Question:
You guys may or may not be interested in this, but I thought I would start an ongoing thread about teaching my 4 year old golf. Hopefully some of you guys might offer some helpful hints and insights from your own experiences teaching your children, or perhaps pick up something from my ongoing quest to teach my youngest son. Please let me know if you are interested and I will post sort of a regular journal and welcome any others ideas, comments and experiences. Thanks, Mark Downing
Response:
to teach my youngest son. Please let me know if you are interested and I will post sort of a regular journal and welcome any others ideas, comments and experiences.
Yes please. My 7yo is starting to show a keen interest in the game and I want to know what others are doing/teaching/leading/whatever for some guidance. — Cheers Nuno Souto
Response:
My 2 cents. Don’t make it a trial for them. If you force them to play, or yell at them for being a kid – you’re going to make it a negative experience. let them tee off after you, then go pick their ball up, and let them hit with you when you stroke your ball. I would say that you need to play as a twosome – or with some CLOSE family friends who’ll work with you. Not stress you out. If they get to 9 strokes – pick up and explain that they cannot take any more strokes on the hole, and give them a 9x. (let’s not slow everyone behind us also!) If they talk during people’s swings, let them sit out the next hole – but explain gently that they cannot talk while others are swinging. Then – when they hit someones moving ball on the green (And they will) – end the game and leave, or make them sit out several holes without hitting. Explain to them that they cannot do this – it’s the worst thing to do in golf – hit someone elses ball. However, don’t go nuts and crazy. And PLEASE – don’t let the child run around unnattended. For the most part: "My kid is an angel. Your kid is a monster." Other people DON’T love or even like your kids. It’s not personal – it’s just that young kids require patience and love that only a parent has. Basically, when they break a rule – they need to pay a consequence. What is golf if it’s not about rules? But they don’t need a nervous father/mother yelling at them because they are worried what others are thinking. As a 4 year old – i’d get them some small foam balls, and a few cut down clubs and let them swing at them in the backyard. Let them hold a club, swing it, hit a practice ball a lot, and see how they take to it. I’d MAYBE consider taking them to watch a game with me, but 4 1/2 hours – 5 hours is a LONG time for a 4 year old to be quiet and in control. Depending on your child, I’d consider sitting in the bar with them after the game and having a bit of "guy" time with them as a reward. You know, swig a few beers (cokes for the kid), and bond. The bottom line for me is to let their desire bloom – not try to force them to play the game you play. Finally – DON’T BET WHILE YOU ARE PLAYING WITH YOUR CHILD!! you’ll never be able to control your anger/outbursts. Particularly when they get into the "dad,dad,dad,dad,dad,dad,dad,dad,dad,dad,dad,dad,dad,dad,dad,dad" mode…. hehehe.. Good luck!
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – You guys may or may not be interested in this, but I thought I would start an ongoing thread about teaching my 4 year old golf. Hopefully some of you guys might offer some helpful hints and insights from your own experiences teaching your children, or perhaps pick up something from my ongoing quest to teach my youngest son. Please let me know if you are interested and I will post sort of a regular journal and welcome any others ideas, comments and experiences. Thanks, Mark Downing
Response:
I’ll go ahead and warn you, I’m a much reviled "TOP POSTER" 
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – to teach my youngest son. Please let me know if you are interested and I will post sort of a regular journal and welcome any others ideas, comments and experiences. Yes please. My 7yo is starting to show a keen interest in the game and I want to know what others are doing/teaching/leading/whatever for some guidance. — Cheers Nuno Souto
Response:
