How to get to consistency for your junior golfer?

Wondering how do you get your golfer to some type of consistent scoring?

Background:

Daughter 13 been playing since about 8 years old, distance not a issue although could always be better. Almost has a problem with always going at it full throttle. which coach has talked about doing a 80% swing. which she will do at times. Lately been shooting between 89-93 for 18 holes and stuck there, From watching her play at times I keep thinking wow she is gonna shoot a great round one of these days.. next couple of holes I am wondering what the heck is going on.

Practices/plays all the time. Fitted for new clubs a couple months ago. Sees a coach maybe once every couple of months but has at times been going regularly. I have seen her hit many practice shots better than I could ever. Come tournament time, she seems to shoot herself in the foot so to speak at some point during every round. At the range pre-round hitting them consistent. Can par 3 holes in a row. Another round birdie 4 holes. One round 3 putt one hole. On the flip side can 3 putt 8 holes. Go triple -double at either beginning of round/end or middle of round . Blades a chip over the green from 5 feet off the green, starts hitting drives/shots OB way past target, etc.

It never really seems to come altogether

To me I would think its a mental game problem more so than anything but wondering how to you got your junior to that next level if mental game? Is it a coaching need or something else? I just cant seem to put my finger on what exactly is the best way to get her more consistent. I even let only mom go today thinking maybe I am the problem..even just being there.. nope same results. Starts off +3 after 5 holes and then goes double/double and 2 doubles and 2 triples on back. Open for any ideas! Thanks!

I can't answer this as my son's game was a complete shambles this weekend. Couldn't get off the tee to save his life and had a high right miss with the irons. Putting was good though.

Consistency is just a matter of doing the same thing all the time. I'd wait 'til he's good first.

So many things it could be It’s frustrating to practice and not seeing results.

With my kids I am started to see a lot success just before the shutdown and my daughter started to put in very solid rounds. Since the shutdown the scores in practice rounds have dropped a lot. We haven’t played any tournaments recently so i don’t have a handle on how it will translate to tournaments but I am seeing very consistent practice rounds with really good scores.

The biggest thing I see that has changed is maturity. You can get the best instructors, they can hit the ball well and have a good short game but they need have a level of maturity to accomplish scoring low.

Some parents will drill how to play and plan every shot for a kid and I always was told this is a disaster waiting to happen. They will have success and win so it hard for most of us to ignore their style of coaching. You have to resist because golf needs to fun for them.

so yes it all mental but they have to figure things out themselves.

Some mental work wouldn't hurt. Pre-shot routine, pre-shot routine, pre-shot routine. No focus on the result. Commit to whatever shot you plan to hit and live with it. Don't forget pre-shot routine.

I have been in your shoes and sort of approached the problem analytically. Although you said "Consistent Scoring" in your post - it appears that she is consistently shooting in the high 80s/lows 90s so I assume you care about lowering that score through playing consistently.

I would start with trying to eliminate the 3 putts and bladed chips That should save you 3-4 strokes a round. The only thing I would add is that not all 3 putts and bladed chips are the same, Was it a tight lie, was the 3 putt in the start of the round? Did she get lazy on the 3 footer? Did she peak in the her short putts? Once you identify the issue it become much easier to fix it.

I could go on about this but hopefully you get the point. The only way to lower her score is to for you to analyse the game/round in entirety and break it down.

Just going on what you said, I would say it is a matter of lack of correct repetition which causes a lack of consistency. First thing I would ask is how much does she practice a day and weekly. There is no reason to 3 putt that much. If she is blading wedges, I would ask if she has those shots in the bag.

I have a buddy whose daughter is really good comparative to other girls in the class of 2022. She carries here driver 260. Have seen her drive a 300 yard par 4 down wind only to Par the hole. She is pin high off the green and can't get it up and down for birdie. This just isn't an occurrence on one hole. She will play Par 5's, get to the greens in two, and not birdie them. With the distance she has courses should play at a Par 68. She struggles to come in better than a 75 most days.

If you want to score you have to have the shots. You must know the situation, the lie, the shot, and then be able to execute. Her coach is a wonderful teacher for full swing, but I think he lacks in other areas. I also don't think she puts in the time practicing the shots to be really good. As well, she doesn't have a good putting stroke.

I have a son, but when I see girls who are good, but struggle a lot has to do with their attitude. After a bad hole, I see girls tank for some reason. They can't shake it off and move forward. On the flipside, if they start well, they put a lot of pressure on themselves and things can also go south quickly. I have no idea how to fix this though. My son struggles with this as well, but he's only 10. I hope he grows out of it asap.

Have you considered hiring a mental coach?

