So I'm Teaching My Kid to Play…

[Cut4]

My 10 year old played a couple of rounds last year and loved it, which gave me the ammo required to get a club membership past the wife. He's been playing with 10 year old Ping Moxie's, but I recently got him a junior F9 driver. Scores are dropping like a stone. I recently moved him from Women's (2700) to seniors (2950) tee's. He's an elite level hockey and baseball player, so hitting the ball hard has been natural for him. As the other kids tell him, "he hit's bombs". He recently won the club junior championship for the 10-11 age group with a 46 (9 holes), which was before his new driver (legit 35 yards further). He's now been bitten by the bug, and we're playing 4 times a week. He has recently learned the value of putting, but his short game is absolute garbage. if he doesn't hit his approach to 10 feet it's a guaranteed double bogey. Gotta find a way to get past this.

He wants to play more tournaments. At what point do I say "then lets work on your short game!) When he plays with kids his age, he just overpowers them, but I'm sure there's plenty of kids that hit it longer than him, and either way, that won't last forever. On the other hand, He's my ticket to getting away with playing 4 days a week, and he's won enough pro-shop money to buy his own golf balls. 

By the way, is there anything better in life than playing a friendly but competitive match against your child? On friday's we play a skins match, and tonight on 18 he stuck his 3rd shot on a 465 yard par 5 to 3 feet to make birdie and take the match. That meant Taco Bell for dinner. 

[PJCdude]

I have a 6 year old that I’ve taken to the course but he’s not to your sons level yet.

 

you mention the competitiveness, why not do some kind of chipping game with him? You each get 9 balls from off the practice green, keep score. If he wins, more Taco Bell. 
 

I think if he plays enough, he ll realize the importance of the short game more, you just need to find a way to make it close to as fun as hitting bombs. 
 

Just my two cents but you know your kid better than I do so really just a suggestion.

[Cut4]

Great idea. I can do that at home, too. He can learn to control the ball in the back yard

[Shindig]

46 minutes ago, Cut4 said:

My 10 year old played a couple of rounds last year and loved it, which gave me the ammo required to get a club membership past the wife. He's been playing with 10 year old Ping Moxie's, but I recently got him a junior F9 driver. Scores are dropping like a stone. I recently moved him from Women's (2700) to seniors (2950) tee's. He's an elite level hockey and baseball player, so hitting the ball hard has been natural for him. As the other kids tell him, "he hit's bombs". He recently won the club junior championship for the 10-11 age group with a 46 (9 holes), which was before his new driver (legit 35 yards further). He's now been bitten by the bug, and we're playing 4 times a week. He has recently learned the value of putting, but his short game is absolute garbage. if he doesn't hit his approach to 10 feet it's a guaranteed double bogey. Gotta find a way to get past this.

He wants to play more tournaments. At what point do I say "then lets work on your short game!) When he plays with kids his age, he just overpowers them, but I'm sure there's plenty of kids that hit it longer than him, and either way, that won't last forever. On the other hand, He's my ticket to getting away with playing 4 days a week, and he's won enough pro-shop money to buy his own golf balls. 

By the way, is there anything better in life than playing a friendly but competitive match against your child? On friday's we play a skins match, and tonight on 18 he stuck his 3rd shot on a 465 yard par 5 to 3 feet to make birdie and take the match. That meant Taco Bell for dinner. 

First, congrats.  This is awesome, and I hope to be like this with my niece one day, and maybe even my own kids.  Also, congratulations to him for winning the club junior championship. 

Second, long shots make up a better part of scoring (not to be confused with percent of total strokes).  As long as he's having fun, that's fantastic.  Don't fall for the "short game is the important thing" that you hear.  Now, if it's a glaring weakness, that's something to bring up I suppose.   And it's not something to completely ignore.  My instinct for kids is to ensure they're having fun first, and everything else later. 

The other side of playing a friendly but competitive match against your kid is against a parent.  Every now and then my mom will produce a net score better than mine (and, on at least one occasion this summer, gross) and gets to really enjoy it.  As she should!  If I think she hasn't noticed it, I'll point it out. 

