Would you ever let a stranger teach your child?

[MRR]

I was at the range last night and witnessed, once again, a great disservice to golf.  A father brought his young son to the range and began to "teach" him golf.  It went exactly the way it did when my father attempted to teach me at that age.

1) Father who knows how to play golf puts a club his son's hand and sort of shows him how to grip it.

2) Son puts a ball on the ground and swings his whole body at the ball.

3) After ten swings, five balls go in the direction of "something other than directly behind the golfer"

4) Father comes back over and offers other sage advice.

5) Repeat step 3 (maybe six balls go somewhere closer to the field)

6) Father has son switch to a driver.

7) Son tees up the ball about one inch.

8) Repeat step 3 (now only two out of ten go forward).

 

All this gave me a great disdain for golf for at least ten years when it happened with me.  A well meaning parent tried to impart too much information on the child and never imparted the basic information.  It's perfectly understandable, since the parent is a good enough golfer that he doesn't even consciously remember the basics, but it makes it so the child never gets the foundation to learn.  Fast forward a couple months and the son will still not hit anything and the father will not understand why, since he's been teaching him for over 60 days.

 

As bad as I am (or because I'm so bad) I still know and stress the basics.  I would have gladly taken the child to a separate area (so the burden of trying to impress dad is gone) and at least helped the child learn how to hit a teed up ball with a 7 iron straight for 30 yards.  I also assume that it would be very creepy for me to offer such a thing.

[David in FL]

Only if he/she is an experienced, well qualified and recommended instructor.

Fwiw, if someone is well grounded in "the basics", they really shouldn't be that bad.    

[upndown21]

I think it all depends on age. I have a 3 year old who I take occasionally to the range and quite frankly if I tried to give her too many pointers she would lose interest. Once they enjoy the idea of the game instruction will be easier.

[TN94z]

13 minutes ago, upndown21 said:

I think it all depends on age. I have a 3 year old who I take occasionally to the range and quite frankly if I tried to give her too many pointers she would lose interest. Once they enjoy the idea of the game instruction will be easier.

This. The main thing at a young age is making sure they have fun while they are at the course. You want them to first associate "fun" with golf before slamming a bunch of lessons on them. Show them a basic grip and stance and just let them have fun with it. If they continue wanting to go, then gradually sort them out.

Edited May 24, 2017 by TN94z

[MRR]

53 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Only if he/she is an experienced, well qualified and recommended instructor.

But not some random guy at the range?  Good, I'll cling fast to my social anxiety and continue to not talk to strangers while hoping he gets his kid a lesson or two.

53 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Fwiw, if someone is well grounded in "the basics", they really shouldn't be that bad.    

The father's golfing was fine, but he wasn't teaching his son any fundamentals.  The poor child had the club gripped like he was going to beat someone with a stick, swung with all his weight, kept his arms bent, and had the clubhead well past his hands at "impact".  Father's response was to have him tee it up higher and mentioned something about a wrist.

 

Every time I see this, I am reminded of when I was at the range with my dad and I was slicing every shot.  His response was "my instructor told me to pull my right leg back when that happens, so try that".  Possibly sound advice, but being told how to hold the club and to stop swinging outside-in with an open face would have helped me fix my swing problems early on instead of compensating for defects that were otherwise curable.

46 minutes ago, TN94z said:

This. The main thing at a young age is making sure they have fun while they are at the course. .... Show them a basic grip and stance and just let them have fun with it. If they continue wanting to go, then gradually sort them out.

That's the issue.  No basic grip was taught and I saw a whole lot more frustration than fun.  But I may have been projecting.  I saw a father who enjoys golf enough that he wants to share it with his son, but a son who could learn to hate the sport because he has no foundation to build upon.

 

Anyway, ranting done.  

[BallStriker]

To answer the question, I would not allow this.

For a parent, it is a delicate situation -- I have taken my daughter to the range with me a few times a year for the last 3 or 4 years (she is 9 y.o. now) -- I basically make sure she is gripping it correctly and remind her to keep her feet "quiet" -- otherwise, I just let her hit and have fun.  I think that if I tried to do too much, it would be counter-productive and she wouldn't be having fun.  At this point, the critical thing in my opinion is a "decent" grip and letting her just groove hand-eye coordination by hitting the balls.

All that said, she has her first "official" lesson this Saturday with a girls group being taught by a local LPGA professional -- I am excited for her and as a bonus, I get to spend a full hour on the other side of the range hitting balls myself (which is not something I get to do all that much as a husband and father of young kids).

 

 

Edited May 24, 2017 by BallStriker

[Let it Fly]

2 hours ago, MRR said:

I was at the range last night and witnessed, once again, a great disservice to golf.  A father brought his young son to the range and began to "teach" him golf

I'd say a greater disservice to golf (and his son) would be not bringing the youngster out to whack a few at the range.  

