Junior problems

[Sats]

My club pro (friend from school) does a regular junior class each saturday. I must say I'm loving watching my 9 year old enjoy the game and improve each week! Especially as he's got autism and finds sports difficult in groups.

My problem is that the course has no junior tees and not enough juniors playing. Yet the course down the road has an academy course (9 hole with 220 being the longest hole) along with another proper 9 hole and an 18 big course.

Do i join there with the boy, have that course I can regularly enjoy with the little man as well as the big course for me or do I remain at my club, which I love and I feel loyalty to my mate as he's been brilliant.

And no alas I can't justify the cost of two clubs before that gets mentioned.

 

[Wolf]

What tees do juniors at your club normally play off.

When I was a junior players with a higher handicap at Junior level or of a certain age we're allowed to play off of the ladies Tee of the day and in comps played off of the ladies medal tees. this meant I could for example play golf on the course my dad was a member at without the restrictions of having to hit it anywhere near a far and really helped my development as kid.

Perhaps ask you club what concessions they make for kids his age in terms of teeing ground, length of course to be played etc before you chuck your lot in an upsticks. You still need the enjoyment as well as he does

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Can you not join the one down the road and continue lessons with your mate?

 

[Mr Hip]

I would agree with Wolf. Playing from the ladies tees is the obvious way to go if your club officials will allow it.

 

[Sats]

The committee have been saying that they'll introduce junior tees for over a year now - the ladies is ok, but he still struggles with the overall length - plus there's a lot of people who literally say to me that juniors shouldn't be playing at weekends as it slows the course down (when are they allowed out!?)

I have considered changing clubs - what I might do is see how much just the little par 3 course as a membership (if they do it that is)

thanks for the replies

 

[Wolf]

Again at our place in summer could play anytime during day, weekends was 12pm or later. In winter that got brought forward to 11am.

Which meant the moaners got the course to themselves in mornings and we still got to play. But these members who complain need to remember the future of the game and future revenue of your club is massively dependant on getting kids into golf and staying in the game

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Why not just pick the place on each hole that junior will tee off from and play from, you can clearly vary the length depending on the hole or have I missed something ?

 

[shortgame]

What's to stop him just teeing up on the fairway at an appropriate distance for practice?

Then move to red tees once ready?

If he's happy I'd be inclined to leave lessons as is. Could he join the 2nd course without you and you could caddy for him there without playing?

 

[Slab]

Clubs round here typically put green tee markers about 150m from the pin on each hole for juniors
It's not really a proper teeing ground more like the size of a drop zone but it serves the purpose
I'd think any club could afford that option

 

[anotherdouble]

Clubs round here typically put green tee markers about 150m from the pin on each hole for juniors
It's not really a proper teeing ground more like the size of a drop zone but it serves the purpose
I'd think any club could afford that option

We did the same and it worked a treat for the small ones

 

[Slab]

We did the same and it worked a treat for the small ones

Yup, clubs just have to want to do it

 

[clubchamp98]

We have a properly laid out course for juniors and new members 4000 yds, nice tees just like proper tee boxes.

These young kids are the future of the game , we need to encourage them and their parents to play the game.
No parent should have to move club to play with his son , that’s really a sad inditement of the sport!

This attitude from members that juniors are in their way is really poor .
I can understand that if they work all week they want to play unhindered but that’s not the case at my club .
Most juniors don’t go on the course until they can at least hit the ball properly a reasonable distance and we have NO issues with the academy course .
As a matter of fact a lot of the older members use it, we had a super seniors (65+) against the juniors it was an eye opener for some older members.
The kids learnt about the old days , we learnt how to use our phones properly lol.

I am only 61 I caddied for my mates grandson and really enjoyed it.

 

[Sats]

What's to stop him just teeing up on the fairway at an appropriate distance for practice?

Then move to red tees once ready?

If he's happy I'd be inclined to leave lessons as is. Could he join the 2nd course without you and you could caddy for him there without playing?

That's what I've been doing with the fairway, but I am inclined to let him just join as the junior comps etc are so much more supported at the other club

 

[shortgame]

That's what I've been doing with the fairway, but I am inclined to let him just join as the junior comps etc are so much more supported at the other club

as he develops, I think involvement with other youngsters is critical. If the other place has a good junior set up (and it sounds like it does) then I'd definitely look to join him there.

Could he get the best of both worlds and have 2 places to play at? one with you and one with other juniors.

