best age to start playing golf?

[garyinderry]

dont just dive right in here and say as soon as a child can stand. think about it? is it better to wait unitl you are older. should you let a child ingrain loads of bad habbits?


i started playing when i was a kid. just a few rounds in the summer with my dad. he taught me the etiquette of not running on the course with a quick clip and a scolding. i was a quick learner. these few annual games was enough for me to develop a flat swing and also the use of the baseball grip.

would i have been better, in the long run, not having played at all and taking lessons 4 years ago when i first joined the club and took the game seriously?


this is just the random little question i posed myself tonight whilst out practising! what do you think?

 

[Scadge]

Both my boys (aged 9 and 14) play and both started around 7 so I watch a lot of junior golf. Our club has a very progressive approach and the group junior lessons for both members and non-members are 4 quid for an hour.

I think that only from starting so young is my scrawny older boy now able to play off 5 and as a result of starting at a young age they simply don't see hazards (water or bunkers) they just see the pin and if they get in bunkers they get out naturally with no sweat.

From watching the lessons I can see that even the 5&6 years olds have fun and can make good progress and develop good fundamentals but somewhere between 7&8 they seem to get more in tune with the technical instruction (and really get it). I am convinced that the 10,000 hours of practice theory works, so the earlier the better.

My kids never listened to my advice/coaching so its great that clubs tend to do very good things for juniors by and large.

 

[garyinderry]

i often wonder would i still have the same passion if i had of taken it seriously all those years ago. ive heard stories recently of guys getting really low. even playing off scratch and giving it up. we have one guy at our place that is in + handicap and he doesnt even practice anymore. i hear he is fed up having to shoot -2 to shoot 36points. they must have been playing from an early age!

 

[Scadge]

There are stories like this all over the country mostly because people who arent as good simply can't understand why someone far better wouldn't enjoy it. Needless to say you never hear about the countless people who start later and then give the game up as too difficult and they can't get good enough to enjoy it.

Really if you want to be very good you have to start young. As long as its fun and the kids are there because THEY want to be there and parents don't follow them all over and get on their case there is no problem. This for me is easy as they are way better than me. Our county has brilliant rules requiring adults to be at least 70 yards from juniors in competitions which helps avoid the over competitive parent trap.

 

[garyinderry]

There are stories like this all over the country mostly because people who arent as good simply can't understand why someone far better wouldn't enjoy it. Needless to say you never hear about the countless people who start later and then give the game up as too difficult and they can't get good enough to enjoy it.

Really if you want to be very good you have to start young. As long as its fun and the kids are there because THEY want to be there and parents don't follow them all over and get on their case there is no problem. This for me is easy as they are way better than me. Our county has brilliant rules requiring adults to be at least 70 yards from juniors in competitions which helps avoid the over competitive parent trap.

excellent. never heard that before. saves some from having nervous breakdowns and not wanting to look at a club again.


im just really glad i didnt take it too seriously when i was younger. i think i would be stuck at a really low number by now. i have enjoyed the challenge this last few years, leaning to play and about the game whilst having the handicap drop.

 

[JustOne]

Greg Norman started playing at 17 apparently. Depends what other interests you have and whether golf is the 'be-all and end-all' of your thoughts.

 

[Snelly]

For kids, the best time is whenever they feel like it. I'd say messing around with clubs, the right age is 6 or 7. Playing a pitch and putt - 8-10 and after that, time to join a club as a junior.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Kids start taking things in from 7 to 8 years old.
Before then keep it light and hit balls for fun, keep a record of the longest shot and putting green score so they have a target to beat next time they are out with you.
Nothing puts kids off more than an embarassing pushy golf parent.
My daughter started playing competitively aged 8 and was playing for the ladies county team age 13.

