Help! My junior golfer's scores are exploding!

[TXHusker]

I'm wondering if you guys can give me some input:

My son of 14 years old (still pre/early puberty) recently made varsity at his 6A high school in Texas.  He made the top 5 (4th man I believe) with qualifying scores of from 39 to 41 over a period of about a half dozen rounds.   It's really remarkable, because he is quite literally a boy playing with men.   It's not uncommon for him to get out-driven by 60 to 80 yards.  Yet he finds a way to at least keep it respecatble.

In his first varsity tournament, he did decently on the first day at a pretty easy course - 83 - and the next day he ballooned to a 92 on a 7400 yard course.

He is only 5'2 and still not yet 100 pounds.  His drive goes about 210 max.  Then it's a 3 wood into the green most of the time, and often a pitch on and try to one-putt.

So....it's quite a stretch at this juncture to even break 80 on courses that are 6700 yards + simply because of his physique.

The worrisome part is I think he may have really lost his confidence, as he got demoted to JV last weekend and shot an uncharacteristically high 87, then shot 48 and 47 in this week's qualifying rounds!   He's having "dumpster fire" holes each nine - triples and quads, and the rest of the holes are relatively decent.

Is this just a slump phase he is in that he will work out of?  Is this common in competitive golf?   Is there anything I should be doing to help him?

Thank you in advance, from a worried dad!   This kid REALLY wants to play college golf, etc., but watching him shoot high 40s right now is horrific!

[MS256]

Impressive that he made the varsity team at a 6A school to begin with.

Everybody has set backs in sports. To keep plugging through it is one of the lessons sports teach.

Outside of the normal things like fitness and improving his mechanics just support him and tell him to keep his chin up. His day will come.

I know exactly what it's like as a dad wanting a son to perform to the best of his ability when it's not happening.

[dave s]

7400 yards are you kidding me?  HS kids?  Our HS kids in NE Ohio play courses that are below or WELL below 6400 yards as the norm.  Even the state tournaments are held at Ohio State's Scarlet and Gray course but no way from the back tees.  Many of the Ohio District Golf tournaments for juniors are held in Akron at a place that plays 6200.

If your guy hits it 210 off the tees, I can't imagine he can reach most of the par-4s in two or many of the par-5s in three on a course playing at 7400 yards.  He's a kid, not Bubba Watson for heaven's sake.  His scores are reflecting his length.

dave

[jbishop15]

Yeah, holy Christ, 7400 yards? That is ridiculously long. That's long for college and pros, let alone high school.

He's probably just going through a bit of a confidence slump. Best thing is to just keep encouraging him and making sure that he knows that its not the end of the world if he plays poorly.

[Slice of Life]

With 210 yard drives on a 7400 yard course, the fact that he can break 100 is impressive.

[TXHusker]

I totally agree.  This 7400 yard course he had to play was absolutely ridiculously long.  I even told the coach "I'm all about difficulty, but this is just sadistic."  Plus, it was saturated with rain, so there was zero roll on tee shots.  That said, there as a 70 shot that day by a high-schooler!

I was worried that it would shake him up, and I believe that it did and that we are still recovering.

This was a Big 12 collegiate course, and I think the brass there had too much ego and wanted to prove how difficult the course was.  As a result, many of the competitors didn't have fun.  I'm not quite sure who wins in that scenario, but it's certainly not the participants.

If he's playing a 6000 yard course, he has a reasonable chance to scratch.  But once it reaches 6400-6700, it's all about how clean his short game is.  If the chipper and pitcher are working on all cylinders, it's an 80-82.  If not, it is an 85-87

[Slice of Life]

Try to setup a fun father/son round with him at a fluffy easy course. A no pressure round. May calm him down a little and boost his confidence. Tell him that a 29 year old man played a 7400 yard course earlier this year and shot a 117. It'll make him feel better.

(PS...it was me...*sniff*)

[hacker101]

My son and Lihu's son both play for the HS team, he may have more to add.