That would potentially give him everything he needs to enjoy the game and develop

 

[Deleted member 21258]

as he develops, I think involvement with other youngsters is critical. If the other place has a good junior set up (and it sounds like it does) then I'd definitely look to join him there.

Could he get the best of both worlds and have 2 places to play at? one with you and one with other juniors.

That would potentially give him everything he needs to enjoy the game and develop

We did this with our son, as our home course didn't have much of a junior section(we got junior membership for free with this club, as both me/wife played). The other club just down the road was very well attended by a lot of juniors, they did semi-lessons in the group, Friday night golf, holiday breaks games/comps, team events, for very young they run different games iirc, sometimes free food, loads of stuff.

Sometimes our son would play with children older and sometimes as he got older he was the oldest in the 'fourball' and expected to look after the young ones in the fourball. I think golf is a great for all of this kind of things and how it helps to develop children when promoted right.

Know you said you can not afford two memberships and not sure on costs where you are, membership for very young golfers, under teenager age round here is about £60-£75 iirc for information.

 

[clubchamp98]

The biggest hurdle we found in the junior section is finding somebody to organise it all.

It’s a lot of work , we are lucky one parent does everything for the club .

 

[OOB]

Big one for me here is how well do you think he’ll respond to the change. A new club, new pro, new course, new peers, new grumpy older members etc.

Obviously I don’t know how highly functioning he is, but sometimes staying simple is easier. As you’ve said, you’re currently picking spots on the fairway for him. If your club doesn’t object, how far away is he from being able to use the red tees?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We have blue tees for our very senior members as there are some carries they can't make so we are lucky to have a course the juniors can play and feel comfy on. As a thought to the OP, does the other course offer an academy membership which should be cost prohibitive to take out and then you'd have the best of both. As for the juniors not being allowed at weekends according to some, that's sad and so antiquated. Everyone has to start somewhere and capturing the youngsters is imperative to keep golf going long term in terms of future members. I's keep badgering the club to introduce forward markers. As long as they aren't simply plonked down somewhere inappropriate, a simple bit of mown fairway would suffice. How hard is that?

 

[Capella]

Actually, your boy might even want to play off the regular tees, even if that means he needs more shots in the beginning. We have a six year old girl at our club, I think she is the youngest who is already allowed to play the big course. We have talent tees (called tiger tees at our club), but she played off them only once and decided that that was like cheating and she would rather play off the red tees with her mom.

But it would be good to have a juniors program and other kids his age I guess (unless his autism makes him prefer to be on his own or just with you anyways). Can you not enlist him in the juniors program at the other club without being a member there yourself? Even if you cannot afford a double membership for yourself, for juniors they usually come dead cheap, because every club is happy to have as many kids as possible since most of them drop out before puberty anyway. You could take him to practice there and when he gets a bit older and more confident at it, he might even get a chance to play on their juniors team or something, but you could still play at your regular club as a family.

(also, why not just ask your kid what he thinks about it? He might be happier just playing with you and mabye your mates at a place he is familiar with or he might be eager to venture out to the place with more kids his age. Some autistic kids are more comfortable with adults around than they are with other kids.)

 

[need_my_wedge]

Can you not join the one down the road and continue lessons with your mate?

This could be a good option.

At ours we do a number of things for juniors. At weekends they are not allowed on the course before 11:00 I think, unless they are playing in a comp with adults and are less than 28 handicap. Later in the day they can play when they like.

We run junior medals off the white tees every month, and a 9 hole high handicap competition every third Sunday or so through the summer. 4pm in the afternoon off of blue tees placed a ways forward.

One of our pro’s runs two junior coaching sessions every Sunday, and we have much reduced fees for juniors based on age brackets. The youngest I think is £25 a year, which goes up in £25 increments every two years.

They get to meet and play with a lot of other kids, sometimes playing with the older ones, sometimes mixed with the younger ones. The club is safe for them to be dropped off in the summer, they play all day with their mates and forge friendships that last even when some stop playing.

My own son started at 8 and came through this system. When he started, I used a local club with a similar setup, they have a 9 hole as well. I was a member where I am but played the 9 hole with home quite often. He’s the junior captain this year, well liked around the club and a handy golfer off of 8. I’m away in Spain st the moment on an annual boys trip, and my lad has joined us for the first time.

If the junior section at yours is not so inviting, put him in the one down the road but keep him in lessons with your mate who has been looking after him. You can stay as a member where you are and as he gets older and improves, then he can join you.