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Teach Me!: 10 Simple Tips To Hook Your Child On Golf Forever
Teach Me!: 10 Simple Tips To Hook Your Child On Golf Forever
Act like a kid again. Simply do what a child does -- smile and laugh a lot. I leave
nothing in the bag. I've done a one-minute puppet show with my headcovers. I've talked
in rhymes. Anything to make being with the instructor, and learning how to play golf,
more appealing for the child.
4. Communicate on their level
Everything you say should be expressed at the child's level, and I mean that literally.
Don't stand when you talk; kneel down and look the child in the eye. Watch what you
say, and how you say it. Even adults struggle with terminology, so I really simplify
things for Bing. Rather than say "wide arc," I say "big circle." Instead of challenging her
to make a "descending blow," I ask her to "thump the ground." She doesn't "pivot," she
"turns." Children must comprehend an idea before they can execute it.
Don't let a small thing grown-ups take for granted -- like sticking a tee in the ground -become a frustration. Be ready to lend a helping hand.
5. Tee it up in more ways than one
To establish an early pattern of success, I insist on teeing the ball on every shot with
every club. With Bing that was an adventure. Her tiny thumb wasn't strong enough to
insert the tee into the ground. Once she got the tee in, it was too crooked to hold the ball.
Even when I straightened the tee for her, balancing the ball atop it was a big test for her.
Have some empathy. Tasks we take for granted -- putting on a glove and fastening it,
for example -- are tough for kids. Be ready to help at every turn.
6. Visual is better than verbal
Don't explain the point, show it. Like most children, Bing initially held the club with a
very weak left-hand grip.
I could have told her to aim the "V" over her right shoulder, but that only would have
confused her. So I marked the tips of her fingers with blue dots and told her that when
she looked down at address, only the dot on her pinkie should show. Bing grasped this
immediately. In fact, when she shows up for her lesson we "wave" to each other with
our pinkie fingers.
7. Safety first, last and always
Children tend to act first and think later. In golf, the consequences of a misstep can be
dire. Use these ABCs of rules to ensure a safe passage:
A. Keep the child in your line of sight at all times. On the range, the child should
occupy the stall in front of you, never the one behind.
B. Draw an imaginary line three feet in front of the spot the child is hitting from, and
tell the child, emphatically, never to walk in front of it.
C. Kids don't drive the cart. They don't sit alone on the passenger side. They sit right
next to you or on your lap.
It's psychological. Remember, the reason kids hate cleaning their room is because they
made it messy -- did something wrong -- to begin with. It's impossible to mess up a
room on the golf course.
9. Think of creative ways to teach technique
Lightweight children's clubs are a vast improvement over the sawed-off sledgehammers
we fashioned in the old days. Still, little kids don't have the strength, balance or
mass to swing the club like an adult. A little creativity will help overcome these issues.
Bing's small size makes shifting her weight to her left side difficult. To show her the
right move, I cut two illustrations of the sun from the back of a cereal box and taped
them to the heels of our shoes. I made a swing and showed Bing my sun, and challenged
her to do the same for me. She can only pull it off by making a good weight shift, and
she's getting better at it.
Don't let a small thing grown-ups take for granted -- like sticking a tee in the ground -become a frustration. Be ready to lend a helping hand.
10. Make a big deal out of the short game
It's rare to see an adult who uses the practice green as much as the practice range. This
chronic neglect of chipping and putting is a mistake you don't want to make with a
young child. The rule is this: Never walk past the practice green with a child. Walk on it,
then use it. Heighten the child's curiosity about this vital part of the game, and then let
the child pursue it.
This is the place to introduce kids to competition. They love chipping and putting
contests. You might consider losing on purpose, though with Bing, my best often isn't
good enough.