My son did not make it the first year, he had only been playing 4 months before try outs. Last year he did and was about 4th man on a 7 man team. It was not uncommon for the HS team to shoot a little higher or in some cases very high then normal rounds when playing in a match after all it is full rules that are watched and in play. What I also saw and was told by my son a few of the older boys could bomb there drives well over 270 yards. He also had a boy that was about a 4 hc, he lived on the 9th hole Friendly Hill country club, played every day there, by the way is there home course .

There team does have two boys that play in the high 90's. They don't have a JV team so if you make the team you are varsity, also they rotate the high score boy out on the next round so there is always 1 boy out.

Tell your son to stick it out, it will get better for him and encourage him, he made the team after all. I did with my son and after a couple months he started to settle in. Playing JV is not bad it sets himself up to keep playing and gets used to being in a match with other boys. I can tell you my son sees boys he has played against all the time at the range or on the course, they are from all over OC and LA county. Your son will have such a great time it sounds like he is feeling a bit of the stress that comes with the game and playing for the school.

Good luck to him.

[nick1998bunker]

I play in highschool and it can be like that for everyone. The question is why he is shooting those scores, has he stopped hitting it straight? Mental errors or what. It's also much easier for him to put up a big number baca use he is hitting 3 woods into greens. If you start hitting it poorly youll have trouble keeping it in play. When this happens to me I usually take a few weeks were I only go ones per week and I might start only going to the putting green for a few weeks soon. If it's the end of the season and he is burnt out then he might struggle as well if he is playing poorly. That happened to me at the tail end of last season

[Lihu]

My son and Lihu's son both play for the HS team, he may have more to add. My son did not make it the first year, he had only been playing 4 months before try outs. Last year he did and was about 4th man on a 7 man team. It was not uncommon for the HS team to shoot a little higher or in some cases very high then normal rounds when playing in a match after all it is full rules that are watched and in play. What I also saw and was told by my son a few of the older boys could bomb there drives well over 270 yards. He also had a boy that was about a 4 hc, he lived on the 9th hole Friendly Hill country club, played every day there, by the way is there home course . There team does have two boys that play in the high 90's. They don't have a JV team so if you make the team you are varsity, also they rotate the high score boy out on the next round so there is always 1 boy out. Tell your son to stick it out, it will get better for him and encourage him, he made the team after all. I did with my son and after a couple months he started to settle in. Playing JV is not bad it sets himself up to keep playing and gets used to being in a match with other boys. I can tell you my son sees boys he has played against all the time at the range or on the course, they are from all over OC and LA county. Your son will have such a great time it sounds like he is feeling a bit of the stress that comes with the game and playing for the school. Good luck to him.

92 is pretty good at 7400. My son is a smidge shorter, but only drives 220, because he can't reliably use anything longer than 5W. He shot 95 off the tips at Angeles National, and it was a proud moment just surviving it. Just for reference, I shoot low 80s at <=5800 yards, mid 80s at 6000-6200, high 80s at 6800 yards, mid/high 90s at 7100 yards. It's just distance, not a slump. I was going to re-iterate the "holy crap 7400 yards" comments, but decided to add something a bit more constructive because of Hacker101. :-) BTW, We have 2 seniors that can probably shoot high 70s there, that's why they're scratch/plus.

[TXHusker]

Update: Played in tournament today at 6400 yards and shot 93. PAINFUL to watch. Poor drives, poor seconds, bad decisions, few up&downs.; Kids he beats with regularity smoked him today. He's very frustrated and doesn't know what to do next. He asked me "dad what happened, and will I ever play well again?". My answer was "of course you will," to which he replied "when?" I responded that we can't ask questions that can't be answered: when, how, and why. All we can do is move forward and know that you're still a talented player who has had some uncharacteristically high rounds...go back to the basics - chipping, putting, and pitching. That at least got him to bed, but I've got quite a job in my hands with him. He's quite down. I will post updates. My best guess is that he will lot leap out of this slump. It will be a slow crawl...back to breaking 90, then 85, then 80, step by step.

[Mr. Desmond]

Where are you in Texas?

[Lihu]

Update: Played in tournament today at 6400 yards and shot 93. PAINFUL to watch. Poor drives, poor seconds, bad decisions, few up&downs.; Kids he beats with regularity smoked him today.

