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Kids taking up golf.

Tbone01

Tbone01

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Estero Fla/Chagrin Falls OH
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I have a 7 year old daughter who is currently taking lessons once a week (group setting), with a 2nd session of 1 on 1 instruction. My youngest (5 years old) has also taken a interest, probably due to her big sister playing. I would love to eventually see them both play in High school. The HS girls coach has both on his radar already as I had many questions about competing at that level in golf. I played football, baseball and wrestled. I wish I would have just played golf (my body took quite a beating) -but hind sights 20/20. I was interested in hearing some experiences regarding getting your children involved in golf and keeping them interested.
Thanks
 
it's the same as anything else - they need a reward. my son is great at baseball & basketball but his favorite part about it is getting the snacks & juice after the game lol.
 
Not having a child yet (one on the way) I can only think how I was treated by my parents and that was to introduce me to it, teach the basics and let me loose on it. I think the most important thing to remember is that it is their life so don't push them as it may push them away from the sport, just let them enjoy it.
 
My son is 8 and has been playing for 3 years now. He does a weekly day camp for golf in the summer and we play 2-3 times a month on our course. We also spend quite a hit of time on the range together, it's great bonding time!


On my iPhone T.. T.. Tapatalking away!
 
Make sure she practices at least 6 hours a day. No food until she's made 1,000 3 footers in a row. She has to chip in 10 times before she can leave as well. Give her leap day off every 4 years. She'll be a monster!
 
For kids my coach just wants to get their hands on the club correctly and let em go. Maybe work on the setup a tad. Once they get around ten you start working on some mechanics...but kids are pretty good at naturally swinging that club around.
 
Keep it fun. If she wants to do something weird, if it makes it fun, let her. Maybe encourage her to change if it's bad technique, but don't do anything to take away the fun.

If she wants to get serious as she gets older, she'll let you know. If not, no amount of encouraging or bribing by you is going to make any amount of seriousness stick.
 
I love seeing kids get into golf. That's the future generation of this game. The thing I hate seeing is parents that push their kids way too far trying to get them to be the best kid out there. There was a guy at my home course a while back that would bring his kids almost every day to the driving range to work on their games. I saw him one day talking to one of the kids (probably about 6 or 7 years old at the time) and the kid was crying because he didn't want to keep hitting golf balls. His dad wouldn't let him stop. The kept hitting balls for another 30-45 minutes. This same dad had his kids on the golf course walking the course in some of the coldest temperatures when nobody else was playing all for the sake of having his kids be the best. There is a line that needs to be drawn, and as bad as you want your kid to succeed, the kid being happy and enjoying the game is much more important.
 
MarcH said:
Make sure she practices at least 6 hours a day. No food until she's made 1,000 3 footers in a row. She has to chip in 10 times before she can leave as well. Give her leap day off every 4 years. She'll be a monster!
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LMAO

i cant wait for my daughter to start .she is only 4 now but always begs to go to the range with me.
 
Bring her out on the course late in the day for nine when it gets nicer out. I play twilight hours at my course in the summer and its loaded with fathers with their young kids. father usually hits driver and the kids tee up where the fathers ball landed and hits their driver from there. Having a daughter that is to young to play yet I love hearing the laughter out on the course. Reminds me to be less serious when I'm out there.
 
I am going through alot of the same. My girlfriends son who is basically mine likes golf. Kills her family cause they are a baseball baseball baseball family. I bet you 100 if you go ask him what he wants to play when he is older he would say golf. This is my approach based on how my dad did me. I want to make it fun while teaching. My dad was right the opposite. There was no lets go play a fun round cause each round turned into a lesson. Biggest thing to me is make it enjoyable. The game is hard enough without someone breathing down your neck to be perfect.
 
NJRob said:
Bring her out on the course late in the day for nine when it gets nicer out. I play twilight hours at my course in the summer and its loaded with fathers with their young kids. father usually hits driver and the kids tee up where the fathers ball landed and hits their driver from there. Having a daughter that is to young to play yet I love hearing the laughter out on the course. Reminds me to be less serious when I'm out there.
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I take my 4 year old with me for 18. He hits on some holes depending on if people are behind us. Putts with me on most holes. Most importantly, we bring a lot of snacks! It is fun until he yells "hey dad" in the middle of my swing:wink:

I believe a child needs to be encouraged to play sports. Some he/she may like, others maybe not. The key is to push them and encourage them to continue but only to the extent that they actually want to continue. As bhilton said above, there comes a time when it is not ok to push!
 
4 yo little man at a lesson from pga superstore.
 

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My two Ranger junior (11yrs) and Miss Pink Peril (8yrs) both tried tri golf at school ( Plastic clubs and balls and hitting into nets etc ) they loved it and have been playing since , I was very lucky to find a good junior pro at my local course and the female pro runs girls only golf lessons as well.

Ranger Junior goes from strength to strength currently having a full mens handicap of 20 from the mens tees ( not bad for a small 11 year old) he followed his pro when he moved to a different course as he has such a good relationship with his teaching pro and that makes it more enjoyable for him. He has just been put onto an elite training schedule with a European tour coach as well as his usual coaching. I try and play with him regularly if i can get time from work , or his grandfather or his Godfather play as well. We try and make it fun but he has a tremendously competetive streak in him (from his mother ) so he can take it a little too seriously at times ....

Pink Peril is more of a fair weather golfer but has a lovely swing , currently though she concentrates on her swimming ( twice club champion for her age doesnt get her swimming from me )

Overall make it fun , and if they can learn in a group setting with their peers it is much better....good luck and enjoy it
 
My daughter is 13 now and that is about the age she started. Mostly group type setting initially to work on basics, supplemented with the occasional short private lesson. I did not actually get her on the course until she was about 9 or 10. If they had the team best ball tournament she started playing at about 10 I would have probably started her earlier. We have steadily increased the time involved over the years and now she is doing off campus PE and required to do 15 hours a week as part of that. That is a combination of a group academy, private lessons, workout sessions, tournaments, practice and playing.

The main thing I have learned in this and observing junior tennis players when I worked in a pro shop in college is you really have to let the kid dictate their level of involvement. A lot of parents push their kids too hard or too soon and they get burned out. You have to strike a balance with the kid wanting to sign up for an academy or schedule, and make sure you teach them they have to follow through on their commitments. Been some times when I did not sign her up for some things over a time horizon because I know at some point she will not want to go for some reason or another. Better to under schedule and supplement with more time than over schedule and make them go do something when they would rather be at a birthday party or something else. This kind of evolves as they get older and their goals or aspirations get closer to reality. Right now my daughter wants to make varsity next year as a freshman on a team that went to state last year. I kept her out of off campus last year to keep her from burning out, but let her do it this year.

Another thing is do not make them specialize too soon. Athletic ability is important in golf and can be developed playing other sports. A junior dad and I at the club had a conversation recently about a parent that spends $30,000 a year on their 8 year old golfer. He told this dad his son should not play baseball because it will hurt his golf game. It's funny but I think guys like Jack Nichlaus prove that theory wrong.
 
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