 

[Jensen]

I think that kids have to enjoy it first and then maybe after a short while introduce them to some coaching to get the proper basics. But the key is they have gotta enjoy it, no good forcing them or ramming it down their throats or it'll just put them off

 

[drutz]

I have played, well slashed for a while but only really started seriously over the summer as I have stopped now playing rugby. In the last 2 months with lessons I have improved so much on before and am enjoying the good and trying to forget the bad. I have started late and part of me wishes I started earlier but I may have jacked it in if I was younger due to the frustrations of golf. I think a certain maturity has helped me stick at it.
On the subject of pushy parents I was at the range on Tuesday and was hit some good shots, many bad shots, and a couple brought their daughter in and it was like having a drill sargeant there. The dad was 'do this, shoulders straight, head down, hips turn'. Poor kid was getting barked at all sorts of directions. Half of what he was saying was I think just lips service and that as kid would have put me right off the game.

 

[dufferman]

I started playing when I was maybe 10? I kept it up for 3 years and had lessons that my Dad set up for me with a pro and went out fairly regularly with my Dad, twice a month? After a while, and I have to say because of the lessons more than anything else, I started to hate Golf. I wanted to have fun, but the lessons made me play WORSE than I had been playing (mainly because I wasn't interested in putting the time and effort into learning what he was teaching me) so I slowly lost interest.

Then at the age of 13 / 14, we had a family holiday in Spain where me and Dad took our clubs and booked to play 6 games over 14 days. We booked tee times of 7.30 to avoid the midday heat at 18 hole courses.

I told him when we got back from that holiday that I was quitting Golf because I didn't enjoy it. At that age, my interest was sleeping in late and playing in the pool or on the beach, not getting up at 6am to play a game I wasn't good at.

Yet, here I am, at 25, playing again. So I guess it's about the right way to approach it - I didn't have any Golfing mates, just me and my Dad. He would play with friends and family, but I wouldn't go off with them because they were all adults and it was boring.

I don't regret my Dad helping me to play, after all it was my decision to give it a try in the first place, I guess I just didn't feel like it was a kids game back then, I sorta felt like I was a child in an adults game!

Anyway, there's my story, back to the OP!

 

[garyinderry]

so many kids into it these days. i think things have changed in that respect. back when i was a kid, i was the only one with a set of clubs. my friends and i used to take them into the playing fields and make up holes. it wasnt until some of these were in there 20's that they first stepped onto a 9 hole course for their first proper game.

 

[MadAdey]

I think it depends on the ability of the kids dad and getting them lessons ASAP. Some kids start quite young with a dad who plays off a high handicap and tries to teach them, chances are he is going to develop bad habits with poor instruction. My dad was a cat 1 player and even he got me lessons as soon as I started as he did not want me getting into bad habits. Result of this was that he could watch my lessons and see what my pro was trying to do and then he could make sure that I did it on the course. So regarding your question it all depends on the circumstances, my advice would be to only get your kid into golf if you can afford to get him straight away to make sure that he will not develop bad habits.

 

[RGDave]

Not 22. Too late.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Started at 10 which I think was a good age. Old enough to concentrate on the pro's tuition without getting too distracted, big enough to swing the club reasonably (no kids clubs in the 80's like today) and keen enough to want to stick with it

 

[bobmac]

Some kids start quite young with a dad who plays off a high handicap and tries to teach them, chances are he is going to develop bad habits with poor instruction.

Sadly happens all too often.
I often see dads down the range with their sons/daughters and I have to bite my tongue sometimes.
There are lots of pros who do free /cheap junior coaching at the weekends, try and get into that.

 

[Sharktooth]

I think that kids have to enjoy it first and then maybe after a short while introduce them to some coaching to get the proper basics. But the key is they have gotta enjoy it, no good forcing them or ramming it down their throats or it'll just put them off

I think this is the best approach. Take them along and if they are interested, get them a few lessons. I, like many working class Scots, am completely self taught since five years old when my brothers mate gave me a sawed off wooden shafted three iron with electric tape for a grip . If I'd had a few lessons earlier on, I reckon I would be a better player now.

 

[6inchcup]

i would say about 11 or 12,at that age you can put into practice what you have been taught and understand why you have to do certain things,you should be fit enough to play and strong enough to carry you gear for a few hours,also you should be able to follow the etiquette of the game at this age.