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Parent-Child Golf

If they are showing an interest ask them if they'd like to have a "Pro" teach them. Maybe mention that Tiger and all the other great golfers ALL have swing coaches
 
I think I´ll try that one. Think I´ll stock-up on good advise seeing as next season feels pretty far away....

Keep the advises coming:act-up:
 
Great thread!
I have a 4 year old daughter who loves to swing with her daddy. Anytime we're in the yard she wants to get out her USKG set I got her for her birthday and show ME what to do... I love it. Right now we go out to the courses and she gets a kick out of bringing her dolls, snacks, etc. and playing whenever she feels like it.
Looking forward to all the great advice as I definitely want to keep it fun for her!
Thanks
 
We have a very good course up north here. Every year they offer free lessons to youth. Then, if the youth show up for lessons, they give them a free season pass to their par 3 practice course. That is what should be done to encourage youth to golf. Having said that, I am buying up all the used sets of clubs I can find as long as they are cheap. I also have a brother-in-law who is a commercial garbage hauler and sez he sees hundreds of clubs a week so he is going to put them aside for me. Over the winter, since it's a bit tough to find the ball in 5 feet of snow, I am going to rebuild and regrip clubs into youth sets and give them to the course to give to kids for free. Anyone else up to that challange. Maybe we can see how many youth sets THP followers can make availble to youth for the 2011 season!
I throw out the gauntlet!
pjs
 
Kennelmaster said:
We have a very good course up north here.
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Big Fish?

Junior Lancer had a nice little 82 last Sunday. Today we get to the course and have to play in light rain. She chips in for birdie on the first hole, then struggles to a double on the second hole. She got so down on herself she fell apart and we quit after nine. Lately she's been getting a lot of talk from her swing coach and her mom and me about believing in herself and having confidence. Today it was obvious she lost confidence after a bad swing or two, and I think it's because she's pushing so hard to shoot a low score, and thinks she can't do it after a bad hole or two. She's putting too much pressure on herself and she only turned 13 at the end of May.

She's at a sleepover, and I've been thinking about it all day. I just called her on her cell and told her for the rest of the season we're not worrying about score. She's only allowed to go out and have fun, take chances, and hit a bunch of different shots. She should do whatever the hell she wants on the course no matter how crazy, as long as she has fun. She was kind of surprised I called, but I think I heard a little sound of relief in her voice.

I also told her I loved her and how proud I am of her progress. She's moved down from a 28 'cap to a 13.5 in one year. She said, "I know Daddy, and don't worry, I'm having fun."

I hope she heard a little sound of relief in my voice. So all you Dads and Moms out there, while we want them to do well and utilize the gifts they've been blessed with, we have to remember it needs to be fun, or what's the damn point.

Kevin
 
I learned something yesterday in my round with my son. He is only good for 12-15 holes and then he falls apart mentally. Starts walking through putting lines, talking during someone else's swing, and generally getting hyper.

I end up getting angry and tense, and the game is no longer fun for either of us. So, I decided that we would only play 9 together, so the WHOLE round could be fun. I don't have any expectations of him to follow all of the rules of golf, with regard to penalties, but I do expect him to follow etiquette. I have explained this stuff to him many times, and he does good through 12 or so holes.

I should have recognized his wall of concentration a long time ago, but I'm glad I finally did. I love taking him out nearly as much as he loves coming with me. This will only enhance our good times.
 
Took my 4yr old son to the local muni last week, playing with a couple of my friends. For him it is hit from the tee, then pick up the ball, put it in the green and putt...somewhere. On one hole, I saw him lining up way off, so I told him, "look at the hole, son". He walks over, bends down and look I inside the hole, then walks back and putts the ball off the green. Everybody had a good laugh.
 
My 12 yr old (daughter) and 8 yr old (son) both love to play. Daughter got a new hybrid for Christmas and its transformed her long game. She still really struggles with putting - can't judge weight at all. Son is a lefty and has a real overswing - hoping when junior academy starts up they can coach that out of him. When he connects though he can hit it a long way :)
 
Hi,

My 10yr old son and I have been playing together on our local par 3 courses around Seattle for the past couple of summers and he has been to a number of golf summer camps. As a treat, this summer I thought it would be great to do a Parent/Child golf camp together; a bit of quality father/son time, meet other kids/parents, get some lessons and play some golf somewhere different.

Does anyone have any experience or recommendations for parent/child camps, preferably on the west coast?

Here's some I found on the net:
- Pebble Beach did a "Generations for Golf" camp last year, but have not published details yet for 2011. Link
- Stanford offer a parent/child camp but don't have much detail on their website and it is only one set of dates. Link
- Pinehurst have a great looking camp, but it's a bit pricey and the wrong side of the US for us really. Link
- Kris Moe Golf Schools look very flexible and less programatic. Link

Any other recommendations or comments on parent/child programs would be welcome!

Thx,
Martin
 
Took my 4yr old with me to the 9hole mini again yesterday. His on course behavior is improving and he is learning golf etiquette, which is good. As I said before I don't worry about his actual "game" at all, so it makes it tension free for either of us. I also don't let him slow the group down. So it is one hit off the tee, then one off the fairway, then pick up and place the ball on the green for a easy putt.

This time, off the tee, I put a quarter on the ground four inches ahead of the ball and told him to aim to hit it with the driver. This really straightened out his swing through the ball and he was throwing it out there 20yds or so, which made him quite happy. One one hole my partner flubbed his tee shot, landing it 10yds in front, and then my son blew past it, which had him talking about it the rest of the day.:laughing:
 
You should ENSURE that neither your son, nor your playing partner ever forgets that! I would send daily email reminders for at least a week on that one.
 
brought my 5 yr old some clubs for her birthday friday. took her up the range today 1st time lol funny to watch. we have a free pitch and put nr by which ill take her to
 
the boss said:
brought my 5 yr old some clubs for her birthday friday. took her up the range today 1st time lol funny to watch. we have a free pitch and put nr by which ill take her to
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Good present!
 
Great stories! My 5yr old is starting to get the bug. I showed him the mat/net setup after I had just put it up in the garage and I didn't get to hit a ball for an hour. :D My 7yr old isn't too into it unless me and her mom are putting in the house, then she wants to be part of the fun. Figure I'll let them tag along when they want and hope that they catch the bug, but if they don't I hope they can find something that they do love. (Still pulling for them to love the game though... would make for some great golf trips... er I mean family vacations!)
 
This christmas I gave my daughter a new golf bag, Maxfli driver and some new kids golf balls. She is 6 and very excited to play on the course this year, and very happy with her new gear. My daughter has been going to the range with me since she was 2. The first times I took her to the range at 2 years old she showed quite alot of talent, hitting the ball about 6-8 yards or so. It was pretty incredible to me to see her hit so well at that age, and only hit plastic toy clubs in the house before this, she had a little gallery of others at the range watching her. LOL. Now its 4 years later and she stills goes to the range alot with me, but now I only ask her to hit a few balls at least and if she gets bored or distracted she reads her books or plays. Here's hoping this year when I finally take her to play 9 holes she will be more excited to play golf. I am really trying to keep it fun for her and leave it up to her whether she will keep at it or not. Thanks all for your posts and advice.
 
Cool!

Remember to let her love for the game grow naturally, or not at all. Otherwise, she will get burned out.
SPG40 said:
This christmas I gave my daughter a new golf bag, Maxfli driver and some new kids golf balls. She is 6 and very excited to play on the course this year, and very happy with her new gear. My daughter has been going to the range with me since she was 2. The first times I took her to the range at 2 years old she showed quite alot of talent, hitting the ball about 6-8 yards or so. It was pretty incredible to me to see her hit so well at that age, and only hit plastic toy clubs in the house before this, she had a little gallery of others at the range watching her. LOL. Now its 4 years later and she stills goes to the range alot with me, but now I only ask her to hit a few balls at least and if she gets bored or distracted she reads her books or plays. Here's hoping this year when I finally take her to play 9 holes she will be more excited to play golf. I am really trying to keep it fun for her and leave it up to her whether she will keep at it or not. Thanks all for your posts and advice.
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SPG40 said:
This christmas I gave my daughter a new golf bag, Maxfli driver and some new kids golf balls. She is 6 and very excited to play on the course this year, and very happy with her new gear. My daughter has been going to the range with me since she was 2. The first times I took her to the range at 2 years old she showed quite alot of talent, hitting the ball about 6-8 yards or so. It was pretty incredible to me to see her hit so well at that age, and only hit plastic toy clubs in the house before this, she had a little gallery of others at the range watching her. LOL. Now its 4 years later and she stills goes to the range alot with me, but now I only ask her to hit a few balls at least and if she gets bored or distracted she reads her books or plays. Here's hoping this year when I finally take her to play 9 holes she will be more excited to play golf. I am really trying to keep it fun for her and leave it up to her whether she will keep at it or not. Thanks all for your posts and advice.
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That's very cool. I started my boys a bit later than you did - around 6 years old - with US Kids clubs. After a few months of range time, developing their own swing, I took them to a children's course about 30 minutes from our home. It was perfect for them. The longest hole from the kids tees was ~100 yards. I think they rate that one a par 5. The adult tees are 100-160 yards so it was pretty good for my iron game. We played at that course for quite a few years.
 
