Amateur Golf Podcast: University of Miami assistant coach Jim Garren
1/22/2025 | by Sean Melia of AmateurGolf.com
Garren discusses NIL, coaching women's golf, the off-season, and winning a national title in 2017
Jim Garren, the assistant coach of the University of Miami women's golf team joins the pod to discuss the unique dynamics of coaching women's golf, the importance of off-season training, and the evolution of the women's game compared to men's golf.
Jim shares insights on player development, the significance of support systems in college golf, and how to identify future stars in the sport. He also reflects on memorable moments from championship wins and emphasizes the importance of building a strong team culture.
In this conversation, Jim Garren discusses the dynamics of building a successful college golf program, emphasizing the importance of team culture, diversity in recruiting, and the impact of NIL on athletes. He shares insights on finding talent, the role of national development programs, and the necessity of fundraising in college sports. Garren also reflects on his personal journey into coaching and the evolution of the sport.
On the college offseason:
It's getting them healthy and also helping them realize how you live in paradise, take advantage of where we live. So we're very relaxed in November. They're going to work out. We stay on a workout schedule. We stay on our tutoring and our study hall schedule. But from a golf standpoint, it's a little more freedom, free time to do as they choose. The NCAA allows us eight hours a week to be with them. So we're available during those eight hours. But we're not overly demanding physically in November.
December will do a little bit stuff before they had home before finals. I'm checking with them. Hey, this is where you know the progress are looking to make the next three weeks and then about mid-December, they'll start their grind back up individually at home with their private coaches or private instructors so that when they get back here the 1st of January, they're ready to roll because we compete and we leave January 30th for our first event and we've only got two and half weeks to get ready for it. So, resting November and get back to grind over holiday time, and be ready to roll in January.
On the benefits of college golf:
it's something I've never even thought to bring up publicly, but I bring it up when we're recruiting. Everything that you're going to have to pay for as a professional I have in this building right here: Nutritionists, strength and conditioning. I've got every piece of medical rehab equipment you could ever want.Do you need a sports psychologist? We have two of them right there. If you need a nutritionist, we got four of them downstairs. Strength and conditioning, PTs, athletic trainers, they're in this building and the kids aren't paying for it. You've got to be in there talking with them like, What about this do you like? What about this is most important to you? Because when you leave here, you're going to have to pay for this and you need to start making those relationships. Now your agent's got to be in tuned on that. So there's a lot they've got to learn and then we do our best to kind of help how we manage that situation. You know, one of the biggest things they struggle with is the travel and booking the travel.
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