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Parent-Child Golf

Gummi Bear said:
My daughter's 5 now. I bought her a couple of used USKG clubs last year for her to knock around with (a 9 iron and a putter) Since then, we've gotten her a driver, and a little golf bag. She's exactly right for those clubs, height wise, and I've promised her that if she keeps improving on her own, that I'll buy her the 'big girl' set when she grows a few more inches.

Her attention span is pretty short, but she'll hit a few balls, and usually pretty good at that (she's had driver shots roll out to near 100 yards a few times) She LOVES to play mini golf, so sometimes we'll go and just do that, not even take the rest of the bag with us.

I asked my instructor when's a good time for her to start lessons, he said in 2-3 years, but for now to give her a 10 fingered (baseball style) grip, tee everything up, and swing as hard as she can.

Sometimes I'll take Twerpy with me to play a short par-3 course near the house. She'll walk the whole thing. I have to take plenty of snacks, water, and I also let her carry a spray mister bottle to keep cool with. She'll usually hit off the tee, then I'll have her pick it up until we're about 50 yards off the green, where she can hit her iron and then putt. It's really slow, and I usually have to let her hit the potty about the 4th hole, but we have a pretty good time as long as it's not crowded.
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I've also got a five year old so thank your instructor for the tips:D She's gung ho and ready to go until we get out there and about 30 minutes is all that 5 year old attention span can handle. Oh well I just love hanging out with her and how many times can you say, no maybe next time when she doesn't understand why she can't go:crying: Anyway thanks and great thread:clapp: There's nothing like a daddy's girl
 
my 8y son is really loving going to the range with pops. we call it our man time! lil guy is really starting to crack some too, just have to get him to slow down, he is hitting most of the bucket!
 
Well I have 4 kids, 3 girls (12,9,3) and a boy(11months). When it starts to cool off, the oldest and I will hit the range, wish that we had some par 3's around. So until she hits it the ball well, we'll be pitching, chipping and putting. Can't wait for the family golf outings!!!
 
I have a 9yr old boy and 3yr old girl. The boy slightly interested in golf and comes with me to the range once in a while. No clubs yet until I know he's into the sport. He's more off a soccer fan. Like any father I would love to hit the course with the boy but I feel like the interest level just isn't there so I'm not going to push it.

Now my daughter is a whole different story. She has a real affinity for the game. At the age of 3 we bought her a cheap plastic set because she kept asking "wheres mine papa?" when I was practicing my swing in the house. We often found her in her room just swining away bouncing the balls off the wall. She will actally sit still for 15+ minutes and watch golf on TV (i even have trouble doing this). So I've started to bring her to the range when I go. I'll have her practice rolling the ball by hand on the putting greens with her borther so she starts to undertand speed and break. I can't get her to leave sometimes. Right now she says it's her fav game. It's her 4th bday tomorrow so I'm going to do what any proud dad would do...buy her a pink putter.
 
POKeefe said:
Man, a lot of these threads are making me wish I picked up golf when I was younger... especially when I was done baseball. I'm 19 now and I only started playing around 14 on a few 9 hole courses. I actually like playing by myself, but I usually play with my dad. We both suck with our horribly slicing baseball swings, but it's fun nonetheless. Like I told my dad, if I'm making good money once I'm done with college, I'd probably try to introduce my child into golf as their first sport even though I love baseball.
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14! Man I'm pretty sure most of us would like to have got started at that age. I didn't pick up clubs till this May and I'm 29!
 
Love this thread!
My son (8) took lessons this summer and has been hanging with me at the driving range a bunch this summer (usually followed by a round of putt putt). Bought him a starter set that he is VERY proud of and now takes things even more seriously. Tells just about everyone he meets that he's a golfer now.

We've been out several times to a couple par 3 courses and I'm enjoying it even more than he is! Heading out this afternoon and tomorrow for a couple of rounds with him, the weather is just perfect here and I'm really looking forward to spending time with him on the course.

My 5 yr old daughter loves the mini-golf scene and has hit with us at the range a few times, just banging away with her brother's clubs. I'm thinking that next summer we might see if she's interested in spending some more time with her brother and I on the courses.

