Leadbetter Calls Out Ko's Parents

When I was a youth, my parents said, "Keep your mouth shut and let them think you're an idiot instead of opening your mouth and proving it."

Makes me think of something the noted philosopher Ron White once said. "I had the right to remain silent, I just did not have the ability to remain silent".

Leadbetter, Haney, these guys have to go.

We can't have two days after a great tournament without controversy.

Golf Digest could have held this back a week and still made news.

Hes not wrong. Her IG post just reminds everyone that she still a child or a very sheltered young adult. No one is hating, quite the opposite. If anything she needs to look within her family for the real issues. Maybe someday she'll escape.

Lets not pretend its only DL who sees this. Along with the story below you can listen nearly every week as the announcers dance around the topic and drop not so subtle hints about her life on and off the course and how oppressive it is and how its damaged her career. They arent the types so say such things lightly and they see the behind the scenes stuff at every tournament.

Gary Hermansson, the New Zealand team psychologist for the last five Olympic Games, met Ko in Rio last year. While he hasn't worked with her professionally, Hermansson has seen this type of situation develop between young athletes and their parents before.

He says the young athletes can sometimes bear a 'guilt' for the sacrifices their parents make as they grow in their chosen sport, with negative effects.

"People have been talking a lot about her being free to be herself rather than having the entourage or the family pressure on her—but you'd want to look at ways to do that constructively, not where it's like you try to brutalise the parents and say 'keep out of this," Hermansson tells VICE NZ.

"You might want to manage that a bit better and educate the parents around what they might be saying or doing. A lot of it is very subtle."

Hermansson says that, along with giving Ko the space she needs to rediscover her basic enjoyment of golf, her camp's priority should be linking up with professional help to help her get things back on track.

https://www.vice.com/en_nz/article/vbm98m/remembering-the-time-lydia-kos-mum-gave-me-the-evils

http://www.koreadailyus.com/golf-daddy-light-and-shadow-of-korean-female-golfers/

Gyung-bin Lim, a commentator of JTBC Golf channel, has been living in the U.S. for 20 years and he analyzed Michelle Wie’s ups and downs. “When Michelle had a troubling slump, most of comments under her articles say that ‘her father is still ruining her,’ or ‘her parents should be away from her.’ I remember one of her games 3 Years ago, where she ended up with sloppy 4 putts on the green. She seemed very upset at something, which turned out to be something against her father. She was mad at her father’s constant reproach, so she showed her careless attitude by hitting almost 80 shots.” Lim also expressed concerns about Lydia Ko that she may follow Wie’s path, “Early success, early burnout.”

“A slight change in the swing stance leads to a huge difference in playing golf. But Lydia changed everything – swing coach, caddie and clubs – at once. Her father started to worry about his daughter who statistically lost distance and accuracy recently, so he looked for an advice to improve her performance. But he should have left the decision up to experts”, said Lim.

“Golf daddies did so many great jobs in raising Korean golfers to top players in major international golf championships,” said Won Park, In Gee Chun’s mentor. “Parents of professional golfers, they not only sacrifice for the children but also endure all the stresses, rumors, and obstacles around the golfer. That’s why these parents are so obsessive about reputation of their children. When a young golfer goes into a slump and starts to hear criticism, his or her parents get more emotional and recall the difficult times they had in the past.”

I saw this up close when she won the Dinah Shore. I believe she was coming off her break out season, world #1, and expected to win that tourney. I was there to watch her warmup, chipping, putting, driving range, before and after her round. Leadbetter was always around her, but mom was the only one talking to her on the putting green. She was very much instructing her daughter. The one single thing that Leadbetter told Ko was immediately challenged by mom. From what I could tell, mom straight up told her to forget what her coach just said, and Lydia consented.

When I saw Ko on the 17th tee (par 3), my first thought about her swing was that she has speed at the very bottom of her swing. It was a very efficient move. But it was obvious that she wasn’t ever going to be “long.” She was straight and great inside 100 yards, and she made putts. It’s too bad that everything’s gone wrong. If I was her, I would’ve sniffed out my own parents as being overbearing and wrong. But I was raised differently.

I don't think DL is wrong.

See it all the time at my school. Had to make practices private for this reason. Most of the kids would love to have a couple games where mom and dad don't show up to breath down their necks, and give advice from the sidelines. My coaches would love it too. If only...

Ko and Wie should start a support group. There'd be a healthy membership form LPGA.

Hi, I'm XXXXX. I have Lead Poisoning. My parents were control freaks and money grabbers, they sent me to a Leadbetter Academy to destroy my game. I'm on the Seven Step programme to making cuts.

Funny, but where were these "destructive" parents when she was winning professional events as a 14 - 16 year old amateur, and climbing the World rankings? Were they sitting on the sidelines during her first full year on tour when she won 5 times? At the end of that season, did they say to themselves, "You know, this just isn't right! We gotta get in there and fix things!"

> @TheInfidel said:

> Ko and Wie should start a support group. There'd be a healthy membership form LPGA.

>

> Hi, I'm XXXXX. I have Lead Poisoning. My parents were control freaks and money grabbers, they sent me to a Leadbetter Academy to destroy my game. I'm on the Seven Step programme to making cuts.

Look up the term Tiger parenting/tiger mom, Asian thing

> @"North Texas" said:

> Makes me think of something the noted philosopher Ron White once said. "I had the right to remain silent, I just did not have the ability to remain silent".

Light travels faster than sound. That's why an intelligent looking man can sound like an idiot when he opens his mouth.

> @Redjeep83 said:

> > @TheInfidel said:

> > Ko and Wie should start a support group. There'd be a healthy membership form LPGA.

