correcting swing for junior

[forexrayv1]

Hello all,

My son is 7 years old and he has been playing golf for about a year now. He has been going for group golf lessons every Sunday for an hour for the last year or so. Within this time he has shown great improvements and his swing is getting better and better.

However suddenly out of the blue he started hitting pushes to the right and slices consistently. The only thing he started doing differently recently is to try to swing harder and get extra distance. For some reason this has introduced pushes and slices.

I could see where he is going wrong (it's his back swing and swing plane) but the problem is; he is too young to understand the problem and fix them. He started swinging the clubs naturally and he wasn't taught all the golf technical's of the swing. His whole swing and finish developed naturally.

I was looking at golf drills online to correct his swing plane or buy one of those planeswing or planeswing perfector or anyone of those swing plane training tool. But I'm concerned about introducing mechanical muscle memory drills instead of natural golf swing development. His swing looks beautiful; all naturally developed. No drills, no mechanically drills or anything. Just hit the golf balls straight and that's how he developed his swing.

How to proceed now? at what age do we introduce all the golf drills? is there any worth in buying or following any drills that develop swing plane?

Please let me know.

thanks
raymond.

 

[virtuocity]

He's seven.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

He's seven.

Quite

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Mention it to the pro who is taking the group lessons. Ask him to have a look. He will perform a minor tweak with a smile on his face and then your son will go back to naturally swinging and batting the ball away.

Tools at this stage will take fun out of it for him and really are unnecessary at this age.

 

[forexrayv1]

Thanks for the info Lord Tyrion. It makes sense to keep it natural.

Yes. He is only seven. He plays the game whenever he wants to and like to play. I don't need to push him on this.
He was hitting those shots straight without thinking about anything.
He has been doing straight consistent shots for a long time and then suddenly he started to push and slice.
It is upsetting him and he was emotional that he lost his golf swing.
That's why I'm trying to find answer's what is the best way forward.
He enjoy's it so much and he has his own fun by hitting happy gilmore shots etc.
At this age; he is keeping it to having fun and enjoying golf.

 

[virtuocity]

he was emotional that he lost his golf swing.
That's why I'm trying to find answer's what is the best way forward.
He enjoy's it so much and he has his own fun by hitting happy gilmore shots etc.
At this age; he is keeping it to having fun and enjoying golf.

The bit in bold is where I'd be focusing my energies- but it's great that you're encouraging him to do what he enjoys and I completely agree it's about keeping him interested and enjoying himself.

I suppose it's about trying to take the emphasis away from how long and straight the ball goes- no easy feat!

I really like this article here: http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/2008-08/gd0503_elliotjuniorgolfers

Golf is a really tough sport for kids- it takes a lot of resilience, hard work, trust in others and self-esteem. It's a credit to you that he seems to tick these boxes.

It would be the last sport I'd encourage some of the kids I work with to get into.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Thanks for the info Lord Tyrion. It makes sense to keep it natural.

Yes. He is only seven. He plays the game whenever he wants to and like to play. I don't need to push him on this.
He was hitting those shots straight without thinking about anything.
He has been doing straight consistent shots for a long time and then suddenly he started to push and slice.
It is upsetting him and he was emotional that he lost his golf swing.
That's why I'm trying to find answer's what is the best way forward.
He enjoy's it so much and he has his own fun by hitting happy gilmore shots etc.
At this age; he is keeping it to having fun and enjoying golf.

My son starting playing at around 11 or so. His bad shot was always the same as your sons, still is. It never took much to get it right again and the pro's taking juniors are usually very good at keeping it simple and not expecting the earth, keeping it fun. He is 15 now and is now aware of what to do himself to correct the problem when it re-occurs. When he was younger and he was slicing he would turn to me and demand "what's wrong". Beggared if I have knew. Over time I was able to reply, "what did the pro tell you? Think about it and try what they said". Cue calmer son.

Kids have more fun when they hit the ball with a thump and it goes straight. Not every time but enought times. When it goes sideways it stops being fun for them so it makes sense to sort this out in an easy going manner. Easily done.

 

[bobmac]

I'm sure the pro will sort it out on the next lesson

It would be the last sport I'd encourage some of the kids I work with to get into.

Can I ask why?