[Cut4]

1 minute ago, Shindig said:

First, congrats.  This is awesome, and I hope to be like this with my niece one day, and maybe even my own kids.  Also, congratulations to him for winning the club junior championship. 

Second, long shots make up a better part of scoring (not to be confused with percent of total strokes).  As long as he's having fun, that's fantastic.  Don't fall for the "short game is the important thing" that you hear.  Now, if it's a glaring weakness, that's something to bring up I suppose.   And it's not something to completely ignore.  My instinct for kids is to ensure they're having fun first, and everything else later. 

The other side of playing a friendly but competitive match against your kid is against a parent.  Every now and then my mom will produce a net score better than mine (and, on at least one occasion this summer, gross) and gets to really enjoy it.  As she should!  If I think she hasn't noticed it, I'll point it out. 

He is learning what his weakness is. He played a long par 4 beautifully today, but missed a 3 footer for birdie. Walking off, I heard him mutter "it really all comes down to putting it in the hole".  I just explained to him that there's 2 guys from the club that made the quarter finals of the state amateur that would be happy o have a 3 footer for birdie on that hole, and he seemed happy. 

I like playing skins with him because he's learned he's never out of it. If it's lopsided I can "shank" a shot or two, and he'll get a couple carry-overs and he knows he's one hole away from taking the lead. Plus, the way our course sets up there's 3-4 holes a side where he has such a distance advantage he's usually going to win the hole. There's one hole where you will gain 50 yards of roll if you clear a bunker. he can reach it from his tee's, I can't from mine. 

 

Gotta find another reward besides taco bell though!

[Mr22putt]

1 hour ago, Cut4 said:

I like playing skins with him because he's learned he's never out of it.

If your son's goal is to score well....IMO....then you should start playing more stroke play matches where he's needs to learn ALL strokes matter...it will also help him to consistently focus more because ALL strokes matter.

[David in FL]

Get him a real instructor...

[pganapathy]

Unless your son is really committed to learning golf himself, there is no substitute for a good instructor.  My brother and I had lessons when we were around 10 and 12 respectively, and to this day I still have a decent swing because it was ingrained early as muscle memory.  Once he grooves a swing, you can work on the rest of his game (short, putting) and improve his scores.  Scoring should be a by-product of a good process and swing, rather than a goal.

[iacas]

7 hours ago, Cut4 said:

He is learning what his weakness is. He played a long par 4 beautifully today, but missed a 3 footer for birdie. Walking off, I heard him mutter "it really all comes down to putting it in the hole".  I just explained to him that there's 2 guys from the club that made the quarter finals of the state amateur that would be happy o have a 3 footer for birdie on that hole, and he seemed happy. 

I like playing skins with him because he's learned he's never out of it. If it's lopsided I can "shank" a shot or two, and he'll get a couple carry-overs and he knows he's one hole away from taking the lead. Plus, the way our course sets up there's 3-4 holes a side where he has such a distance advantage he's usually going to win the hole. There's one hole where you will gain 50 yards of roll if you clear a bunker. he can reach it from his tee's, I can't from mine. 

It's not too say putting is not his weakness, but the full swing and ballstriking matter most in golf.

And I agree with the other poster: if he cares about his total score, and wants to become a good golfer, skins is not the game to play.

I also agree: find an instructor to help him.

[mclaren4life]

I am prolly the only one that will be on the other side of the short game side. With my son I started him on the green and worked back. After he showed a honest interest I put him in the first tee program near us for maybe a year. Then it was right to private lessons. I am on the side that his driver will only account for about 20% of his shots at the very most. I preferred to have him get his irons down and have a swing he can trust then move onto the driver which is a different swing as opposed to the other way around. Instead of Taco Bell I use money with my son. He’s 15 so that is his carrot. When he was younger and practiced we would always spend at least 45 minutes playing closest to the hole putting and chipping. Every kid is different so you will have to figure out what works best for him but for sure get him a decent instructor that doesn’t teach kids the same as adults. I went through about 6 before i found his current coach. 

[Vinsk]

9 minutes ago, mclaren4life said:

. I am on the side that his driver will only account for about 20% of his shots at the very most.