My four year old threw a tantrum y'day because after playing 9 holes at the par-3 muni, I said it is time to go home for lunch, but he wanted to go to the driving range. :laugh: But his on-course behavior was pretty good, and he again hit past a couple of adults who flubbed their tee shots.

One other thing. While the adults are putting, if there is a greenside bunker, he prefers to play in it, which is fine. I just make sure we rake it before we move on.
 
One of the biggest mistakes (only mistake?) I have made as a parent is not starting my son early enough playing golf with me. At 14 now he has no interest in the game at all and at just under 6-4, athletic and flexible as a bungee cord he could hit the ball a mile. I went with the idea that if he is interested he will want to play and he never was, now I wish I had made him go with me a few times, sometimes kids don't know what they want.
 
On Friday took the 9 year old out with me. Worked out pretty well for 7 holes. He just had pins removed from his elbow so he can't make any full swings for about another 8 weeks. After that 7th hole he wanted to quit lol. I got annoyed and I know I shouldn't have. Gotta be hard to just putt for 7 holes. It was a par 3 course and noone was really on it. Only played 9 so I didn't have to hear for an additional 9 holes.

I'm not sure he is gonna be interested in it long term. Kinda bums me out. Not my child by birth or whatever but more the step parent role. He and the 10 year old werent really exposed to golf or any sports early. So they're getting all the introduction with me haha.

We had fun making fun of my bad shots and he asked why I was doing so bad on certain shots lol. That made me laugh. Hard to explain why golf is so hard. I did hit a nice 30 foot birdie putt that got his approval though :).
 
After being pestered for the last two weeks, I gave in and took Junior Lancer to the dome to hit a few balls. She had her wrist surgery to remove the ganglion cyst on 1/3/2011. The original plan was to wait until maybe April to hit balls, but she had several sessions with a PT, and was told she could do whatever she wanted as long as the pain wasn't bad. She hit about 10 quarter wedge shots, then said, can I try a couple full shots?

She was tentative on the first few, but smiling because she was swinging the club after a four month layoff. Then she started smacking them right at the target. She probably hit 30 to 35 balls total with her gap wedge, PW, and 9i, and her swing looked great.

With no pain! Man she was excited. Daddy was really proud and excited himself. Now she starts working her way back.

Kevin
 
Esox said:
After being pestered for the last two weeks, I gave in and took Junior Lancer to the dome to hit a few balls. She had her wrist surgery to remove the ganglion cyst on 1/3/2011. The original plan was to wait until maybe April to hit balls, but she had several sessions with a PT, and was told she could do whatever she wanted as long as the pain wasn't bad. She hit about 10 quarter wedge shots, then said, can I try a couple full shots?

She was tentative on the first few, but smiling because she was swinging the club after a four month layoff. Then she started smacking them right at the target. She probably hit 30 to 35 balls total with her gap wedge, PW, and 9i, and her swing looked great.

With no pain! Man she was excited. Daddy was really proud and excited himself. Now she starts working her way back.

Kevin
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Thats great to hear Kevin, most importantly that her wrist is ok and healed from this point on. Stories like that make me excited to get my boy out to the course when he is old enough.
 
Esox said:
After being pestered for the last two weeks, I gave in and took Junior Lancer to the dome to hit a few balls. She had her wrist surgery to remove the ganglion cyst on 1/3/2011. The original plan was to wait until maybe April to hit balls, but she had several sessions with a PT, and was told she could do whatever she wanted as long as the pain wasn't bad. She hit about 10 quarter wedge shots, then said, can I try a couple full shots?

She was tentative on the first few, but smiling because she was swinging the club after a four month layoff. Then she started smacking them right at the target. She probably hit 30 to 35 balls total with her gap wedge, PW, and 9i, and her swing looked great.

With no pain! Man she was excited. Daddy was really proud and excited himself. Now she starts working her way back.

Kevin
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Great to hear Kevin. I can't wait to hear about JL's progress!
 
Congrats, JL. I am getting a small taste of how she feels. It is impossible to practice when you are knee deep in a sinus infection.
 
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