Is golf really a good sport to get your kids into?

[Scoobiesnax]

Interesting post.

My wife and I were talking about this the other day regarding sports. Our wee lad is only 4 months old - I know; why are we discussing this with him being so young! However, as a child I was sports mad! I participated in karate - played in team sports such as rugby, hockey, badminton, football, cricket; cricket being my main sport as I excelled at it. Never got the chance to play golf as a kid which I wish I had but I played so many others I would never had had the chance!

To me, it is a no brainer - if my boy wants to play a sport, I will have no problem to introduce him to that sport and see if he likes it. My wife used to dance as a youngster - so if my boy sees all her medals and decides he wants to dance I'd have no problem taking him and encouraging to do that. Likewise, his grandfather is a petrol head and loves to watch racing; be it F1, Touring cars etc. If he wants to do that - on you go lad (as long as we can afford the costs).

At the end of the day it is our job as a parent to encourage, nurture and develop our little ones interests in sport or whatever else they decide to do - music, art, fashion!

Looking forward to the wee man getting to an age where we both can enjoy his interests and help to add to the bonding experience

 

[JCW]

Yes I say it is , my daughter is 27 months old now and I got her a few clubs and she comes down the practice ground with me , being outdoors in sunny weather has got to be better then sitting indoors or playing with phones or laptops , I hope she goes on to take it up , her swing is coming on now the clubs fit her.......................EYG

 

[Deleted member 21258]

I got adam(now almost 16) into playing when he was pretty young(guess about 7/8) and then due to work/home pressures did not play for a number of years but we came back to it a 2-3 years ago properly.

When Adam was young he used to love coming out on the par 3 course and used to run down the fairway with me carrying both bags, hitting extra tee shots until he hit a good one, hitting the green he would win some money and so on, to try to keep it fun. However when compared to football that he played for a team, it did not have the same buzz for such a youngen. Did same with daughter but not her thing and never played more than a few times. Their choice.

As he has got older, he gave up football(last year) and now plays more golf than me. We have always tried to deal with sport as a family matter and the wife started to play since we moved up north and even my mum starting in the last month. Good to spend family time together and relax and play together.

Really would recommend that you find a club with a great junior setup that does socials, comps and inter club comps for juniors, Adams enjoys all those. He also plays other games with these friends as and when and will also go out on his own and is willing to join up with other groups if invited(that is his character, he gets it from his mum not me!).

Swing wise you cant beat the free and easy flow of a juniors swing, lovely to watch and even if they give it up, it will still be there later on in life, if they give it up and come back to it.

 

[ChubbsPeterson]

My Dad got me into golf when I was a young lad around 7 or 8. I remember him taking me up to the driving range and letting me go nuts with an old 3W and 5I he'd cut in half. Loved it. It gave us excellent bonding time playing the courses over in Arran together. Even when my little brother came along in the years to come (who has the hand-eye coordination of Barney Gumble) it was still a brilliant time.

When I left school and started working we both drifted away from golf but in the last couple of years he has gone back to it, and in turn I have too. We get out for a game together a couple of times a month now.

Recommend.

 

[DCB]

Looking back at my own golf development, at the age the OP is talking about, all we did was hit a ball up and down the local rugby pitch. We would have been 11/12 before we really started to take a proper interest in the game.

At my club, that's the age that we take in junior members and give them coaching. They are far better equipped to deal with the coaching element at that age than giving it too early.

 

[Hosel Fade]

There must be a purely selfish benefit to golf as you can a) play it with them for life b) leave them at the club all day during the summer with a couple of big bottles of frozen water and a tenner to get some lunch.

Depends if your club has a decent junior section/group coaching and then there would be the social element. It gets really good once you have access to all the junior opens at other clubs when hopefully some of his mates from the club will also be playing or league matches.

 

[User62651]

There must be a purely selfish benefit to golf as you can a) play it with them for life b) leave them at the club all day during the summer with a couple of big bottles of frozen water and a tenner to get some lunch.

Depends if your club has a decent junior section/group coaching and then there would be the social element. It gets really good once you have access to all the junior opens at other clubs when hopefully some of his mates from the club will also be playing or league matches.

Is a good sport for kids BUT tried getting my 2 youngsters into it, hasn't worked, consequently I'm playing no golf at all either. One does football, one rugby so they're doing something at least in team sports that involve a good amount of exercise, that's more important than golf at a young age I think.
Golf is perhaps too time consuming, hard, expensive and frustrating a sport and maybe not so much fun for kids, doesn't surprise me my 2 aren't fussed. I didn't start myself until I was 15 so perhaps they'll get round to it later. Things dont always work out as you hope as a parent!

Mrs works Saturday so I have the kids, is frustrating for me that they want to play XBox and watch you tube when they could be golfing. Sunday tends to be our only all family day so golf is not an option then. Too tired or not enough time after work though week so I've gone and joined a club, paid subs, bought gear and now it's sitting gathering dust. Didn't think this through properly.

 

[Reemul]

Looking back at my own golf development, at the age the OP is talking about, all we did was hit a ball up and down the local rugby pitch. We would have been 11/12 before we really started to take a proper interest in the game.

At my club, that's the age that we take in junior members and give them coaching. They are far better equipped to deal with the coaching element at that age than giving it too early.

At my club of the 75 Juniors at least 50 are 10 or under. We have a couple of 4 year olds, one who is awesome with a great swing. We have an 8 year old winning lots of stuff as well who looks as if he could have a great future.

To be fair the course also has to work for the age group, if I took my son to a 6500 yard course it would be a struggle but a decent 4000 yard course is another matter. We have a par 3 over a lake, 2 decent dog legs as well as 1 easy but short and narrow par 3. In a few years when he is bigger and more muscular and a 220+ drive is on the cards it will be a different matter.

