DON’T MAKE IT ABOUT HITTING PERFECT SHOTS Davis Love III, Hall of Famer
Atlanta Country Club re- cently posted a photo on Instagram of the renova-
tion of the sixth hole, and I imme- diately thought: Those rocks are the best place to look for golf balls on the whole golf course. That was my association with that hole because my dad, who was the pro there, would take us out on Mondays when the course was closed. When we got to No 6, my brother Mark and I would get bunker rakes and gather balls from under the rocks. Dad made golf fun for everybody – that was his mission in life. We’d take a fishing rod with us and stop playing to go fish. Mark (who caddied for me and co-founded our golf architecture firm) also fell in love with golf as a by-product of those casual outings. When I first intro- duced my son to the game, I let him drive the cart, and play in the bunkers with the rake. My grand- daughter, well, at first her favourite thing to do was ride in the cart and fill divots with sand. She also liked to look for mushrooms. She’d set up to the little mushrooms like they were golf balls and swing at them to make them explode. In all those introductions to golf, hitting perfect shots was never the focus. The result is generations of people who love the game. – KL
THE BEST GAMES TO PLAY WITH A YOUNG CHILD BY MADELINE MACCLURG
strategy. All you need is something to mark the boxes with, like tees, string or chalk, and you’re in business. Depend- ing on skill level, hit putts from five or ten feet from “the board” and see who can get tic-tac-toe first. You can also incorporate a rule where players can knock their opponents out of their box- es. This helps players develop their aim, distance control and strategic thinking. As your child’s skills improve, build up to longer-distance putts. You can also use this game with chipping. “Bowling” is another fun game for the putting green. Anthony Rodriguez, Senior Programme Director at the First Tee of Metropolitan New York, loves
It can be intimidating to take your child out to the range or the course. What if you’re too tough on them? What if you distract or slow down other groups? What if your child inherits your incur- able slice? Remember that his or her attention span is shorter. A session as short as 20 minutes might be perfect. How to spend that time? Brian Burgwyn, a US Kids Master Kids Coach, says gamify our practice. “Sometimes, the best way to practice is where they don’t realise that they’re practising.” A classic game to play with your kid on the practice green is tic-tac-toe be- cause it teaches aim, speed control and
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator