derstanding how to properly motivate a junior golfer can be the difference be- tween burnout and lifelong enjoyment. Dr Beth Brown played collegiate golf before earning her doctorate in sport psychology. She has devoted her pro- fessional career to youth development, notably at The First Tee and now as the Senior Athlete Development Specialist at the USGA. Coincidentally, when she was growing up in Oklahoma, Brown’s dad owned an ice cream shop, and she recalls teams and families regularly flooding in to celebrate a win. Brown coined this the “Dairy Queen Syndrome” because the ice cream re- ward was almost always contingent upon the team winning. “When those
HOW TO REWARD A KID THE RIGHT WAY BY DREW POWELL
renstam recalls enjoying plenty of ice cream at the golf course growing up, the memory of which today still “brings a smile to my face,” she says. Perks to incentivise a child to practice or play can create fun associations. Sport psychologists agree, however, that not all rewards are created equal, and un-
You’ve heard about the kid in a candy store, but what about the junior golfer in an ice cream shop? Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg says it was enjoying the frozen delight with his dad following rounds of golf that helped spark his love for the game. Fellow countrywoman and World Golf Hall of Famer Annika So-
STICK TO YOUR PARENTAL VALUES Annika Sorenstam, Hall of Famer
asked if they could do it. I said, “Yes, but these kids have practised very much to qualify to get here, so you need practice, too.” We signed them up for the next year’s qualifying, and they practised every day before and after school for two months. Now, Ava is a social golfer, and Will plays all the time. – KL
hopefully find that thing they’re excited about when they wake up in the morn- ing. In 2015, I was going to the Drive, Chip and Putt event at Augusta National. It was over Easter, so Mike and I decided to go as a family. Ava and Will had so many questions about what the kids were doing and how they got there. They
same way they introduced us to everything: Here’s a soccer ball; go kick it if you like. Here’s a golf club; we can go to the driving range if you like. We tried a lot of things as a family until we figured out what we really loved to do. Mike and I know that our job is to introduce our kids to everything so that they can
My husband, Mike, and I introduced our kids, Ava and
Will, to golf when they were young, but they didn’t like it. “What a bummer,” we said to each other. My parents introduced my sister and me to golf the
70 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JULY/AUGUST 2025
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