We played an adult junior 2 weeks ago against the club favourites. My son and I played off 16 and they played off 10. Anyways we beat them by 6 shots net. the 12 year old could hit the ball up towards 250 yards which seemed a long way for his age but his temperament was terrible and after 3 putting the first he had a whole range melt down . I believe working on that temperament before the hormones kick in may be important...who knows

 

[hovis]

Yes I say it is , my daughter is 27 months old now

so she's 2!!!!!😀

 

[HomerJSimpson]

There are so many good things that golf can teach and develop but I'd have thought you need to let them decide if golf is for them with introductory lessons etc and see if they enjoy it and want to take it further. If they are into so many other sports they clearly have an aptitude and like the idea of competition but sometimes one sport just doesn't click or give the same enjoyment

 

[Deijavoo]

Great thread.

My kids are 8 and 6, they started weekly group coaching about 6 months ago and mostly really enjoy it. There's a large group so they've met some new friends and other friends from school that they didn't really speak to much before. My boy is the 6 year old and he's currently pretty keen after some "big" shots at the range.

I had a club in my hand at 2 and on played a bit until 15 with no lessons, was a shocking golfer and I'm actually not sure why I ever did play other than my friends also being into it, going round and having a laugh with them. I never really enjoyed it that much. Picked it back up last year at 33 and absolutely loving it, getting lessons and seeing improvement (even as bad as I am) seems to be the big difference this time round. Plus I'm happy enough to go round on my own most of the time rather it being about friends.

Let them try whatever sport it is that they want to do and if they enjoy it happy days. Even better if you get some new little golf buddies!

 

[Pin-seeker]

My lad shows some interest in golf,think it's more because I like it tho tbh.
I've suggested lessons a few times but he's not bothered.
I'm not one to push him into anything.

He's more into Kickboxing,suppose it's more exciting for a 9yr old.

 

[Mel Smooth]

My lad started age 5, now age 7, his swing is lovely already, just needs keeping on track with a few adjustments as he grows, but I have no doubt he'll make a good solid single handicap golfer.

Short game is good too, played 9 holes recently, and he 3 putted twice, and just had one putt on 2 occasions.

He absolutely loves playing - but my little bit of advice is don't have them on the course too much when it's wet and there is no roll. Completely demoralised my lad trying to play during February / March, so we took a few weeks off and let him have a break.

 

[ScienceBoy]

so she's 2!!!!!😀

Mine isnt two, he is 22 months old

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I wish golf would teach me those things. It's more anger, frustration, bewilderment.. the list goes on. :lol:

What's your handicap? Ah right - you do need to find a bit more acceptance and patience

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Even if they do choose golf, they'll probably give it up when they discover girls, beer, get married, have kids and will come back to it in their 40s

Spot on. My lad started playing when he was 11. Played for three years but tried to mix it with cricket - then when he couldn't do both dropped golf. Then came music, his band, girls and then uni.

But as he had group lessons from the word go has the basics of grip, stance and swing sorted. And he still really enjoys playing, He plays par 3 golf with his mates (stuffs them) and from time-to-time we'll go out for nine. Because he got the basics and he knows what he is supposed to do - he does fine - and can play well enough to not do air shots and score to better than 6s. He's now a slim 6'4" 25yr old (all tattoos, beard, torn jeans and baseball cap) - and if he took the game up seriously again he'd be a cracking player - all because he started at 11 and had a few lessons.

 

[Orikoru]

Great thread.

My kids are 8 and 6, they started weekly group coaching about 6 months ago and mostly really enjoy it. There's a large group so they've met some new friends and other friends from school that they didn't really speak to much before. My boy is the 6 year old and he's currently pretty keen after some "big" shots at the range.

I had a club in my hand at 2 and on played a bit until 15 with no lessons, was a shocking golfer and I'm actually not sure why I ever did play other than my friends also being into it, going round and having a laugh with them. I never really enjoyed it that much. Picked it back up last year at 33 and absolutely loving it, getting lessons and seeing improvement (even as bad as I am) seems to be the big difference this time round. Plus I'm happy enough to go round on my own most of the time rather it being about friends.

Let them try whatever sport it is that they want to do and if they enjoy it happy days. Even better if you get some new little golf buddies!

Spot on. My lad started playing when he was 11. Played for three years but tried to mix it with cricket - then when he couldn't do both dropped golf. Then came music, his band, girls and then uni.

But as he had group lessons from the word go has the basics of grip, stance and swing sorted. And he still really enjoys playing, He plays par 3 golf with his mates (stuffs them) and from time-to-time we'll go out for nine. Because he got the basics and he knows what he is supposed to do - he does fine - and can play well enough to not do air shots and score to better than 6s. He's now a slim 6'4" 25yr old (all tattoos, beard, torn jeans and baseball cap) - and if he took the game up seriously again he'd be a cracking player - all because he started at 11 and had a few lessons.

It's actually amazing how many people on here, me included, I've seen saying they started playing when they were under 16, then gave it up or barely played through their early 20s before starting again nearer 30. I guess it's just too time-consuming and difficult to spend 4 hours at the golf course as a hungover twenty-something!

 

[Lambchops]

My boy is almost 3 so I bought him a little putter, got him going in the house showing him how to hold it and swing it - he now comes to the driving range with me and sits in the sun with a drink while I hit a few balls and we then have a practice on the putting green - he loves it especially as the ladies at the DR make a fuss of him with him being so small

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

2 things that golf offers that other sports don't. Firstly it is a sport you can play competitively for pretty much your entire life and secondly it gives you the opportunity to play the same courses that you see your heroes play. I can't think of any other sport that gives you this.

 

[FairwayDodger]

Did you not try boys first

Yuck, horrid shouty hairy creatures...