Maybe so...but it will count a lot more than 20% of his scoring ability. 

[iacas]

2 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

Maybe so...but it will count a lot more than 20% of his scoring ability. 

@Vinsk, he did go on to say…

13 minutes ago, mclaren4life said:

I preferred to have him get his irons down

C'mon now… 😉

Full swing work is full swing work. Dedicating 20% to the driver feels okay to me, if much of the remaining 80% is the full swing with irons, etc.

[mclaren4life]

11 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

Maybe so...but it will count a lot more than 20% of his scoring ability. 

Maybe. Maybe not. Him being able to get the ball closer to the hole and have less distance to putt will account for a lot more. If driving distance was the be all end all more long drivers would be on tour and winning at an alarming rate. There are different ways to get the ball in the hole and there isn’t one way that is correct and the others wrong. For my son this is what has worked. For you the driver might be the most important club. 

[iacas]

22 minutes ago, mclaren4life said:

Maybe. Maybe not. Him being able to get the ball closer to the hole and have less distance to putt will account for a lot more. If driving distance was the be all end all more long drivers would be on tour and winning at an alarming rate. There are different ways to get the ball in the hole and there isn’t one way that is correct and the others wrong. For my son this is what has worked. For you the driver might be the most important club. 

Look, two things… since both of you are kinda talking past each other:

• The driver is pretty much the most important single club for everyone (assuming they hit 12+ tee shots with it per round). It sets up the approach shot, which as a single category of shots, is the most important… but since approach shots are hit with a bunch of different clubs…
• Approach shots matter, yes. I said that above. And working on the full swing will help him with the driver.

But generally speaking, to you, if you can't get off the tee, you won't even have many chances to hit your approach shot "closer to the hole and have less distance to putt."

Driving is the second most important part of golf. Approach shots are first.

[Bonvivant]

On 7/17/2020 at 10:41 PM, Cut4 said:

He's an elite level hockey and baseball player,

Is he planning on giving these up for golf? Of course there are naturally gifted athletes that can do it all well, but focus breeds greatness. Also, I don't know what "elite level" means for a 10 year old. Is he on teams that are winning national tournaments, or is he just best on the squad of local teams? Not trying to knock him down or anything, just trying to get the full picture.

I do think that proper, certified (or at least well recommended) instruction is far superior to a "dad coach", which has been mentioned by others.

[Cut4]

3 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

Is he planning on giving these up for golf? Of course there are naturally gifted athletes that can do it all well, but focus breeds greatness. Also, I don't know what "elite level" means for a 10 year old. Is he on teams that are winning national tournaments, or is he just best on the squad of local teams? Not trying to knock him down or anything, just trying to get the full picture.

I do think that proper, certified (or at least well recommended) instruction is far superior to a "dad coach", which has been mentioned by others.

Fair question. Baseball, he's the best kid in our town, but he doesn't take it seriously, so it wouldn't go anywhere. 

Hockey, he's the first line RW on a top 5 nationally ranked team that has won multiple international tournaments. Hockey was his first love and been his obsession up until about a month ago. Golf and Hockey work together where we live.... Golf and baseball, not so much. Still, we're making it work so far. Right now with a condensed schedule, he's playing 4 baseball games a week and we get in 3-4 rounds a week plus practice time. 

In regards to lessons, I 100% agree. He's at a point where someone else needs to teach him, and I'm actively working on finding that person

 

 

[mclaren4life]

I don’t believe i ever said anything about not being able to get off the tee. Not sure where you got that. I said him losing a little distance and being able to play his irons is better than more distance and weaker iron play. 
 

Bonvivant, I couldn’t disagree more with a dad coach being the same as an instructor unless that dad is a golf instructor. 

[iacas]

1 minute ago, mclaren4life said:

I don’t believe i ever said anything about not being able to get off the tee. Not sure where you got that.

Didn’t say you did.

2 minutes ago, mclaren4life said:

Bonvivant, I couldn’t disagree more with a dad coach being the same as an instructor unless that dad is a golf instructor. 

???

He didn’t say that.