As far as your subject question goes, I'd probably politely say "no thank you, just enjoying some father/son time."  

The best thing I learned at the range from my old man wasn't anything golf-swing related...it was accountability.  Sliced a ball into the parking lot one time and it hit a car.  He made me write a an apology note to leave under the wipers with our phone number on it in case the owner noticed any damage/dents...will never forget that.     

[TN94z]

2 hours ago, MRR said:

That's the issue.  No basic grip was taught and I saw a whole lot more frustration than fun.  But I may have been projecting.  I saw a father who enjoys golf enough that he wants to share it with his son, but a son who could learn to hate the sport because he has no foundation to build upon.

 

Anyway, ranting done.  

Oh, okay. Yeah, if the kid was getting frustrated, that's a little different.

[Buckeyebowman]

I can appreciate the fundamentals, but let's start with first one. Was the kid swinging a "kid size" club, or just one of Dad's old clubs which is too long, too heavy, and with a grip too big.

As for allowing a stranger to teach your kid, it happens all the time. In school! However, unsolicited advice at the range is usually a touchy subject.

[David in FL]

2 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

 

As for allowing a stranger to teach your kid, it happens all the time. In school! 

Generally by educated, trained professionals whose job it is to do just that.

Not by some random stranger with no real qualification other than he happens to think he knows better than you.

[Buckeyebowman]

1 hour ago, David in FL said:

Generally by educated, trained professionals whose job it is to do just that.

Not by some random stranger with no real qualification other than he happens to think he knows better than you.

Which is why I included the second sentence in that paragraph which you conveniently left out! And yes, they are educated and trained, but there are still plenty of whack jobs in that crew as well!

[DrvFrShow]

I would have a qualified professional teaching pro teach my child to play golf. And I know exactly which one I'd pick in this area. I would not teach my child to play the game. 

My father "taught" me how to drive a car. After the first two days I was ready to take the bus for the rest of my life. My father also had "taught" me how to practice the piano. I threw away a promising career as a concert pianist at the age of 15. Parents should stay away and leave education to people who are qualified. IMO.

[Slowcelica]

On 5/24/2017 at 9:49 AM, MRR said:

I would have gladly taken the child to a separate area (so the burden of trying to impress dad is gone) and at least helped the child learn how to hit a teed up ball with a 7 iron straight for 30 yards. 

Sorry but this is creepy, if a complete stranger came up to me at the range, and asked if he could take my kid to the other side of the range and "teach" them. I would probably tell the range staff, and have they guy thrown out. In this day and age, no stranger is going to be alone with my kid(s), I'm even weary of people we know. Please don't do this unless you want the cops called on you.

[David in FL]

10 minutes ago, Slowcelica said:

Sorry but this is creepy, if a complete stranger came up to me at the range, and asked if he could take my kid to the other side of the range and "teach" them. I would probably tell the range staff, and have they guy thrown out. In this day and age, no stranger is going to be alone with my kid(s), I'm even weary of people we know. Please don't do this unless you want the cops called on you.

Lol.  I hadn't thought of that!  

It'd be especially good to be the proud owner of an older, nondescript, windowless panel van too!  

[MRR]

10 minutes ago, Slowcelica said:

Sorry but this is creepy, if a complete stranger came up to me at the range, and asked if he could take my kid to the other side of the range and "teach" them. I would probably tell the range staff, and have they guy thrown out. In this day and age, no stranger is going to be alone with my kid(s), I'm even weary of people we know. Please don't do this unless you want the cops called on you.

Well, I meant "a couple stalls away", just so the child wouldn't have the nervousness of "try to impress dad" on top of "golf is hard and I'm not hitting the ball".  I always learned better from people other than my parents, even if the "teacher" wasn't as skilled as them.  But, yeah, I agree.  Like I said, I just hate to see something like @DrvFrShow's piano career happen due to a well-meaning parent.

[MacDutch]

I think your well ment action, would not be appreciated. There must be more nice ways to tell a father he stinks at instructing his offspring at golf?

[David in FL]

1 hour ago, MacDutch said:

I think your well ment action, would not be appreciated. There must be more nice ways to tell a father he stinks at instructing his offspring at golf?

There's probably a nice way to tell a father that his kid is ugly, or stupid too, but that probably wouldn't be appreciated either.

 

[Patch]

A complete stranger teaching my kid to golf? Obviously it would depend on the situation, and how well the stranger could teach, as well as how comfortable my kid was with this golf teaching stranger. Above all I would be right there just in case things were not working out. 

Our girls played a lot of softball when growing up. We were very protective of them when it came to coaches, how they coached.