How long to overcome a plateau

[Golfing Dad]

My son is 11 years old, he started playing about 4 months ago. He started off in the high 70's (9 holes from the whites 3300 yards) and within three weeks was hitting in the low 50's. Since then he has plateaued. He went from four cheap clubs to a set of Big Bertha X12's, he has a Big Bertha driver and 5 wood, he is practicing 5 days a week and plays 3 days a week. He also gets 1-2 lessons a month. Even with all the practice and playing, he has only scored below 50 three times. It seems like no matter how hard he tries he cannot seem to consistantly break 50 for 9 holes. I was just curious how long it takes to overcome a plateau and any suggestions would be appreciated.

[GamerJG]

My son is 11 years old, he started playing about 4 months ago. He started off in the high 70's (9 holes from the whites 3300 yards) and within three weeks was hitting in the low 50's. Since then he has plateaued. He went from four cheap clubs to a set of Big Bertha X12's, he has a Big Bertha driver and 5 wood, he is practicing 5 days a week and plays 3 days a week. He also gets 1-2 lessons a month. Even with all the practice and playing, he has only scored below 50 three times. It seems like no matter how hard he tries he cannot seem to consistantly break 50 for 9 holes. I was just curious how long it takes to overcome a plateau and any suggestions would be appreciated.

you have to break down his rounds and see where his strengths and weaknesses are. how many putts, fairways, greens, where is he missing, right or left etc. then focus the majority of the practice time on the weak areas. also work with him on the mental side of the game and course management. i bet the areas he can improve the most are the short game and course management, meaning how he plays the holes and which part of the green to leave his shots. are his practice sessions productive or is he just hitting a bunch of full shots straight out there? if so, it could help him a great deal to pick spots and aim towards specific targets. he seems to be on the right track, it takes alot of time to score better. good luck to him.

[ks8829]

I agree that you need to know what to work on to improve. Most likely its putting and the short game around the green.

What does the golf teacher say about how to break 50?

[James_Black]

I agree that you need to know what to work on to improve. Most likely its putting and the short game around the green.

I was thinking it'd be the long game.

He's only 11 so he can't hit the ball very far (correct me if I'm wrong) Young kids normally have a great short game but they're not great with they're long game. I remember when I was 11 Par 5's took 4-5 shots to reach the green.

[uttexas]

Agree with analyzing Fairways Hit %, GIR, distance from pin from 100, 75, and 50 yards, putts. He's only been playing for 4 months; My guess is that he should now focus on 100 yards and in, bunkers, chipping, and putting to break through the plateau.

[mc0388]

My son is 11 years old, he started playing about 4 months ago. He started off in the high 70's (9 holes from the whites 3300 yards) and within three weeks was hitting in the low 50's. Since then he has plateaued. He went from four cheap clubs to a set of Big Bertha X12's, he has a Big Bertha driver and 5 wood, he is practicing 5 days a week and plays 3 days a week. He also gets 1-2 lessons a month. Even with all the practice and playing, he has only scored below 50 three times. It seems like no matter how hard he tries he cannot seem to consistantly break 50 for 9 holes. I was just curious how long it takes to overcome a plateau and any suggestions would be appreciated.

Maybe taking a few days off would help. Seems like a lot of pressure to want an 11 year old to score in the 40's after 4 months of playing. He has rapidly gotten better, to want more might be pushing a bit. IMO

[WUTiger]

One factor might be the 1-2 lessons a month. Lots of people experience "two steps forward, one step back" following lessons. It takes a while to incorporate the changes.

Other factors:
* Where is he in physical growth? If he's having a growth spurt, this could throw off his timing and coordination.
* How big is he... height and weight? If he's swing BB X12 irons, are this regular-flex shafts? Can he generate decent clubhead speed with what appear to be irons made for adults?
* Does his pro work a lot with children, or mainly adults?

Also, make sure the kid is still having fun.

[Parker0065]

My son is 11 years old, he started playing about 4 months ago. He started off in the high 70's (9 holes from the whites 3300 yards) and within three weeks was hitting in the low 50's. Since then he has plateaued. He went from four cheap clubs to a set of Big Bertha X12's, he has a Big Bertha driver and 5 wood, he is practicing 5 days a week and plays 3 days a week. He also gets 1-2 lessons a month. Even with all the practice and playing, he has only scored below 50 three times. It seems like no matter how hard he tries he cannot seem to consistantly break 50 for 9 holes. I was just curious how long it takes to overcome a plateau and any suggestions would be appreciated.

As a golfing dad myself, it sounds like you are pushing too hard! My son started when he was 4 with junior clinics and I have slowly walked him into our Regional Junior Tour from there. He's 13 now and his all time best score for 9 holes is a 37 and 83 for 18 holes and this year he won our Junior Club Championship. He's had some success at a relatively high level but he's been playing for 9 years! If your son is doing as well as you say(putting everything out and playing by the rules) in just 4 months and he's really into it, then give him some time, get him some lessons, and get out of his way! We all want our children to be World Champions, but all you can do is give them an oppertunity to succeed. If you push too hard they eventually will want to go on to something else! Good Luck!

[kleraudio]

Dude he's 11....

Just let the kid play.....

And I dont mean to sound rude at all, please dont take it that way, but I remember in school sports the parents that were hounding their kids to do everything right and lessons, practices, no hanging with friends unless they win, well, they went on to do a lot of drugs and alcohol and they now hate their parents....

I'd lay off a bit, if the kid is really into it, he will want to excel on his own. If he's not that into it, so be it, but he's playing a ton and seems to like it, let him figure it out and you just "guide" him, but I would step out of the way for a while..