Ok… Here goes… Zack is my youngest son. He’s 4. None of my other 3 children have shown a particular interest in golf, so Zack is my last hope for a golfer in the family. Even so, I’m not going to push him, I’m just going to putt with him in the den, chip with him in the front yard, and take him with me to the range when he wants to go. Our first experiences have been me just giving him a small bucket at the range and a set of homemade cut-off clubs and let him bang away off to the side contently while I practiced. The range pro and I noticed one day that he had a fairly decent grasp of the the whole swing, so I began to look for some "real" clubs that would actually fit him and that would be light enough. The U.S. Kids clubs seemed rather pricey to me for what you get and I found the perfect clubs at Kmart one night. They were the smallest set I’ve found and fit him perfectly and were only $39 including: Bag, 5 wood, 7 iron, 9 iron and putter. Our first actual teaching trip to the range was last week, and here’s tip number one! *Don’t let the kid know you are going to practice anything.* I told him we were going to play some games. I had my clubs with me, but this time was just for Zack. This is tip number two! *Dedicate the time to just you spending time with the kid and focusing totally on the kid having fun.* We went to the area with the mats so he could hit off of the rubber tee, and we chose the 7 iron to work on the swing. Our little game was to see how straight and how far he could hit the balls. Every time he hit the ball he was rewarded with an "Allright!" or an "Awesome!" from me, expecially when he caught the ball clean and hit it far and straight. He was hitting down on the turf in a chopping motion a little and I needed to explain to him what he was doing wrong. Here’s tip number 3: *Don’t use negative input to get your point across.* Trying to explain to a 4 year old any swing mechanics is fruitless, so I told him to pretend he was trying to cut the grass with his club rather than chopping wood with his club, this seemed to work well. Now all I have to to do is to remind him… "Remember we’re cutting grass." Anyway, we leave the range area and move over to the practice green and pull out our putters. I explain to Zack that we are going to play another game. We’ll see who can get it the closest to the hole. He gets to hit his ball from halfway between my ball and the hole. At first he is having a difficult time with both the putting stroke and the alignment. I ask him to try swinging the the club just like the pendulum on the tick tock clock in our living room and that works immediatly. Then I lay my putter down on the green pointing at the hole right beside his ball and he instinctivly begins to line his putter head up correctly. We are really going now, and he is actually beating me on some of the putts. I try to win just enough to keep him honest and to add some excitement to the game, but I let him win in the end. Here’s tip number 4: *Kids like to win.* That’s not to say that kids don’t need to learn how to lose, It’s just to say that at this stage of the process I chose to encourage him by letting him win. He will learn to lose later. I decided it was time to go home. We had spent an hour at the range and it only felt like only 10 minutes. Here’s tip number 4: *Always stop before the kid is ready to stop.* This way the kid never gets burned out. Then you promise that if he is good, you guys can come back and "play" some more on another day. This way he’s already looking forward to the next time at the range. We got home and he was gushing to "Mommy" about all of the fun "Me and Daddy" had at the driving range, and spent about 10 minutes telling her everything. I’ll send you guys an update after our next "lesson".
Response:
my 2 year old is taking a liking to hitting balls also.. its using a plastic wal-mart driver and a 7 iron loft club hitting hollow plastic balls but he loves it.. funny thing is that he has a wonderful lefty stroke but he IS right handed.. i am going to let him hit from either side for another year or two and around 4-5 see how he takes to it.. would love to see this kid fall into golf like i did.. i did not start until 14 or so…
Response:
I’ll go ahead and warn you, I’m a much reviled "TOP POSTER"
Oh boy…LOL Being a top poster, I can only imagine your teaching talents then…LOL Gary
Response:
Since it’s their business, US Kids Golf here in GA has already created some short booklets about teaching kids the game of golf. I’m not sure if their website has the same info but it’s worth a look: www.uskidsgolf.com. My 0.02, Cooper Cooper ‘I live for those crisp, pinching iron shots." (me) "The more I know, the less I understand." (Don Henley)
Response:
from my ongoing quest to teach my youngest son. Please let me know if you are interested and I will post sort of a regular journal and welcome any others ideas, comments and experiences.
