred to a new school after my HS freshman year. I beat everyone on the team badly and should play #1 single but the coach did not let me. He let other players play ahead of me because they were seniors. My parents didn't put up with that BS and complained, and they let me play the #1 single.

Btw, my nephew is a straight A student with extreme work ethic. He spent three hours practicing golf, even when it rain, to get ready for the tryouts. He is been playing for less than a year. That just sucks.
 
links_slayer said:
interesting. when i played we counted 4 of the 5 scores to our team total and then the team with the lowest total won. *shrug*
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And the individual with the lowest total also won...haha. However, I get what you are saying. It can easily be viewed both ways.
 
It seems wrong to me to have three players jump over him but life in general isn’t fair. It would help to have defined qualification criteria.
 
The reasoning provided does not make any sense. I played on the high school golf team and prior to that I had 0 tournament experience. I golfed in the summers for fun and honestly had no idea that there were "tournaments". I was not part of the golf world. To my knowledge, the best averages from the days of tryouts we the ones who made the team. It seems as someone who scored better than other during tryouts should be given at least as spot on the team for practicing and possibly fill in as a backup. And that is how someone can actually GET TOURNAMENT EXPEREINCE.

Sorry to hear that for your nephew, the high school golf team was a great experience for me. Hopefully he continues to improve & next year gives the coach no option but for him to be on the team.
 
Chef23 said:
It seems wrong to me to have three players jump over him but life in general isn’t fair. It would help to have defined qualification criteria.
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I wonder if the nephew asked what the criteria was. If you see a kid taking a serious interest in the activity, that leaves a mark in your brain to watch for them during the tryout process. @golfguy2021, do you know if he did that and found out what the qualifications were prior to the tryout?
 
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