is their ice cream. Most kids are notori- ously ready to move on to the next thing, whether it’s going from the practice green to the range or from a 5-iron to the driver. When a kid says to me, “One more ball. I gotta hit a good one,” that’s special. Once I see inner drive, I look for emotional toughness. Golf can be demoralising, so the junior who hits one in a bunker and wants to go hit the bunker shot, that kid is different. Great golfers don’t check out. If they have that kind of grit at an early age, they’ll be able to handle the adversity that’s always around the corner in golf. – Renee Skidmore, teaching profes- sional, Atlantic GC, New York Paying attention to the game at large There are obvious physical gifts that can forecast a junior golfer’s success, but en- gagement level is just as important. One sign I look for is how big a fan they are of professional golf. As a kid, I was ob- sessed with Adam Scott; I tried to swing like him, act like him, everything. Ju- niors are great imitators, as my old boss, Jim McLean, used to say. When I see a kid on the range trying to swing like a certain tour player or pretending to putt against Scottie Scheffler to win the Mas- ters, that gets my attention. I’ll ask ju- niors if they watched the tour event over the weekend. Some will say, “No” or “A little bit,” but sometimes a kid will say, “Yeah, Jordan Spieth finished T-19. I was so mad.” When they’re fans like that, it usually means their investment in their own game is higher. – Ryan Hager, di- rector of instruction, Plainfield CC, New Jersey Thinking in extremes It might sound counter-intuitive, but one thing I like to see in juniors is impatience. I’ll take kids to the putting green and af- ter a few instructions, one kid will some- times peel off and just start rolling putts. That’s independence and curiosity – two great traits in a golfer. Experimenting is another. I might ask how you would hit the lowest possible shot to some target. When kids say they’d putt it because the ball never gets off the ground, that’s pretty good. Highest shot? Put it on a tee and use a wedge – that’s critical think- ing. I also like to see self-exploration, like if a kid is hitting it off the heel, he or she might ask what would happen if they hit it off the toe. Kids who think in extremes understand the middle faster. – Paxton O’Connor, director of instruction, Desert Mountain Club, Arizona
Going with what feels natural Kids don’t come with a lot of preconcep- tions or fears. They use their instincts to figure out how to hit the ball. They ex- periment and adapt. These are amazing lessons for all of us. One thing I’ve seen only a few kids do is grip a club for the first time with the lead hand low, the op- posite of a traditional grip. Why does this matter? It proves they have grip strength in their lead hand, which is a big deal, and it also helps with a couple of critical things in the swing, like hinging the lead wrist for power and lining up the lead arm and the shaft at impact for a proper strike. I also see some juniors take a split grip, like a hockey grip. I love this, too, because it means the kid’s trying to re- ally bash the ball or find a way to swing a club that’s too heavy for them. I never change a junior’s grip right away. I want to see why they do it – and if it works. Hitting the ball flush is what keeps kids in the game. We can always adjust later. – Gavin Parker, director of instruc- tion, Salisbury CC, Virginia Acing this raw skills combine Over the years I’ve developed a little skills combine that I run kids through. The first test is to mimic positions. I’ll swing back with the club pointing way off line at the top, for example, and ask them to copy me; then I’ll do it with the club perfectly on plane. If they can match my positions, I know they have control of their arm structure and where the club is. Next, I tell them to create as loud a swish as they can with the club. I’m not worried about what it looks like, just the natural speed. Then, I’ll have them make one-handed swings with their trail hand. If they can make contact with decent speed, that’s proof of good hand-eye coordination. Fi- nally – and this is the fun one – I’ll see if they can pick a ball off the ground with a wedge. To do it, they must manage the angle of the face and the shaft and apply force on the ground to flip the ball up. It’s a simple task that reveals a lot. These moves tell me if they can manage a club in their hands. – Christoff Els, director of instruction, Montclair and Mill- burn (New Jersey) Indoor Golf Clubs Becoming their own motivator Juniors are almost always introduced to golf by a parent, a friend or a coach. I want to see if they quickly start pushing themselves. That’s a sign that their pas- sion is genuine, not borrowed. When it is, they don’t need to be rewarded. Golf
MAKE EVERY ASSOCIATION PLEASANT Trillium Rose, Golf Digest 50 Best Teacher
I coached a five-year-old who asked to bump our sessions from 30 minutes
to an hour. He’s one of those kids who’s loved golf from the start. My six-year-old is not one of those kids. Helping her love golf has been a test for my husband and me. We’ve learned to let her do whatever she wants at the range if she isn’t bothering anyone else. She wants to take all the tees and build a fort? Great. She wants to hit one? Great. She wants to sit in the cart and drink lemonade while I hit balls? Great. I want every association she has with the game to be pleasant. She likes activities with other kids, so we signed her up for group lessons. We dropped her off like we drop her at soccer. We prayed she’d like it, but you can’t let your kid see that, be- cause that’s pressure. It’s not fair to them, and it could backfire on you. This summer, we took her out on the course with a friend. The other kid’s mom and I grabbed a cart and kept an eye on pace of play while the kids hit it, ran after it and hit it again. I rarely talk about technique with my daughter. If one day she wants to learn more about the swing, she knows I’ll be right here for her. – KL
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