What age to start my son?

[CoachKG1984]

I have a son who will be 2 in May.  He has a plastic set of clubs that he loves to play with at home.  I'm looking to get him a starter set for his 2nd birthday.  I'm wondering at what age did some of you start taking your kids to the golf course with you?  I work at a golf course during the summer time and my wife will bring him out there for lunch a couple of days a week.  I will let him walk on the putting green and roll the balls in the holes.  I'm obviously not going to push him to some type of structured practice, but what age should I start taking him out there to let him hit golf balls?  Thanks for the feedback.  

[billchao]

45 minutes ago, CoachKG1984 said:

I have a son who will be 2 in May.  He has a plastic set of clubs that he loves to play with at home.  I'm looking to get him a starter set for his 2nd birthday.  I'm wondering at what age did some of you start taking your kids to the golf course with you?  I work at a golf course during the summer time and my wife will bring him out there for lunch a couple of days a week.  I will let him walk on the putting green and roll the balls in the holes.  I'm obviously not going to push him to some type of structured practice, but what age should I start taking him out there to let him hit golf balls?  Thanks for the feedback.  

My son showed a lot of interest in hitting plastic clubs when he was a toddler. I think at 3 I got him a wedge or something, it was too hard for him to swing so he didn't like it. He will be 5 this year and still hasn't shown any real interest in the game.

I figure I will show him how to play whenever he is ready, be it 5 or 25.

[pganapathy]

If he enjoys it, the younger the better.  Get him a putter and a club (iron, wood, whatever) and just slowly try getting him started and play it by ear from that point on

[the fish]

My daughter just turned 3.  She has a putter and a driver.  She likes the putter more, because she is more successful with it (and because I put a purple grip on it for her).  I have taken her to the driving range a couple of times.  She hits about a dozen balls until she has had enough.  Then she likes to put the balls on the mat for me to hit while she has a snack.  I don't give her too much instruction about how to hit the ball, as I don't want to discourage her.  But I do make a big deal out of it when she gets one to fly.  With regard to putting, she is more excited about hitting the longest putt she can more than holing the ball, so that's what we do together.

[Big C]

My son will be 2 in April. I bought him a child's 7 iron a few months ago and for the time being, I take him to the park near our house to swing it. Right now, his 7 iron swing is pretty similar to his wiffle-ball swing. Very hap-hazard with sporadic contact. I can't imagine he will be ready for any "real" golfing practice for another couple of years. In the meantime, I'll keep letting him get used to the feeling of swinging a club

[The Slapper]

I started at 14.  My son is now 11 years of age and I just bought him a starter set. 

Sure a child can bang around the ball with a plastic set for a bit of fun, but IMO kids need to stretch out a bit (size wise) in order to start playing on the course with the men. 

I figure by age 12 or 13 the boy will be able to bang the ball around enough to keep up.   

[gatsby47]

My son started golf around 6yrs just putting and swinging a club. By 10 he was playing.  He became a good golfer  and learned a couple of valuable lessons,  He once sliced a ball quite badly and it landed on a green with a foursome of golfers. He wanted to abandon the ball and I said no, we are going to meet some new people and apologize for your errant shot and they will be satisfied. And of course, they were very happy a young man owned up. The other incident was when he was 16 and a strong young man.  He was hitting the ball waywardly and he thought that he should be hitting better.  He hit a shot, swore, and snapped the club in two. I came over and took the club. Said to him to get off the course and go sit in the car.  When I was done. I told him he wasn't good enough to get that angry about a game. He didn't play for a month and paid the re shafting bill. He learned  a lesson. To this day, he enjoys golf occasionally and never lets it bother him to such and extent. Those were just small potatoes in the scope of raising a child.  It made an impression though. He is now 40 and a fine man who still remembers the incidents and how they affected him at the time.

[Golfingdad]

I just started taking my son on the actual course within the last 6 months or so, after he turned 6.  Took him to the range to hit balls for the first time when he was 5. We go occasionally and will continue to do so as long as he enjoys it.

[Lihu]

4 hours ago, The Slapper said:

I started at 14.  My son is now 11 years of age and I just bought him a starter set. 

Sure a child can bang around the ball with a plastic set for a bit of fun, but IMO kids need to stretch out a bit (size wise) in order to start playing on the course with the men. 

I figure by age 12 or 13 the boy will be able to bang the ball around enough to keep up.   