The school principal and former golf coach in me would simply offer that, given time, she will become more consistent on her own. She will get tired of making those small mistakes (which lead to big numbers) and will look for solutions to them. You just have to be ready with the answers. Doing things that try to reign in her natural inclinations are likely counterproductive (like shorter swings, etc.). If you really feel improvements are a time-sensitive necessity, challenge her to a game in areas where she is weak, like chipping just off the green. And if you aren't as good as she is in that particular area of the game, have her "teach" you how to do it. Sometimes, being able to teach something forces a person to develop an approach to a challenge.

Good luck.

I think time really is the answer (at least that’s what I’m hoping). I’ve tried just about everything and my kid isn’t overtaking the other good kids.

One thing I forget to mention is a lot kids do not Drink and eat enough during rounds. This can easily result in a lack of focus during tournaments. You can easily lose a lot strokes if you tee off say at 10:30 and never get them anything to eat during the round.

As a parent you have to forceful on them drinking enough and eating during a round. It is really the biggest help you can do during a round.

She's also at an age where you need to be careful and not turn her off of the game. Golf is hard and trying to force a 13 year old to grind wear tracks into the putting green or chipping area is going to be an uphill battle.

If she's willing, spend as much time with her on the course as you can and have fun with it. Don't try to make suggestions and correct every mistake - that's just going to frustrate her more; I'd suggest inviting her to ask for your help instead of imposing it on her. Sounds like some lesson time with the pro chipping, pitching and putting would also be money well spent, and I'd bet working with a "neutral" 3rd party like the pro would be well received.

Sounds like my 13 year old son. What i;ve noticed about him is a lack of attention to details. lack of consistency in stance width, not picking out good targets on a consistent basis. I've decided that he will change when he gets tired of being a bogie golfer. We'll see how first tournament goes on Tuesday

I'm curious to hear an update from the Original Poster.  I'm going through this with my daughter as well.  She's 14 y/o and was shooting in the 70's a year ago.  Everything is better about her game now except for her scoring.  Earlier this year I was not concerned because she's grown a lot, and she's gained a ton of distance. I kind of felt like the inconsistency was from the struggle in adjusting to the height and strength. She works hard and has an incredible short game. She hits it a long way and is a pretty good ball striker. Putting (in tournaments) is messy sometimes. She just tends to have a stretch every round of poor play and heavy frustration. On a good day that ends up being a score in the low 80's but she even shoots in the 90's on occasion if it really goes south. We have recently bought into a small mental coaching package. I'm excited about the potential because the main assessment is simply that she is over-focused during the full round. They're working with her to "turn it off" between shots and then re-focus as she approaches her ball. She's responding well, but we haven't been in tournament play yet so we shall see. There's a lot of mental work beyond this one bit of advice but we're working just on the fundamentals for now.

22 hours ago, Bulldog51 said:

I'm curious to hear an update from the Original Poster.  I'm going through this with my daughter as well.  She's 14 y/o and was shooting in the 70's a year ago.  Everything is better about her game now except for her scoring.  Earlier this year I was not concerned because she's grown a lot, and she's gained a ton of distance. I kind of felt like the inconsistency was from the struggle in adjusting to the height and strength. She works hard and has an incredible short game. She hits it a long way and is a pretty good ball striker. Putting (in tournaments) is messy sometimes. She just tends to have a stretch every round of poor play and heavy frustration. On a good day that ends up being a score in the low 80's but she even shoots in the 90's on occasion if it really goes south. We have recently bought into a small mental coaching package. I'm excited about the potential because the main assessment is simply that she is over-focused during the full round. They're working with her to "turn it off" between shots and then re-focus as she approaches her ball. She's responding well, but we haven't been in tournament play yet so we shall see. There's a lot of mental work beyond this one bit of advice but we're working just on the fundamentals for now.

I think it is the age more then anything else.  My daughter was where your daughter was 6 months ago.  If she gained power they have learn to control it. 

With everything else they have to practice a lot.  With putting they have play a ton of tournaments to get used of different greens.  Really no way around it.

On 10/12/2021 at 9:34 AM, Bulldog51 said:

I'm curious to hear an update from the Original Poster.  I'm going through this with my daughter as well.  She's 14 y/o and was shooting in the 70's a year ago.  Everything is better about her game now except for her scoring.  Earlier this year I was not concerned because she's grown a lot, and she's gained a ton of distance. I kind of felt like the inconsistency was from the struggle in adjusting to the height and strength. She works hard and has an incredible short game. She hits it a long way and is a pretty good ball striker. Putting (in tournaments) is messy sometimes. She just tends to have a stretch every round of poor play and heavy frustration. On a good day that ends up being a score in the low 80's but she even shoots in the 90's on occasion if it really goes south. We have recently bought into a small mental coaching package. I'm excited about the potential because the main assessment is simply that she is over-focused during the full round. They're working with her to "turn it off" between shots and then re-focus as she approaches her ball. She's responding well, but we haven't been in tournament play yet so we shall see. There's a lot of mental work beyond this one bit of advice but we're working just on the fundamentals for now.