Yes please. My 3 1/2 year old saw an episode of Teletubbies with a little boy playing golf the other day and it has sparked his interest quite a bit. My nearly 2 year old enjoys swinging their clubs into the concrete patio, permanently marring the heads, but not swinging at golf balls. — Digital forums are a gift to the slow witted
Response:
The day after I got Zack his new clubs his mom has him out on the driveway swinging his "Driver". I could have killed her . "Honey… I just BOUGHT those!" Anyway, now the bottom of the driver is all buggered up… Oh well. PS: What is up with the Teletubbies? Is it just me… I don’t get that show at all. At least on Sesame Street the kid learns stuff and it’s funny.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – from my ongoing quest to teach my youngest son. Please let me know if you are interested and I will post sort of a regular journal and welcome any others ideas, comments and experiences. Yes please. My 3 1/2 year old saw an episode of Teletubbies with a little boy playing golf the other day and it has sparked his interest quite a bit. My nearly 2 year old enjoys swinging their clubs into the concrete patio, permanently marring the heads, but not swinging at golf balls. — Digital forums are a gift to the slow witted
Response:
PS: What is up with the Teletubbies? Is it just me… I don’t get that show at all. At least on Sesame Street the kid learns stuff and it’s funny.
Whomever created the Teletubbies must have been a genius – because NOBODY over 5 "gets it". Except for whomever created it, that is. But the young ones just love it. It works.
Response:
Great ideas, Mark! Thanks. I’m looking forward to going out with some or all of my grandchildren as they get to be about 4. These are fine processes. Appreciate your posting them. Peter – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ok… Here goes… Zack is my youngest son. He’s 4. None of my other 3 children have shown a particular interest in golf, so Zack is my last hope for a golfer in the family. Even so, I’m not going to push him, I’m just going to putt with him in the den, chip with him in the front yard, and take him with me to the range when he wants to go. Our first experiences have been me just giving him a small bucket at the range and a set of homemade cut-off clubs and let him bang away off to the side contently while I practiced. The range pro and I noticed one day that he had a fairly decent grasp of the the whole swing, so I began to look for some "real" clubs that would actually fit him and that would be light enough. The U.S. Kids clubs seemed rather pricey to me for what you get and I found the perfect clubs at Kmart one night. They were the smallest set I’ve found and fit him perfectly and were only $39 including: Bag, 5 wood, 7 iron, 9 iron and putter. Our first actual teaching trip to the range was last week, and here’s tip number one! *Don’t let the kid know you are going to practice anything.* I told him we were going to play some games. I had my clubs with me, but this time was just for Zack. This is tip number two! *Dedicate the time to just you spending time with the kid and focusing totally on the kid having fun.* We went to the area with the mats so he could hit off of the rubber tee, and we chose the 7 iron to work on the swing. Our little game was to see how straight and how far he could hit the balls. Every time he hit the ball he was rewarded with an "Allright!" or an "Awesome!" from me, expecially when he caught the ball clean and hit it far and straight. He was hitting down on the turf in a chopping motion a little and I needed to explain to him what he was doing wrong. Here’s tip number 3: *Don’t use negative input to get your point across.* Trying to explain to a 4 year old any swing mechanics is fruitless, so I told him to pretend he was trying to cut the grass with his club rather than chopping wood with his club, this seemed to work well. Now all I have to to do is to remind him… "Remember we’re cutting grass." Anyway, we leave the range area and move over to the practice green and pull out our putters. I explain to Zack that we are going to play another game. We’ll see who can get it the closest to the hole. He gets to hit his ball from halfway between my ball and the hole. At first he is having a difficult time with both the putting stroke and the alignment. I ask him to try swinging the the club just like the pendulum on the tick tock clock in our living room and that works immediatly. Then I lay my putter down on the green pointing at the hole right beside his ball and he instinctivly begins to line his putter head up correctly. We are really going now, and he is actually beating me on some of the putts. I try to win just enough to keep him honest and to add some excitement to the game, but I let him win in the end. Here’s tip number 4: *Kids like to win.* That’s not to say that kids don’t need to learn how to lose, It’s just to say that at this stage of the process I chose to encourage him by letting him win. He will learn to lose later. I decided it was time to go home. We had spent an hour at the range and it only felt like only 10 minutes. Here’s tip number 4: *Always stop before the kid is ready to stop.* This way the kid never gets burned out. Then you promise that if he is good, you guys can come back and "play" some more on another day. This way he’s already looking forward to the next time at the range. We got home and he was gushing to "Mommy" about all of the fun "Me and Daddy" had at the driving range, and spent about 10 minutes telling her everything. I’ll send you guys an update after our next "lesson".