 

3 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

I just started taking my son on the actual course within the last 6 months or so, after he turned 6.  Took him to the range to hit balls for the first time when he was 5. We go occasionally and will continue to do so as long as he enjoys it.

 

7 hours ago, Big C said:

My son will be 2 in April. I bought him a child's 7 iron a few months ago and for the time being, I take him to the park near our house to swing it. Right now, his 7 iron swing is pretty similar to his wiffle-ball swing. Very hap-hazard with sporadic contact. I can't imagine he will be ready for any "real" golfing practice for another couple of years. In the meantime, I'll keep letting him get used to the feeling of swinging a club

 

Based on my children's first tee experiences, it doesn't really help to start before 10 unless you show real talent. What it might do is give the kids a good feeling of being at a golf course.

Most kids I've seen who started at 5 or so just enjoy competing against other kids their age. They all knock the ball around with whatever swing they can muster.

By 7 or 8 it becomes interesting. I knew two kids who showed talent at least from 150 yards and in. They are turning 12 now and one of them is still very small. The other one hits very far and can probably get to scratch someday if he was motivated.

Then there were kids who started at 10, and now play for their high schools. They still love the game. 2 of them are very close to scratch. My son's classmate started at 5, but doesn't think it helped to start that early.

So, starting off too young doesn't really help anyone unless they are really talented. What I mean by talented is being able to par a par 3 course by 5  to 8 years old the second or third time out. This is what one of the kids who's now 12 did, but he doesn't really show interest in continuing even though everyone thinks he can get to scratch in a year.

What starting early does do is make good memories playing with their dad or mom.

[Golfingdad]

4 hours ago, Lihu said:

 

 

 

Based on my children's first tee experiences, it doesn't really help to start before 10 unless you show real talent. What it might do is give the kids a good feeling of being at a golf course.

Most kids I've seen who started at 5 or so just enjoy competing against other kids their age. They all knock the ball around with whatever swing they can muster.

By 7 or 8 it becomes interesting. I knew two kids who showed talent at least from 150 yards and in. They are turning 12 now and one of them is still very small. The other one hits very far and can probably get to scratch someday if he was motivated.

Then there were kids who started at 10, and now play for their high schools. They still love the game. 2 of them are very close to scratch. My son's classmate started at 5, but doesn't think it helped to start that early.

So, starting off too young doesn't really help anyone unless they are really talented. What I mean by talented is being able to par a par 3 course by 5  to 8 years old the second or third time out. This is what one of the kids who's now 12 did, but he doesn't really show interest in continuing even though everyone thinks he can get to scratch in a year.

What starting early does do is make good memories playing with their dad or mom.

As far as taking it seriously and competing, I agree - don't rush it.  But no reason to not take them to the course to have fun at a younger age.

My course is very kid friendly (they're free much of the time) and offer lots of specials in the summer.  I am strongly considering signing him up for a 3 day clinic in June (he'll be 7 in April).

[Patch]

My 10 year old grand daughter has decided after trying golf, softball, and basketball, she thinks she wants to start golfing more. I think 10 years old is a good age for youngsters to start making some decisions about sports activities. 

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, Golfingdad said:

As far as taking it seriously and competing, I agree - don't rush it.  But no reason to not take them to the course to have fun at a younger age.

My course is very kid friendly (they're free much of the time) and offer lots of specials in the summer.  I am strongly considering signing him up for a 3 day clinic in June (he'll be 7 in April).

For sure!

Kids love golf. I don't know any kids that actually hated it. It's only when they start "performing worse" than their friends that they start to hate it.

Different people learn these skills at different times. A kid could be horrible, but enjoy getting out there then suddenly "boom" get to scratch when they turn 15. It should be fun no matter what age they play or start to play.

[Bill926]

My daughter is 6 and I've had her in Saturday morning golf clinics since she was 3.. They keep it fun and she learns something at the same time.  I've also recently taken her out for 9 holes just for the experience of playing real holes.  I just have her tee it up at 100 yds for the par 4's and around 50 yds for the 3's.  Taking her to the clinics has helped in that she makes pretty good contact and can advance the ball when we're on the course.

[CoachKG1984]

We have a course here in town for junior golf called Bloomfield Links.  You can pay $100 for the whole year and that gives you unlimited access for your kids.  You can also pay $600 for unlimited lessons from May 1-October 31.  The course I work at also offers a youth clinic in the summer that lasts 3 days.  I'm just interested to see what age my son will actually enjoy and want to go to the course.