After reading some of these posts I'll see if Big Brother is interested in a tournament or two next year...
 
my son (9y) and I ended up going to the range quite a bit this summer and he loved it, not ready for the course yet but he certainly has the interest
 
I am the child. haha. When I was 4 my dad gave me my first driver and putter. On my 6th birthday I got my first junior iron set. I remember all of the trips we used to take to Orlando, playing weeks of golf. Of course that was a while ago. I'm 21 now, and after picking up the game seriously last summer, I'm trying to beat my dad whose a 8-9 handicap. I love going out on the course with him and having him there help me.It's something that I want to do with my kids when the time comes.
 
theslflash689 said:
I am the child. haha. When I was 4 my dad gave me my first driver and putter. On my 6th birthday I got my first junior iron set. I remember all of the trips we used to take to Orlando, playing weeks of golf. Of course that was a while ago. I'm 21 now, and after picking up the game seriously last summer, I'm trying to beat my dad whose a 8-9 handicap. I love going out on the course with him and having him there help me.It's something that I want to do with my kids when the time comes.
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Sounds like your parents raised a great son! :thumb:
 
Played in a Parent/Child 9 hole tournament yesterday put on by First Tee of Austin. We had an outstanding time, shot 4 over on the par 30 course. We both need work on our irons, only 3 GIR between us.

As soon as my wife and youngest start playing we'll be about to field a 4 person team :)
 
Need some advice. Great thread btw. If you seen any of my post's i have twin 13year old girls. One that is really active in sports. She plays competitive travel softball(pitcher and Short/stop) and is pretty good at it. However she hates the fact of having to rely on 8 other girls(whole nuther story) and she can't stand the caddiness of the little girls. I have taken her to the driving range on frequent occasions and she's got a pretty natural swing. On my last outing to the range with her there was a collegiate woman golfer that gave her some pointers and the young lady told me in private that my daughter has a natural swing. Here's the question:
Should I put her in golf lessons to see where it goes? OR
Should I let her make her own decisions? and stay with softball,volleyball,basketball?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Chad
 
SwampDog35 said:
Need some advice. Great thread btw. If you seen any of my post's i have twin 13year old girls. One that is really active in sports. She plays competitive travel softball(pitcher and Short/stop) and is pretty good at it. However she hates the fact of having to rely on 8 other girls(whole nuther story) and she can't stand the caddiness of the little girls. I have taken her to the driving range on frequent occasions and she's got a pretty natural swing. On my last outing to the range with her there was a collegiate woman golfer that gave her some pointers and the young lady told me in private that my daughter has a natural swing. Here's the question:
Should I put her in golf lessons to see where it goes? OR
Should I let her make her own decisions? and stay with softball,volleyball,basketball?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Chad
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She needs to want to play, you can't force her. Nudging, however, is definitely allowed. Has she played? How do you think she would do on a golf course? If she is competitive and you get her out there, would she be able to hit a number of decent shots? Sometimes that all it takes with golf. It's the good ones that fuel the fire.

I would tell her, "You know, honey, for just trying this you're looking pretty natural considering you're just starting. Why don't we try and play?" If you get her on a course and she hits some good shots, get into a dialog with her using her frustration in having to deal with other girls in more team oriented sports. Tell her that high school golf combines the best of both worlds. You have teammates that support you and you support them, but you don't have to rely on them to be successful. Here in Cheeseland, and I imagine most states, you can be on a terrible team, but still qualify as an individual for regionals, sectionals, and then the State tournament.

Then suggest a lesson. If she's a natural, a good instructor can have her hitting good basic fundamental shots fairly quickly. He'll also make sure her grip and set up are sound. It seems you possibly have a closet golfer on your hands, Chad. Give her a chance to get out into the light.

I can tell you from experience, there's nothing better than playing golf with a 13 year old daughter. A few weeks ago mine shot an 81 and beat me by two strokes. Of course I had a sore elbow. LOL.

Best day I ever had on a golf course.