Response:
read an article in the economist or ??? about the creator.. child therapist did it all.. supposedly the colors, sounds, shapes.. etc are all there for kids enjoyment. i don’t get it either.. Tubby Toast.. Tubby Toast…
Response:
more than enjoyment.. had a call and clicked submit a tad too soon.. stimulate senses, learning, etc.. again.. still don’t get it.. i just liked the Road Runner when i was that age…
Response:
This is a perfect example of why some people just don’t make good parents.
Response:
PS: What is up with the Teletubbies? Is it just me… I don’t get that show at all. At least on Sesame Street the kid learns stuff and it’s funny.
Warning this is from a guy who has been playing Mister Mom for a few months, and has been thinking over-much about kids’ TV. I notice that the kids don’t enjoy the things on Sesame Street that I think are funny. I like erudite and silly Cookie Monster. They like screeching, sickeningly sweet Elmo. Teletubbies, on the other hand, is a TV show about alien babies without parents who have a vacuum cleaner for a nursemaid and live on a green and pleasant planet populated exclusively by rabbits and them, with a giggling, blue-eyed infant for a sun. These alien babies occasionally receive television broadcasts from earth with earth children on them (displayed on television monitors on their fat little tummies and received through television antennae on their heads). They eat pudding (tubby custard) and toast (tubby, of course). They also sing and dance and play with toys and assorted other-side-of-the-looking-glass wonders. It sounds strange, and to a Southern Baptist might sound vaguely satanic, but the show connects perfectly with little ones, who are extremely concerned with hugs, juice, falling down, strange new things, routine, messes and vacuum cleaners. ObGolf: Perfectly natural to them. Perfectly alien to us. It’s kind of like the golf swing. Perfectly natural to players, perfectly alien to beginners. — Digital forums are a gift to the slow witted
Response:
I take my 3.5 year old to the range with me about once or twice a month. He has a lot of fun, and I give him no instructions other than, "Hit the ball out there." He swings with the same chopping motion you described, and sometimes takes a few swings before he connects. His best shots go about twenty yards in the air, then roll another twenty or so yards. As long as he’s enjoying it, I’m not worried about trying to correct anything right now, although I do like the "cutting the grass" idea, and may try that the next time we go. He loves putting (he has the US Kids putter and fairway wood). He puts the ball down about six inches from the cup and pushes the ball into the hole with the putter. As with the full swing, I’m not concerned with teaching him putting mechanics; I want him to learn to enjoy getting the ball in the hole. We have a lot of years to work on mechanics. — John
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ok… Here goes… Zack is my youngest son. He’s 4. None of my other 3 children have shown a particular interest in golf, so Zack is my last hope for a golfer in the family. Even so, I’m not going to push him, I’m just going to putt with him in the den, chip with him in the front yard, and take him with me to the range when he wants to go. Our first experiences have been me just giving him a small bucket at the range and a set of homemade cut-off clubs and let him bang away off to the side contently while I practiced. The range pro and I noticed one day that he had a fairly decent grasp of the the whole swing, so I began to look for some "real" clubs that would actually fit him and that would be light enough. The U.S. Kids clubs seemed rather pricey to me for what you get and I found the perfect clubs at Kmart one night. They were the smallest set I’ve found and fit him perfectly and were only $39 including: Bag, 5 wood, 7 iron, 9 iron and putter. Our first actual teaching trip to the range was last week, and here’s tip number one! *Don’t let the kid know you are going to practice anything.* I told him we were going to play some games. I had my clubs with me, but this time was just for Zack. This is tip number two! *Dedicate the time to just you spending time with the kid and focusing totally on the kid having fun.* We went to the area with the mats so he could hit off of the rubber tee, and we chose the 7 iron to work on the swing. Our little game was to see how straight and how far he could hit the balls. Every time he hit the ball he was rewarded with an "Allright!" or an "Awesome!" from me, expecially when he caught the ball clean and hit it far and straight. He was hitting down on the turf in a chopping motion a little and I needed to explain to him what he was doing wrong. Here’s tip number 3: *Don’t use negative input to get your point across.