Starting kids in golf

Blog 19/365 Starting kids at golf can be a fairly daunting challenge. Time taken up by the activity, potential costs, snobbish perception, and difficulty are all hurdles that can get in the way. And I will fully acknowledge that all of these are legitimate concerns. It’s sometimes difficult to balance up playing golf for 4/5 hours and spending a substantial amount of time learning the skills required versus sending Junior to 2 hours of football once a week for a lesser cost. Let’s tackle these concerns. Yes, golf can and often does take a long period of time to play by its very nature of walking up to 5/6km during a round. Practice to become competent varies in time but can often take north of 500 hours, and an often quoted figure is 10000 hours to become expert at anything. Also, who’s going to accompany Junior, as a parent are you prepared to give up your time to help them get into the game? But let’s look at some of the benefits of these very problems-practicing a skill for a period of time like this develops learning abilities for other important activities like education, applying oneself, and learning the art of dedication. 5-6 hours walking, the health benefits of this cannot be ignored, and keeps kids fit and healthy in an ever increasingly unhealthy society. When do kids really get the opportunity to be outdoors for that period of time these days? I understand that is a generalisation, but certainly applies to a lot of kids that I meet and chat with about their hobbies. Who can then look past the benefits of spending such a period of time with your child while they are starting out? With the modern working environment, often parents are lucky to see their kids for 2 hours a day during the week. Getting involved with their golf at a young age opens up amazing doors to being able to spend some real, quality time with the kids, creating a bond that often lasts lifetimes, especially if parents and child can play golf together in later life. Costs are often quoted as a barrier to entry. A junior membership can often be less than £150 at the majority of golf clubs, and if you divide that up by the amount of hours spent playing, the cost becomes minuscule compared to other activities. I know some juniors who spend up to 60 hours a week over the school holidays playing. That equates to 12 weeks x 60 =720 hours. If we take a membership costing £150, that is approx £0.20p per hour. Clubs for beginners can be purchased for under £100 and lessons are well priced to encourage participation. Part 2 continues tomorrow