Kevin
 
Is there maybe a 9 hole par 3 course or an executive course you could take her out on? If she hits a few good shots and sinks a few putts she'll get excited about playing. Especially if she doesn't like relying on teammates to win or lose.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. There are no Par 3 courses around. However I just found out that the course I was thinking about joining here closer to my house has a player development lesson every Sat (for only $10) from 12noon to 2:30pm. And the instructor told me has plenty of room for my daughter. My daughter sit's and watch's my normal Golf Channel shows with me. So I know she's interested.....Just got to get it out of her. She's uses mommy's clubs(which mom isn't happy about)and they wear the same size shoe's....LOL!!!! Anyway....Thanks for the wonderful advice. Now I need her to react to it.
 
Oh and Kevin that's got to be a great feeling for her as well. I remember the first time I beat my Dad.....He was like "I need to re-count these scores". I must have got something mixed up....I'll never forget that..... Best of luck.
 
Took my daughter out yesterday and played on the 9 hole par 3 course. Shortest hole is 65yds longest is 204.
Thought I was losing her after 3 holes, she was really getting discouraged, I kept telling her it takes time, takes practice, completely different body movements from any other game. The 4th is 176 yds. Teed the ball up higher for her, she got up there and nailed a beautiful high shot went about 135 yds. She just stood there staring, watching it fly and when it hit in the middle of the fairway I heard a low "Holy Crap". She got to the edge of the green on her next shot using a 5 Iron and then 3 putted.

We were walking over to the edge of the green to grab our bags and out of nowhere she just hugged me and said "Thanks Dad"

This will definatley go down as one of the best days of my life.
 
Wow Ron.....I bet your heart sank like a tank in quicksand....Very touching moment.

Update on my daughter....I was using her netbook yesterday and "accidently" stumbled across a Daily Journal that she has been keeping. I found one that entitle "golf outing" which had me puzzled. So I decided to "investigate" and this girl wrote about a 200 word daily journal about when I brought her to the driving range 2 weeks ago. And how she really enjoyed it and her swing seemed to be getting better... It's driving me nuts getting her to come and talk to me about it. We had a TM demo day saturday and junior lessons right after that, but she didn't bite on the chance to come with me..... I asked and she said she didn't want to go.....I just can't figure this kid out...Its driving me insane... "Women" I guess. Hopefully this Sat. I can get her to go to junior lessons. We will see.
 
Trying to figure out a woman is hard enough Swamp, trying to figure out a teenage female? Not sure it can be done
 
Awesome Ron.
 
RonInThornton said:
Trying to figure out a woman is hard enough Swamp, trying to figure out a teenage female? Not sure it can be done
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Agreed... Coming from a teenage male... LOL :bulgy-eyes:
 
Chad, all you can do is continue to encourage her to play/practice with you. If you get too pushy, she may run away from it.
 
johnday said:
Agreed... Coming from a teenage male... LOL :bulgy-eyes:
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lol same here....... it's verrrrrrrrryyyy difficult.....

Anyway..... My parents don't play, but they are very supportive and ride me in the golf cart and are learning about the game of golf. My dad is catching on quickly. My parents really aren't sports people (until I came along), and I'm glad I can share golf with them.
 
That all I do, I've never pushed her in anything she does.....Cause that causes me to open up the checkbook....LOL! I've spent $299 on a Softball bat last year...."Daddy I need a new bat, There's one that I practiced with and hit some shots with it"......$300 later, She wasn't lying. She hit 6 homeruns last year with it. I do however encourage them to give 100% in anything they do. Never leave anything on the table. That's about the only pushing I do...
Chad
 
I think next season will be the first official father/daughter/son season for me!!

We have three kids (4/6/9) and we´ve brought them all out to the range on occasions - and they like it although having a hard time focusing (not the 9 year old). They are girl/boy/girl. Problem is the oldest is a figureskater and practices atleast 4-5 times a week all year round(hard to find the time) så that´s "her" sport. our 6 year old son tried nine holes(walking) with me this summer and showed a stiff upper lip. He was going to finish the course or die trying - Very determined young man lol.

Question is: Should I put them in a practice program with a teacher who can get their fundamentals right or let them discover golf by themselves? What would you guys recommend?
 
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