> >

> > Hi, I'm XXXXX. I have Lead Poisoning. My parents were control freaks and money grabbers, they sent me to a Leadbetter Academy to destroy my game. I'm on the Seven Step programme to making cuts.

>

> Look up the term Tiger parenting/tiger mom, Asian thing

Just reading up on this. Completely oblivious.

It's been almost three years, old man needs to let it go. And he only knew Lydia when she was a teen. Most parents tell their teen kids when to go to bed and what to eat and stuff like that. I would bet that Michelle's parents still have to nag her to take out the trash and stuff like that, and she turns **30** this year.

Lydia responded:

[https://golfchannel.com/news/lydia-ko-responds-david-leadbetter-comments-thank-you-haters](https://www.golfchannel.com/news/lydia-ko-responds-david-leadbetter-comments-thank-you-haters "https://golfchannel.com/news/lydia-ko-responds-david-leadbetter-comments-thank-you-haters")

"The 22-year-old Ko apparently doesn't agree. She posted a photo to her Instagram story on Tuesday along with the following: "Thank you to the haters for making me stronger and push me to be the best version of myself ... and thank you to each and every one that have supported me, your love makes a bump feel like a smooth ride."

> @Argonne69 said:

> Funny, but where were these "destructive" parents when she was winning professional events as a 14 - 16 year old amateur, and climbing the World rankings? Were they sitting on the sidelines during her first full year on tour when she won 5 times? At the end of that season, did they say to themselves, "You know, this just isn't right! We gotta get in there and fix things!"

>

You could try suggesting something similar to the Jackson 5. :)

Lydia should have added that Lord Leadbetter is a bitter old queen.

Should never kick someone when they're down, although that can be a big motivator. Once I saw a fight outside a bar when I was a kid. One big guy pounded a little guy and got him to quit. Then instead of walking away, the big guy started gloating and taunting the little guy. Little guy got his wind back, got up and then knocked the tar (and teeth) out of the big guy. Big guy lays on the ground crying. Good life lesson.

A lot of obsessive parents on tour. But seems the best players keep their parents there for emotional support but leave the golf to others.

Even if Ko returned to her old form, the tour has changed a lot since her number 1 days. The competition is deep and just as young as she is.

> @"Les Strokes" said:

> Should never kick someone when they're down, although that can be a big motivator. Once I saw a fight outside a bar when I was a kid. One big guy pounded a little guy and got him to quit. Then instead of walking away, the big guy started gloating and taunting the little guy. Little guy got his wind back, got up and then knocked the tar (and teeth) out of the big guy. Big guy lays on the ground crying. Good life lesson.

I saw that fight too!

> @18majors said:

> Lydia responded:

>

> [https://golfchannel.com/news/lydia-ko-responds-david-leadbetter-comments-thank-you-haters](https://www.golfchannel.com/news/lydia-ko-responds-david-leadbetter-comments-thank-you-haters "https://golfchannel.com/news/lydia-ko-responds-david-leadbetter-comments-thank-you-haters")

> "The 22-year-old Ko apparently doesn't agree. She posted a photo to her Instagram story on Tuesday along with the following: "Thank you to the haters for making me stronger and push me to be the best version of myself ... and thank you to each and every one that have supported me, your love makes a bump feel like a smooth ride."

>

>

The term “hater” is such a cop out for kids these days. Oh they’re just a hater because they don’t agree with me instead of maybe taking some advice. Newsflash - you’re a child you don’t know everything

Back in Canada this week and as we know Lydia has had huge success there, all of us Kiwi's just want to see her back to her happy self.

I for one think the huge weight loss has impacted her leg drive, the swing looks similar and rhythmical but with no power at all, much like a slow motion practice swing and the ball happens to get in the way. Forgot the last 2 Tournaments, before that did well in the teams event and plenty of birdies in the previous weeks, had 13 under I see around this course last year and something similar would be a good week. Tournaments where 20 odd under par win she generally can't compete when giving up 40 to 50 yards off the tee.

> @"Mick Douglas" said:

> Back in Canada this week and as we know Lydia has had huge success there, all of us Kiwi's just want to see her back to her happy self.

> I for one think the huge weight loss has impacted her leg drive, the swing looks similar and rhythmical but with no power at all, much like a slow motion practice swing and the ball happens to get in the way. Forgot the last 2 Tournaments, before that did well in the teams event and plenty of birdies in the previous weeks, had 13 under I see around this course last year and something similar would be a good week. Tournaments where 20 odd under par win she generally can't compete when giving up 40 to 50 yards off the tee.

>

__________

This is a new venue. Lydia has not played here previously (competitively). But, yes, she is popular in Canada!

> @"Golf Dino" said:

> > @"Mick Douglas" said:

> > Back in Canada this week and as we know Lydia has had huge success there, all of us Kiwi's just want to see her back to her happy self.

> > I for one think the huge weight loss has impacted her leg drive, the swing looks similar and rhythmical but with no power at all, much like a slow motion practice swing and the ball happens to get in the way. Forgot the last 2 Tournaments, before that did well in the teams event and plenty of birdies in the previous weeks, had 13 under I see around this course last year and something similar would be a good week. Tournaments where 20 odd under par win she generally can't compete when giving up 40 to 50 yards off the tee.

> >

>

> __________

> This is a new venue. Lydia has not played here previously (competitively). But, yes, she is popular in Canada!

Really, I looked up last years result on that amazingly accurate LPGA website !!!! And it had Magna course 2018..... my bad.

I see arvo tee time for her and with #1 ranked JY Ko, come on Lyd's be the best Ko this week.