The great cliche in childhood athletics is just how much kids are involved in these days. There’s soccer practice on Mondays, games on Thursdays and Saturday, theatre rehearsal is after school every day from middle school through high school, school basketball is 3 games a week and three practices a week, tee ball is even twice a week. Then there is the competition for a child’s “free” time, their eye balls are constantly being competed for between social media and streaming at their fingertips. With a sport based so much on skill and not pure athletic talent how can any child build the consistency in their practice routine to be successful in golf? The answer is simple, you have to make that practice enjoyable enough that the child WANTS to practice, they need to think of practice time as an enjoyable experience, not another homework assignment they’re forced to do.
So how do we make practice enjoyable? Make it exciting. Juniors under the age of 16 should not mimic what they see tour players doing in practice, they shouldn’t have three hour range sessions or sit and make 100 three footers in a row. If you as an adult don’t think it would be enjoyable I promise your child will not find it fun either. My three keys to make practice exciting for juniors (or anyone for that matter) are
- No more than 15 minutes of any one drill at one time, always finish before boredom kicks in. If your bored during a drill it means you stopped focusing on the drill long before the boredom actually kicked in.
- Use challenges and give each challenge an attainable goal. If you take nothing away from this post, please, please, please let it be this chart, not only does it keep learning fun but it is also the best way to learn quickly.Set challenges that are SLIGHTLY ahead of the current skill level, let them struggle a little to achieve that goal, once they achieve the goal make it slightly harder again, repeat forever and ever.
3.For every junior effort is what needs to be rewarded, never the result. Golf is the ultimate game of inches and sometimes that means an unlucky result from a good shot or a bad swing ends up in a good position. Rewarding results leads to a win at all costs attitude towards golf which ends in one of two ways, the 0.0001% chance they turn into Tiger Woods or the more likely chance they burn out and end up hating golf. By rewarding effort you reinforce the key of putting in the work and success will follow.
By making practice time fun and exciting your child will enjoy golf practice and they make it their own priority. Yes, there are more things than ever competiting for a child’s attention but the undeniable fact is that the child will always pick the activity that brings them the most entertainment and enjoyment. If you can make your golf practice entertaining and enjoyable that child will begin to pick that activity and allow it to become a consistent part of their life. The benefit being that this can also be an incredible opportunity for quality time with your child that so few other activities can offer. You and your child enjoying a shared activity together, something that has become all to rare in the world we live in today.