Jim

[Golfing Dad]

As a golfing dad myself, it sounds like you are pushing too hard! If your son is doing as well as you say(putting everything out and playing by the rules) in just 4 months and he's really into it, then give him some time, get him some lessons, and get out of his way!

The problem is, he is getting frustrated. I keep telling him he is doing fine and to have fun. I know it sounds like I am expecting a lot but he keeps getting frustrated when he plays and he always shoots a 52 or a 53.

The only thing I do is tell him that if he scores over 55 he gets his butt spanked j/k!! BTW, to the other poster, he is 5''1' and drives the ball about 180-200. Usually he has 16-18 putts per 9 holes.

[mc0388]

The problem is, he is getting frustrated. I keep telling him he is doing fine and to have fun. I know it sounds like I am expecting a lot but he keeps getting frustrated when he plays and he always shoots a 52 or a 53.

Give him a week off. My dad used to take me golfing when I was little (@ age of 6) and we had a lot of fun. When I got older (12-15), he didn't push me, but when we would go golfing he would comment on 'EVERY' swing. Although the comments were meant to be helpful, they really bothered me... My advise would be to practice on the range and leave him alone on the golf course.

[ks8829]

At 11 years old he should be having fun not feeling the pressure of breaking 50.

If you do not make playing golf fun for him and something he looks forward to playing with you, he will not stay with it and enjoy the game for what it has to offer.

[WUTiger]

He started off in the high 70's (9 holes from the whites 3300 yards ) and within three weeks was hitting in the low 50's

Given his size and that he hits the ball less than 200 yards, what is he doing back at the white tees? Move him up to the next shorter tees until he shoots regularly in the mid-40s, and then move him back to the whites.

Also, what clubhead speed does he get with the driver? Could he hit the ball farther with boy's clubs, rather than adult clubs? I caddied back in grade school, and one of the smallest caddies had the foresight to take lessons from the club pro. Our pro, a decorated army veteran of WWII, had him get women's clubs due to his size. This little guy with the right clubs for him kicked all our butts until we got into high school. The rest of us were trying to be adults, but had more club for three years than we could handle.

[Yukari]

This happens to everyone not just an 11-year old. The key that I found is that once you have the basics of the swing down (my guess is your son has a pretty decent and repeatable swing), the next step in lowering the score comes from identifying the weakness and working on that--as everyone has said. But another important aspect is the course management. This I think is more important than working on the weakness. By course management, I mean going for the high percentage shots. As an 11-year old, I doubt he has the maturity to swallow his pride and go for safe shots rather than trying heroic shots all the time.

This comes from maturity, not just an 11-year old but also 40 and 50 year olds who have not "matured" in playing golf strategically.

Once I started to trying to avoid double bogey or worse from my score, my HC dropped rapidly. Now I shoot majority of the rounds in the low to mid 80's. Now is the time for me to work on my weaknesses, if I want to improve any further.

But like I said, once I started trying to avoid double bogeys or worse, that was the time when I noticed my score improved significantly. Before then, I was often shooting in the mid 90's.

[DaSportsGuy]

When you first start playing and getting into it, it's expected to see a quick drop in scores from the first couple weeks, to a month later. Just playing the game alot will make your ball striking better and you will become more consistent.

After those first months, IMO, it's time to start working on the little aspects of the game and improving little by little. Don't expect him to keep up the drop in scores he displayed from the first four months of playing.

[dozu]

question - does he have other sports background? which could help a lot. otherwise, if this is the first sport he takes on seriously, then welcome to the wonderful game of golf.... he's gonna have to put in the work to get good.

there is typically the 10,000 hour rule (to become good at anything) - and 'good' in golf means scratch... so at 3-hours per day, that's about 10 years worth of practice.... 4 months hasn't scratched the surface yet.

my daughter started 4 years ago and her swing has finally come into decent shape (she started at 4 and there is only so much you can teach to a very young kid). it takes a lot of patience... and I have to say the most rewarding thing about teaching a child is really the time I get to spend with her, and the communication channels this golf thing opens up for us.

Just enjoy the jouney... don't worry 2 much about the score.

[tm22721]

When my son realized at age 19 (after four years of regular lessons and practice) that without natural talent it takes about 10,000 hours to master golf or piano, he quit golf and the piano won.

[dozu]

The other question I have for the OP is - how good is the instructor? how is his experience in teaching kids of that age?

I have made a post in another thread speaking quite low of most of the instructors out there... I have coached junior golfers from 4-16 in the past few years and we take them to some pros during the summer.

results are generally quite disappointing - most of them are 1-trick ponies, they either teach you 'golf swing is a body rotation' or 'golf swing is an arm swing', what's worse is that they'd mix these instructions and confuse the hell out of the students.

most of them teach these artificial positions by showing slo-mo of tiger or whoever, without telling students what a golf swing should feel like.

I think I benefitted a lot from watching some instruction videos by some good teachers on the internet, combined with reading some great books, combined with my own athletic background (played tennis for 20 years), and came up with a very simple method to build a swing for a child.

It's very important for a child to see improvement - otherwise frustration will set in.... it happens to adults even, very easy happens to a child.

There was a period between when my daughter was 6-7 when she just doesn't want to practice anymore, because she is not seeing results from the teaching of those so-called pros, and her exact words were 'I hate golf' and 'golf is stupid'. You can't blame the kid.. the teacher and the parents are the ones to blame. Of course golf is stupid if the student at that age keeps hitting the ball fat/thin/crooked.

Finally I had seen enough and had to take over the coaching... she now has a repeatable swing - drives fly high and straight 8 out of 10 times... irons are crisp with 6-inch divot 8 out of 10 times... golf is fun again for her and she is happy to go to practices.

If you'd like more details, feel free to PM me.