Babysitting - Increase Play on Weekend/Revenue for Courses?

[Lihu]

She likes it so far, likes riding in the cart really more than anything and hitting putts into the hole. I am not going to force it on her, or my son. My goal is to just introduce them to as much stuff (arts, sports, experiences) as possible and let them figure out what they like. If it happens to be golf that is just a huge bonus :).

This is more or less what we did with our kids. Curiously enough, my daughter likes skiing/boarding. That's not too bad. We just need to wait for snow. :-D

[ditchparrot19]

So kids shouldn't be able to learn to chip and putt now? You sound like part of the reason why golf is in decline. And are you implying that I don't spend time with my kids because I do play golf and, as a result, they will be 2 horrible kids? Not sure where you are going with that?

There could be a market for the straw men that you seem to be quite proficient at building.

[turtleback]

That's not at all what he said.

There's a big difference between using the putting green for a kid's clinic (with kids that want to do that sort of stuff) and using it for babysitting.

There could be a market for the straw men that you seem to be quite proficient at building.

Thanks, guys, I thought it might just be me.

[WUTiger]

So kids shouldn't be able to learn to chip and putt now? You sound like part of the reason why golf is in decline.  ...

As another has said, a golf clinic on the putting green is one thing, but the putting green as a baby-sitting area doesn't work.

Two years ago when I was practicing chip shots, I almost hit a toddler girl who wandered onto the green while her father was putting nearby. When I suggested he make sure his daughter was safe, he went off on me about how I hated kids.

He then went up to the head pro shop to complain about me. I don't know what words passed, but the pro responded to him with an angry facial expression during the conversation, and dad and daughter quickly disappeared.

The pro never said anything to me about it.

[natureboy]

A little devil's advocate…

$10 for five+ hours of babysitting? Even here in Erie, PA where my in-laws pay a tuition for their kid, they still pay $4/hour on top of that, and the babysitting is simply part of a church program during the week.

If the courses are already somewhat full, why would they want to add a loss to their records? You have to pay someone, often multiple people, for not only the kids who show up, but the anticipation of kids arriving (i.e. if you expect 20 kids, you need two or three people on-hand regardless of whether 0, 1, or 30 show up, and if 30 show up, you probably need more).

Many courses do have junior camps, though 4-5 hours is way too long and kids will NOT be attentive that long. Most are 1-2 hours.

Now, if a course is NOT filling its tee times, it may be something to look at, though I don't imagine there are a TON of parents who need to drop their kid off in order to play golf and can't work it out otherwise. Sounds like a small target audience.

Good points.