Strange question (age 3-10, shot length?)

[Crim]

After the birth of my first son recently, I've been thinking a lot about junior golf. I've been thinking lately about researching into a little business endeavor that's kind of like a "pitch and play."
I'm good friends with a golf course owner that can go through details with me. What I'd like to know is...assuming the little guy or girl can actually make contact (rarity i know)...how far do you think they can hit the ball? I don't want to be a creeper and go the the range and watch a child if they happen to be there. But maybe some of you have witnessed it...

how far can a 3 year old all the way up to a 10 year old hit a...

fairway wood/driver

mid iron

wedge

I'm looking to get the average yardage between age 3-10 for each club.

any information is of great help :)

[MS256]

Not much help since I am rarely around kids playing golf but one of the guys in our Saturday game brings his 9 year old son and he plays in the game.

He hits a driver around 200 yards. I have no idea if that's pretty good or really, really good but I figure it's the latter.

P.S. His dad is the longest hitter around here if genetics have anything to do with it.

[Crim]

Not much help since I am rarely around kids playing golf but one of the guys in our Saturday game brings his 9 year old son and he plays in the game.

He hits a driver around 200 yards. I have no idea if that's pretty good or really, really good but I figure it's the latter.

P.S. His dad is the longest hitter around here if genetics have anything to do with it.

Holy crap, I think that's amazing! I know some kids are the exception to the rule, that's why I'm looking for a nice average. My main thought is to probably cater the course around a 5 or 6 year old. Anyone that hits it further can just club down and possibly still have a fun time. This is all very early on....just a dream of mine :D

no, literally, it was a dream of mine when I was sleeping the other night.

[Golfingdad]

Holy crap, I think that's amazing! I know some kids are the exception to the rule, that's why I'm looking for a nice average. My main thought is to probably cater the course around a 5 or 6 year old. Anyone that hits it further can just club down and possibly still have a fun time. This is all very early on....just a dream of mine :D

no, literally, it was a dream of mine when I was sleeping the other night.

Yeah, I can't really help you.  My son is 4 1/2 and he, more often than not, swings and misses.  When he does hit it, it doesn't get up in the air much.  His "perfect" shot with each of those 3 listed clubs is going to be something like 40 yards, 30, and 20.  (I'm guessing)

[Crim]

Yeah, I can't really help you.  My son is 4 1/2 and he, more often than not, swings and misses.  When he does hit it, it doesn't get up in the air much.  His "perfect" shot with each of those 3 listed clubs is going to be something like 40 yards, 30, and 20.  (I'm guessing)

Great info! Thanks!

Please give me an update if you ever take him out in the next couple months.

[MS256]

I do have a suggestion for anyone involved in teaching multiple kids to play golf (like a golf camp).

I was at a baseball clinic put on by Dick Birmingham and at the beginning of the clinic he gathered the group together and stressed that his rule was to never hold the bat by the handle unless it was time for them to hit.

He told me that anytime a kid gets a bat in their hands it's only a matter of time before one of them takes a swing with it and hits another kid. He said that holding it by the barrel they never get that urge to swing it. I thought it was a great idea and incorporated that rule into all of the hitting clinics that I put on.

I was recently talking to a guy that teaches a lot of kids and he was worried about a story he heard about a kid getting seriously hurt by another kid swinging a golf club. I told him about the policy we used in baseball and he liked the idea a lot.

[Crim]

I do have a suggestion for anyone involved in teaching multiple kids to play golf (like a golf camp).

I was at a baseball clinic put on by Dick Birmingham and at the beginning of the clinic he gathered the group together and stressed that his rule was to never hold the bat by the handle unless it was time for them to hit.

He told me that anytime a kid gets a bat in their hands it's only a matter of time before one of them takes a swing with it and hits another kid. He said that holding it by the barrel they never get that urge to swing it. I thought it was a great idea and incorporated that rule into all of the hitting clinics that I put on.

I was recently talking to a guy that teaches a lot of kids and he was worried about a story he heard about a kid getting seriously hurt by another kid swinging a golf club. I told him about the policy we used in baseball and he liked the idea a lot.

I love that, that's great info that I did think about a little bit. With the potential of having multiple kids swinging clubs in the same area I could be looking at injuries and heck, potential law suits. I think it would be great to have a worker on the first hole explaining a rule similar to that one.

Good stuff, thank you much!

[MiniBlueDragon]

I think the main idea at that age is to make it "fun" at that age, e.g.:

[Lihu]

There is a huge difference between a kid younger than 5 and older than 8. Most of the first tee program kids start to develop in the birdie level class, some are in the 7 year range and some in the 9 year range. There were two kids who just have a natural talent for putting the ball into the holes. Both of them drove about 150 at 7, this is pretty normal for that age. What separates them is the fact that they hit straight every time. By the time they are 8 to 10 they are typically hitting around 180-ish, which looks pretty far for a little kid. The good players are starting to get some pars with this distance. This is the age where the boys and the girls start to separate. By 10-11 the kids that continue, are usually pretty good. The 16 year olds look like LPGA or PGA, and by 18 a few are pro material. Some are coaching the younger kids by 16 or 18 while in HS or college.

