The NCAA is listening.
With the first college golf rankings release coming Wednesday, Oct. 16, the NCAA sent out a memo to coaches on Friday announcing adjustments in the ranking methodology for the 2024-25 season. This comes on the heels of numerous groups providing feedback and recommendations for adjustments with Mark Broadie’s college golf rankings after a highly-debated debut last season.
Members across NCAA Division I, II and III made up the rankings working groups, as well as reps from NAIA and NJCAA programs.
Golfweek obtained the memo, which was also posted on social media.
The NCAA is making four changes to its rankings criteria for the season. First, a points scale will be compressed to “ensure a more gradual and consistent distribution of points awarded during events throughout the season.” Then, match play, medal-match play and dual match competition will have reduced weighting, as will competition solely against out-of-division teams. Lastly, guardrails will be tightened to limit the impact of outlier results.
The memo states the changes were largely based on feedback from the Division I, II and III Men’s and Women’s Golf Committees, as well as in collaboration with Broadie and NCAA staff.
Broadie’s system is based on a weighted average points system based on head-to-head stroke differentials. While coaches have a year of that method under their belt, there was still plenty of confusion with his methodology last year after more than three decades using a head-to-head ranking.
Last year at the annual coaches convention in Las Vegas, Broadie told Golfweek he was more than willing to adjust his ranking if that’s what the coaches wanted.
Changes have indeed taken affect, and next week, the first rankings with the adjustments will come out.
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