Keywords for this article: boys golf, girls golf, golf for kids, golf instruction, golf video, high school golf, junior golf, learn golf, over the top, golf, swing
Revised 09-03-2012
Reprinted from an earlier article in The OVER THE TOP GOLF blog.
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| JUNIOR GOLF, THE ROAD TO NOWHERE? |
FORT PIERCE, Florida - Where have all the golfers gone? Sounds a little like a 60s folk song. As it turns out, the themes and conclusions are the same. The chorus, and the message of Where Have All The Flowers Gone, is "when will they ever learn?" How does this apply to golf instruction? Specifically, both boys and girls #junior golf instruction?
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Despite glaring evidence presented to golf pros that frustrated students are walking away from the game, they are strict about teaching students how to execute what they consider a "proper" golf swing. No matter that the definition of "proper" differs from pro to pro, they proceed to keep trying to teach both adults and kids to swing the club like they do. Even though they know that most of them won't because they can't. Not without constant lessons and a fairly rigid practice regimen.
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What is the glaring evidence I referred to? First is that not all junior golf students have the same ability to adapt to that one method the pro teaches. Second, with all the demands of family, school and extracurricular activities, a lack of lesson and practice time results in a different learning curve from kid to kid. Economic conditions can also prevent some youngsters from deriving as much benefit as others.
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Why don't golf pros and high school golf teachers come up with instructional methods that will at least give their students the ability to play decently and have fun? They just need to learn golf, not be the next Tiger Woods. Not every child is going to be a PGA player so when you recognize that, shift gears and start little Johnny or Janie down a path toward respectability instead of greatness.
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So for every successful student, a golf pro can tell you there are hundreds of kids who didn't make the cut. Unable to perform what their pro tried to push on them, many kids depart and rarely, if ever, play golf because they're no good at it. Had their teachers tailored their methods to accomodate the underachievers we might be seeing more of them still out here knocking the ball around.
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Girls are even more prone to staying away from the golf course when their skills are lacking. Percentage-wise, fewer girls take lessons than boys. If there are special accomodations golf pros can make for junior golfers in general, it should go double for the fairer sex. Are girls less athletic than boys? I don't know if that's true but if it is, why not instruct with that in mind? Every woman won't be able to drive it 250 yards so why not show the ones who can't how to get it out there 150 yards consistently. Nobody's going to keep coming back to something they know they can't do.
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So is junior golf the road to nowhere? Ask the kids out on the course. I would but I can never seem to find one.
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for juniors, seniors and everyone in between
Keywords for this article: boys golf, girls golf, golf for kids, golf instruction, golf video, high school golf, junior golf, learn golf, over the top, golf, swing
Revised 09-03-2012
Reprinted from an earlier article in The OVER THE TOP GOLF blog.
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