Golf Participation up Among Kids (6-12 Years Old)

[saevel25]

I saw this tweet and thought it was a good sign that golf participation is up for kids.

 

[dennyjones]

That is nice to see.   The First Tee program in my area is thriving.   The Flint Junior Golf Association does well.  

[ChetlovesMer]

That's an interesting tweet, Matt. Thanks for posting it. 

I have gotten my kids to participate in golf a bit. They've both been to golf camp, my poor son was cursed with his father's lack of coordination, but there's hope for my daughter. ... Although, I think I'm already losing her to volleyball. 

[saevel25]

I think baseball is down just because it is becoming a less popular sport overall. Football is probably down due to the violent contact. Though, soccer also has a higher rate of concussions due to using your head to hit the ball and also some collisions can happen. I do not think parents notice versus football due to the required tackling nature in football. 

[ChetlovesMer]

43 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

I think baseball is down just because it is becoming a less popular sport overall. 

I've mentioned this before, but I interviewed my son's 6th grade class and only one kid had ever seen a baseball game on TV. None of them had ever seen a World Series Game. I realize some of that is because we are on Eastern Time Zone and the World Series Games don't come on often until very late. West coast kids might get to see more baseball. 

 

49 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Though, soccer also has a higher rate of concussions due to using your head to hit the ball and also some collisions can happen. 

Where we live kids can't head the ball until they're in high-school. 

[The Flush]

A friend of mine's son got knocked out cold in a HS soccer game by another players elbow when he was attempting a header. His concussion was so bad he couldn't stay in a room with the lights on for about a month. You have to wonder if the big event was compounded by a lot of lower impact headers over the course of years.

My son wishes he had started golf sooner.  While he had a set of clubs and played a couple times per year, he didn't really start playing until his junior year of HS.  He played soccer and kicked for the football team. Golf, soccer, and football are all fall sports here, so it is hard to do them all at the same time. While he had symptoms for a couple of years, it wasn't until the week after his last soccer game of his sophomore year that he was diagnosed with atrial flutter which caused a blood clot in his heart. Doctors wouldn't let him play soccer because he was on a blood thinner. Somehow he talked them into letting him kick in football by promising not to get tackled or try to tackle anyone, which he was mostly able to do. Pat McAfee once retweeted a video of him doing a drop kick during a game. Anyway he played golf his last 2 years of high school and still kicked in football and now plays golf at an NAIA college.  He kind of wishes he had played golf earlier instead of playing soccer.  However he is really glad he kicked in football and he knows that he probably never would have done that if he had not also played soccer.

[phillyk]

I thought golf in juniors must have been going up. I get around 200 a summer through camps and fill my 3 teams of PGA Jr League fast. Wish I could have more space in league but the course can’t handle an in house league.