I receive a couple of Email each week from parents asking where to taken their children to learn how to play golf. The following is one of my Email replies:
Junior Golfers who are new to competitive junior golf and are playing in an AJGO Junior Golf Tournament for the first time can typically score at or below 120 for a round of 18-holes at their “home” golf course.
If your child would like to learn how to play golf – I would recommend going to the nearest public golf course (unless you are already a member of a private country club) and ask the Golf Pro what type of instruction and access to the golf course they offer junior golfers. Most public golf courses offer golf lessons to junior golfers and some type of discounted access to playing on the golf course.
As an example, my son, Will, started playing golf at age 8. We would take him to the driving range at our local golf course and let him hit golf balls. He also would practice chip-shots in our backyard (which is touch on the grass!)
Once he was able to hit the golf ball reasonable consistent on the driving range we took him out on the golf course and let him play some holes to see how things went – we took him on the course when it was fairly “empty” so as not to hold up other golfers.
We took him to the golf course to hit range balls whenever he wanted to go – which was everyday after school. We also let him stay at the golf course on Saturday and Sunday for a few hours – he would hit range balls, putt, and chip onto the practice green.
When he was 9 years old he wanted to start playing in golf tournaments. At that time we could score below 100 on 18-holes. When he was 11, he beat my wife for the first time on 18-holes – she played college golf at Auburn. I believe he shot a 76 that day. At this time he was going to the golf course everyday to practice and stopped playing other sports.
Junior golfers improve at an incredible rate – much faster than an adult would if they took up golf in their late-20′s. It’s not unusual for a junior golfer to improve their score by 5 to 10 strokes each summer.
By the time Will was 15 years old he was playing from the Blue Tees (the longest distance) and shooting in the low 70′s. At 16 yrs. old his USGA GHIN Handicap was zero – which makes you a “scratch” golfer – so he was shooting an average of 72 for an 18-hole round of golf.
Golf is somewhat unusual in that it is an individual sport (you don’t play on a Team – except on a School Team) and it is not “organized” like baseball, basketball or soccer. You are basically “on your own” in terms of taking up the sport. A lot of junior golfers learn golf from a parent or grandparent who plays golf or a friend who plays – or they live on or near a golf course, etc.
I particularly like competitive junior golf because the players are also the “referees” and keep the score – so they learn sportsmanship very quickly. It is quite common for a player in a tournament to call a penalty stroke on themselves – knowing that no one saw them break the rule.
Golf is a great sport – and you can play it all of your life. It’s also really help to be a really good golfer when you are working in the “business world” – I know of many, many instance where someone become known to the Executives that their place of employment because they were a “scratch” golfer – and as such, you would want them to play with you in a scramble or a Member/Guest Tournament. This can be a real career booster.
