Interesting round today with a nice kid & a-hole father

I went over to Winter Park to walk 9 this afternoon. Warming up on the first tee, a kid, maybe 10 years old, and his dad come up to the tee. Dad's not playing, kid is. They ask if I mind if we play together. I say sure. Kid's a lefty like me.

So I tee off first, then the kid hits. Not a great shot but not terrible. And the dad starts - 'That was horrible. Hit another one.' Kid re-tees, hits it better.

We get out to our second shots, kid misses the green. Dad starts in again - 'Is this what I am paying lessons for? Damn.'

This went on for the balance of the round. Every time the kid mis-hit a shot dad was all over him. On one hole i skull a chip shot & the dad says 'My kid is rubbing off on you.'

Father was a total jerk. Nice to me, but just relentless with his son. On one tee while the kid was teeing off I talked to the dad. I said it looked like the kid has had lessons. 'Oh hell yes. Leadbetter Academy, I got him working with another pro now.' He's just pushing the shit out of this TEN-YEAR-OLD kid. And the kid didn't say a word to his dad. Would just walk to the next shot, go thru his routine, hit the shot. Then dad would bitch at him.

As we walked up the last hole, me & the kid were out of earshot of the father. I asked him if he wanted to play golf for a living, and he said 'Of course.' I said great, but remember. It's a game. Have fun, okay?

'Yes sir.'

When we putted out, the kid take his cap off, tour-style, and shakes my hand and says 'Nice playing with you, sir.' I then shake the dad's hand & said 'It was a nice day.' Dad says, 'oh we're not done yet' and marches the kid back to the first tee to get in some more holes before dark.

I felt so bad for that kid.

I'd frickin' LOVE to be that kid. But maybe he was pushed too hard, to some, but that's a problem I need to have on my "Path to The Tour"

Yep, plus my dad was always more worried about my education than golf.

Good example of how adults can ruin a kid's interest.  This kid may like golf but if his dad is that way all the time, he'll probably grow to hate the game.

When I was about 6-7, I played baseball and really enjoyed it for the first two years.  Had an awesome coach that really encouraged improving, he would do practice with each kid one-on-one, and provided fun incentives for improving.  The third year I had a complete d!ck of a coach; he would call you out on everything, would intentionally put you in positions you were not comfortable with, made fun of kids that couldn't play well, etc.  He completely ruined my interest in the game.  About halfway through the season I had enough of the guy and walked off the field in the middle of a game, never to play baseball again.

It's good to push and encourage, but there is a fine line to walk.  A lot of parents and coaches simply do not comprehend this and end up killing the spirit of a game.

Thats the kid that grows up and ends up hating golf.

How is that walking nine hole? I saw it a few times when i was down on park ave eating lunch with my wife.

For every Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, Williams sisters etc. ... there are a million kids who hate their obsessive parents for projecting their unobtained goals on their kids.

When you look at a group of kids doing sports, regardless of their level, you have to remind yourself that statistically 0.0000001% of those kids are going pro, but everyone of them can grow up with a positive attitude towards sports and fitness and all the benefits that come with it.

Just sayin'.

It's a real nice course. Par-35, always in good shape. Only $13 to walk 9 if you're a WP resident, $14 if not.

Not real long, but they make up for the lack of length (par 4s are all in the 300y-range) by having very small greens.

http://www.winterparkcountryclub.com/

That sounds like a dad trying to live his dreams through his kid. The game should be competative, but fun as well. It shouldn't be pressured like that.

IMO kids need positive messages sprinkled with a dose of reality.  As a coach / father you can choose to pick out the negative or the positive to make the the focus of the moment.  I prefer the to emphasize what's being done right in the moment and then maybe during alone time bring up some of the negative and how to make it better.  Rippping your kid in front of strangers is more likely going to kill your kids passion and self esteem than make them better golfers.

This was exactly my thinking too. I'm a father, so I understand how to raise a kid. I exposed my son to golf at a young age & he wasn't interested & that's totally fine.

The father did one thing right - he handed to kid off to pros to teach him the game. But this is a tough game! If I were the dad in this situation, after the kid hit a bad shot I would say okay, what were you trying to accomplish here? What was your thought process? Well you didn't execute it properly but that's okay. You'll do better on the next shot.

You gotta give them positive reinforcement or the kid is just gonna grow up hating the game...and his father.

4% of college athletes go pro. Just Sayin'

Doubt it ... where did you get that number?

Most college sports don't have professional leagues or associations ... think track, swimming, etc. Also, there are lots of non-elite college athletes like junior varsity or small schools that pros aren't drawing from ... all very worthwhile pursuits.

I would think that 4% is a very high number ... you should probably be doing your homework.

Your maths is worse than your English.

Plus, even if his number is anywhere near accurate (which I doubt it is), not even close to everyone who goes pro makes much of a living. Think of all of the mini-tours in golf, minor leagues in baseball, and development leagues in basketball.

And only 1% of the total population go to college. Given the amount of college athletes in that 1% (which I imagine to be a lot less than half of that), that's a pretty small number. And remember, a lot of players can declare themselves proffessionals, but how many of them end up in the PGA tour?

Man that sounds down right awful. Growing up I had a friend like that by the time the guy was 15 he was barely on speaking terms with his dad and he hated to play. After awhile he did not want to play anymore. Sounds like the dad needs to lighten up and let his son just enjoy the game and being there with his dad, to me that is why i love golf. For those 4-5 hours it is just you and the game and your dad, everything else just goes out the window.

Another uber sports parent trait I've witnessed is pushing extra training at the expense of homework.

That's like buying lottery tickets with your mortgage payment ... for lack of a better analogy.