* Trying to explain to a 4 year old any swing mechanics is fruitless, so I told him to pretend he was trying to cut the grass with his club rather than chopping wood with his club, this seemed to work well. Now all I have to to do is to remind him… "Remember we’re cutting grass." Anyway, we leave the range area and move over to the practice green and pull out our putters. I explain to Zack that we are going to play another game. We’ll see who can get it the closest to the hole. He gets to hit his ball from halfway between my ball and the hole. At first he is having a difficult time with both the putting stroke and the alignment. I ask him to try swinging the the club just like the pendulum on the tick tock clock in our living room and that works immediatly. Then I lay my putter down on the green pointing at the hole right beside his ball and he instinctivly begins to line his putter head up correctly. We are really going now, and he is actually beating me on some of the putts. I try to win just enough to keep him honest and to add some excitement to the game, but I let him win in the end. Here’s tip number 4: *Kids like to win.* That’s not to say that kids don’t need to learn how to lose, It’s just to say that at this stage of the process I chose to encourage him by letting him win. He will learn to lose later. I decided it was time to go home. We had spent an hour at the range and it only felt like only 10 minutes. Here’s tip number 4: *Always stop before the kid is ready to stop.* This way the kid never gets burned out. Then you promise that if he is good, you guys can come back and "play" some more on another day. This way he’s already looking forward to the next time at the range. We got home and he was gushing to "Mommy" about all of the fun "Me and Daddy" had at the driving range, and spent about 10 minutes telling her everything. I’ll send you guys an update after our next "lesson".
Response:
<snip I decided it was time to go home. We had spent an hour at the range and it only felt like only 10 minutes. Here’s tip number 4: *Always stop before the kid is ready to stop.* This way the kid never gets burned out. Then you promise that if he is good, you guys can come back and "play" some more on another day. This way he’s already looking forward to the next time at the range. We got home and he was gushing to "Mommy" about all of the fun "Me and Daddy" had at the driving range, and spent about 10 minutes telling her everything.
Sounds like a great day at the range with your 4 old! Here’s another tip… Never go to the driving range anywhere close to nap time. Any time I’ve done that it is a disaster and he’s ready to go home almost immediately. I like the ideas about playing different games. I found a range nearby that is never crowded which also helps. It’s good to get a few stalls side by side and away from other golfers. Today I played 9 holes of gold and our little 4 year old was pretty upset that he didn’t get to go 
He kept saying to me – I want to play real golf daddy. I’ll have to take him to a pitch and putt soon. That will be a blast! Good luck with teaching him. Steve
Response:
You guys may or may not be interested in this, but I thought I would start an ongoing thread about teaching my 4 year old golf. Hopefully some of you guys might offer some helpful hints and insights from your own experiences teaching your children, or perhaps pick up something from my ongoing quest to teach my youngest son. Please let me know if you are interested and I will post sort of a regular journal and welcome any others ideas, comments and experiences. Thanks, Mark Downing
I have two boys, 4 and 8 so I have a little bit of experience. Whether I’ve done the correct thing however is always up for debate. Basically, I’ve done very little technical instruction except recently with my 8 year old. Kids learn a lot via imitation and mine are lucky in that I’m a single digit handicap and have a very fundamentally sound swing. I just let them copy what I do and I never criticize. The only thing I did when they first started was to teach them the baseball grip and encourage them to knock the snot out of the ball. I’ve always been of the opinion it’s better for them to learn how to really take a rip at it first and then teach them how to tone it down later than the other way around. They go to the range with me on a regular basis (I live in a golf course community) but I never push them. My 8 year old was usually only good for about 10 minutes of hitting then he wanted to throw rocks in the creek from when he was 3 to about 6, He’s gradually increased his mental stamina for practicing so that he’ll usually last about 30 minutes now. I also started to give him some technical instruction this summer like his alignmnent, moving his hands together in the baseball grip and getting him to stay better in balance during the swing. He still swings way past parallel at the top but I’m going to let that slide for a few more years. My 4 year old wants to beat balls forever and never wants to stop (unless it’s too hot) so each child is different. My 8 year old has really shown dramatic improvement this summer and can now consistently hit his 3-wood 130 yards and he can get his 7 and 9 iron up in the air with a solid strike. He’s also an outstanding putter and routinely two putts greens when we play. I didn’t let him play holes with me until he was 6. The most important thing is to keep it fun. Whenever we practice we always have little games like see who can hit something lying out on the range or have a putting contest. Never, ever push until they signal they’re ready to get serious. At that point it’s probably time to get lessons unless you feel your competent enough with the fundamentals to do it yourself.
Response:
Thanks… now I have a much better appreciation for the "Teletubbies" I can move on with my life.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – PS: What is up with the Teletubbies? Is it just me… I don’t get that show at all. At least on Sesame Street the kid learns stuff and it’s funny. Warning this is from a guy who has been playing Mister Mom for a few months, and has been thinking over-much about kids’ TV. I notice that the kids don’t enjoy the things on Sesame Street that I think are funny. I like erudite and silly Cookie Monster. They like screeching, sickeningly sweet Elmo. Teletubbies, on the other hand, is a TV show about alien babies without parents who have a vacuum cleaner for a nursemaid and live on a green and pleasant planet populated exclusively by rabbits and them, with a giggling, blue-eyed infant for a sun. These alien babies occasionally receive television broadcasts from earth with earth children on them (displayed on television monitors on their fat little tummies and received through television antennae on their heads). They eat pudding (tubby custard) and toast (tubby, of course). They also sing and dance and play with toys and assorted other-side-of-the-looking-glass wonders. It sounds strange, and to a Southern Baptist might sound vaguely satanic, but the show connects perfectly with little ones, who are extremely concerned with hugs, juice, falling down, strange new things, routine, messes and vacuum cleaners. ObGolf: Perfectly natural to them. Perfectly alien to us. It’s kind of like the golf swing. Perfectly natural to players, perfectly alien to beginners. — Digital forums are a gift to the slow witted
Response:
You guys may or may not be interested in this, but I thought I would start an ongoing thread about teaching my 4 year old golf. Hopefully some of you guys might offer some helpful hints and insights from your own experiences teaching your children, or perhaps pick up something from my ongoing quest to teach my youngest son. Please let me know if you are interested and I will post sort of a regular journal and welcome any others ideas, comments and experiences. Thanks, Mark Downing
Dear mr. downing, Your child would benefit greatly from instruction from Mr. George Hibbard. My daughter is 10 years old and is already breaking 100 just from my teaching her a few of Mr. Hiibard’s secrets. By learning the Perfect Impact system at such a young age, he will learn immediately to avoid many of the pitfalls that prevent other golfers from ever playing par golf. Call Mr. Hiibard or buy his tapes..you will not regret it. If you need further information about this incredible system of golf instruction, feel free to e-mail me personally and we can discuss this outside of this group, as the losers here will only find another opportunity to condemn this system Abe
Response:
I would that the first time that you take a child to play on a course, that a par 3 course would be ideal. By playing a short course, the child will not be intimidated by long holes. Also most children that I know have a short attention span, and a short course will allow the child from getting from tee to green faster and through 18 holes faster than a full sized course.