He's very frustrated and doesn't know what to do next. He asked me "dad what happened, and will I ever play well again?". My answer was "of course you will," to which he replied "when?"

I responded that we can't ask questions that can't be answered: when, how, and why. All we can do is move forward and know that you're still a talented player who has had some uncharacteristically high rounds...go back to the basics - chipping, putting, and pitching.

That at least got him to bed, but I've got quite a job in my hands with him. He's quite down.

I will post updates. My best guess is that he will lot leap out of this slump. It will be a slow crawl...back to breaking 90, then 85, then 80, step by step.

My son likes golf as well, and shot these kinds of scores even at the last So. Cal. outing. He took a deep breath before going to his next outing and shot his normal scores again. It's probably his expectations that are making him shoot so badly. If he shoots a 6 while the kids he normally beats shoot 4, does it get to him? It shouldn't.

He should try to go out with no expectations on his performance, and simply enjoy the game.

Golf is a really hard, and it only makes it harder if you think you should shoot to a certain level.

[brice]

Sounds like he's thinking more about his score than his game. You could make him explain his decision making process before each shot when he's practicing; might get him to keep his head in the game better. Focus is important in golf, and is a very hard thing to keep at 14!

[TXHusker]

Update:

While the old adage that golf is "ninety percent mental" is popular, the truth is, there has to be quite a bit of "physical" in golf, too.   No question, my son has been suffering from a lack of confidence.  But a lack of confidence is often a result of poor play, which is usually a result of poor fundamentals:  grip, stance, posture, and ball position.

I took a long look at my son's swing today and identified the following:

First of all, at yesterday's tournament, my son started out fair, then took a three-over and two-over on back-to back holes.  I asked him about his thought process after these holes on the way home, and he admitted that he somewhat became hopeless about the rest of the round.  Of course, that led to a mess.

So, the first thing that I am telling him is that no matter what, regardless of how poorly he has played a hole and how early in the round, he has to have the mental strength not to lose interest in the remainder of the round. By doing so, he is costing himself and the team.   On the first tee, he needs to be committed to staying with the round no matter the score.

As for mechanics, I have two issues going on, both of which we are addressing through practice outside of team practice:

1.    On his swing, he is tending to swing with overactive arms and hands.  This begins at the start of the swing and causes him to do all sorts of ugly things:  Backswing off plane, hands manipulating the club, early release, and of ultimately, hits that are not solid and heading in various directions.

The root of this, and the fix, is actually very easy: He is tending to palm the grip slightly in his right hand, which promotes a “jerk away”, either up, out, or in, with the right side. An incorrect right hand grip, even a slight one, is a killer for consistency, because it allows the right side to take over the swing which causes ALL SORTS of issues. So the first order of business to ensure that the right hand grip on the club is “all fingers, no palm.” The left grip is currently sound.

Once this right hand is on the club correctly, the swing thought we are working with is “shoulders.”  That is, the left shoulder should initiate and dictate the swing , resulting in a full shoulder turn.  Once this happens, everything else falls into place.  When he cheats on this, that is, he manipulates the club with the right hand and doesn’t complete a shoulder turn, the ball flight is generally a short cut or a low pull. So right now, the swing thought is simply “Shoulders Swing”. We worked on this extensively today with success.

So I think this week should be a springboard back!

[Tenerife]

Maybe he's had to much to soon, very difficult to compete when your not physically up to it. the lads still growing things are changing for him. You sound like your doing the right things for him, only thing I would say is don't push to hard. As a junior organiser I saw young lads make great strides with their game then come to a standstill for a while  many times that's what they do. Good Luck.

[TXHusker]

UPDATE: He shot 43 today in a qualifying round. That's a far cry from varsity, but a heck of an improvement over his last two weeks of scores. Confidence returning, getting back to competitive.

[Lihu]

UPDATE: He shot 43 today in a qualifying round. That's a far cry from varsity, but a heck of an improvement over his last two weeks of scores. Confidence returning, getting back to competitive.

That's great. I had no doubt he would do it. :-)