[Crim]

I think the main idea at that age is to make it "fun" at that age, e.g.:

Fun video! And I agree, first and foremost...you need to keep a 5 year old entertained or you're in for a bad time.

I'm looking into different ways to keep it fun, but introducing the kids to swinging a club...and not just a putter at a putt putt course. I remember I started playing Tee Ball at a very early age...4 years old I believe, I had so much fun. I think I might be able to create that same amount of fun with a golf club.

[Crim]

There is a huge difference between a kid younger than 5 and older than 8.

Most of the first tee program kids start to develop in the birdie level class, some are in the 7 year range and some in the 9 year range.

There were two kids who just have a natural talent for putting the ball into the holes. Both of them drove about 150 at 7, this is pretty normal for that age. What separates them is the fact that they hit straight every time.

By the time they are 8 to 10 they are typically hitting around 180-ish, which looks pretty far for a little kid. The good players are starting to get some pars with this distance.

This is the age where the boys and the girls start to separate.

By 10-11 the kids that continue, are usually pretty good.

The 16 year olds look like LPGA or PGA, and by 18 a few are pro material. Some are coaching the younger kids by 16 or 18 while in HS or college.

Great stuff! The kind of stats I'm looking for. Anyone know how kids do with their irons? Wedges?

[Golfingdad]

I think the main idea at that age is to make it "fun" at that age, e.g.:

A video like this makes me wonder if my son didn't get more of my wife's (non-sporting) genes.  That's impressive.  He's a natural.

[MS256]

A video like this makes me wonder if my son didn't get more of my wife's (non-sporting) genes.  That's impressive.  He's a natural.

Before my kids were born I said I hoped they had my speed (because I could run very,very fast) and my wife's strength (because she was very, very strong for a woman).

Instead two of them got her speed (very slow) and my strength (had to work very hard for it).

The other of my kids actually did have the best of both but couldn't participate much in sports because of a serious injury that required a new surgery every year.

They all did a good job of working with what they had to work with.

[Lihu]

Great stuff! The kind of stats I'm looking for. Anyone know how kids do with their irons? Wedges?

Commesurate to the driver. When an 11 year old first tee kid plays the course, they are usually pretty hard to tell from an adult male as far as distances.

[Wally]

After the birth of my first son recently, I've been thinking a lot about junior golf. I've been thinking lately about researching into a little business endeavor that's kind of like a "pitch and play." I'm good friends with a golf course owner that can go through details with me. What I'd like to know is...assuming the little guy or girl can actually make contact (rarity i know)...how far do you think they can hit the ball? I don't want to be a creeper and go the the range and watch a child if they happen to be there. But maybe some of you have witnessed it... how far can a 3 year old all the way up to a 10 year old hit a... fairway wood/driver mid iron wedge I'm looking to get the average yardage between age 3-10 for each club.  any information is of great help :)

I couldn't really tell you too much. When I was 6 or 7 and was first introduced to the game, I was hitting 150 yards with my driver. I still have my USA Kids clubs from way back in the day, haha. Man, I wish I had been able to keep up with the game instead of picking it up again much later.

[Lihu]

I couldn't really tell you too much. When I was 6 or 7 and was first introduced to the game, I was hitting 150 yards with my driver. I still have my USA Kids clubs from way back in the day, haha. Man, I wish I had been able to keep up with the game instead of picking it up again much later.

Yeah, young kids learn fast.

We have two phenomenal 7 year old kids, the difference between them and the other kids their age is their ability to make pars like it was easy. A typical 300 yard hole would be played 150, 140, pitch next to the pin, putt in. Pars are like nothing to them.

We also have a 15 ( almost 16) year old in my kids league that drives 280 yards (sometimes 300). His tee shots rarely land in the middle of the fairway, but he still manages 10 pars per round on average. His dad is a 1 HC (basically scratch), and gets on his case for missing the fairway 280+ yards away or missing an "easy" 20 yard chip in . Expectations might be a tad on the high side?

[xerex250]

Generally kids tend not to worry about distance. We adults think about distance too much I'm afraid. But an idea about how far kids usually hit the ball is about 150y with driver, and if you take down about 5 to 7 yards off each club below driver you will have about accurate yardage. This is from my experience with kids, so i hope it's valuable. If not, please do say so.

[Dave2512]

I see them often at the par 3 course. Honestly they are all over the place, abilities vary by coordination, time playing to you name it. The 3-6 kids rarely make decent contact unless they are a prodigy. If you've seen the young Tiger Woods clips that's about as good as it gets. Kids 7-10 tend to be as good as their dedication and time allows. I started when I was a kid, was on the junior team at the local course. By the time we graduated from the par 3 course we were long enough to bogey-double bogey from the reds.

Though it seemed like we hit it further than we did. A few weeks ago I attended a party hosted by the woman that was our league organizer back then. She was our next door neighbor and the one that got me into golf. She still lives in the old neighborhood and while I was there I walked down to the park we played in daily. I remember having contests with my friends when I was around ten to see who could hit it over the lake. It took a well hit 4w for me to get it over and I was one of the longer kids. We weren't golf superstars or anything but now I could easily hit a SW over the same lake. I don't remember hitting it real far until after puberty.