Keep an eye on her body development and be careful about overwork. I went from 5'5" to 6' in 2 years and was having trouble breaking 80 while this was happening but would should shoot mid 70's sometimes. Literally a month after my body stopped changing so much I was shooting under 75 consistently. Your timing gets completely thrown off because your body is literally different every day. If you do to much to try to work through it physically you will end up causing bad habits that will hurt her later on. Just make sure the fundamentals seem right and everything will click eventually.

On 10/12/2021 at 9:34 AM, Bulldog51 said:

I'm curious to hear an update from the Original Poster.  I'm going through this with my daughter as well.  She's 14 y/o and was shooting in the 70's a year ago.  Everything is better about her game now except for her scoring.  Earlier this year I was not concerned because she's grown a lot, and she's gained a ton of distance. I kind of felt like the inconsistency was from the struggle in adjusting to the height and strength. She works hard and has an incredible short game. She hits it a long way and is a pretty good ball striker. Putting (in tournaments) is messy sometimes. She just tends to have a stretch every round of poor play and heavy frustration. On a good day that ends up being a score in the low 80's but she even shoots in the 90's on occasion if it really goes south. We have recently bought into a small mental coaching package. I'm excited about the potential because the main assessment is simply that she is over-focused during the full round. They're working with her to "turn it off" between shots and then re-focus as she approaches her ball. She's responding well, but we haven't been in tournament play yet so we shall see. There's a lot of mental work beyond this one bit of advice but we're working just on the fundamentals for now.

OP here.. who did you do the mental coaching from and was it worth it? 

Lots of good advice in all of this posts responses..We will try to use it wisely. Thanks to all!

Last year .. went to 5A state tournament shot 84 Day 1 and 81 day 2. On Day 2 was shooting her best round ever,  in second place and likely to finish in 70's when she tripled/doubled the last two holes to finish 3rd...sigh..lol  not bad for a freshman but we move up to 6A this year.  Played a few other 2 day tournaments and think she shot in the 90's..she wasn't happy about that and I could tell she became kind of disheartened about playing.. would say no when I asked if she wanted to play or practice or sign up for another tournament.

We didn't really pushing playing golf the rest of the year and as it was she had too many things going on. Cross country/track/soccer/weight lifting and working a job and hadn't really put the focus totally on golf.  She still would go play every now and then with me when there was nothing else going on. 

Recently, I talked her into attending a golf camp at a D1 school and she really enjoyed talking to the players and coaches. It really has put the fire back in her to get better! She has wanted to practice non stop since and says she is ready to give it 100% this year.  Who has a lighted range she says last night? .. and off we went in 40 degree weather for two hours.  

Will see how it goes this year! Thanks all!

4 hours ago, mcneergolf said:

OP here.. who did you do the mental coaching from and was it worth it? 

Lots of good advice in all of this posts responses..We will try to use it wisely. Thanks to all!

 

Last year .. went to 5A state tournament shot 84 Day 1 and 81 day 2. On Day 2 was shooting her best round ever,  in second place and likely to finish in 70's when she tripled/doubled the last two holes to finish 3rd...sigh..lol  not bad for a freshman but we move up to 6A this year.  Played a few other 2 day tournaments and think she shot in the 90's..she wasn't happy about that and I could tell she became kind of disheartened about playing.. would say no when I asked if she wanted to play or practice or sign up for another tournament.

 

We didn't really pushing playing golf the rest of the year and as it was she had too many things going on. Cross country/track/soccer/weight lifting and working a job and hadn't really put the focus totally on golf.  She still would go play every now and then with me when there was nothing else going on. 

 

Recently, I talked her into attending a golf camp at a D1 school and she really enjoyed talking to the players and coaches. It really has put the fire back in her to get better! She has wanted to practice non stop since and says she is ready to give it 100% this year.  Who has a lighted range she says last night? .. and off we went in 40 degree weather for two hours.  

Will see how it goes this year! Thanks all!

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It sounds like she has come full-circle, and that's fantastic.  You never know what is going to cause that "inception" moment with kids, and for me, especially in my daughter (her and my son are wired completely different)--but that she was that inspired after camp was a revelation.

Wanting to fight my varsity baseball coach was my inspiration, as I trained on our X-country team's running routine from the middle of that season through the start of the school year... and then found my way to the only indoor, commercial batting cages in the Detroit area that had a machine that threw 90 about 45 minutes from my house.  I spent a small fortune in gas and on the machines (squeezing it in after basketball practice and my job delivering pizzas) there to finance my revenge on that coach and have a nice senior year.  30 years later, I know now that my motivation was primitive and immature--and really, a year too late to get noticed enough--but it did teach me that those of us with average tools can come close to our ceiling with motivation, repetition and commitment. 

It sounds pretty Vision Quest, but then again so does hitting 200-300 balls in 40 degree weather--inject some of that into my daughter's veins!

On 6/17/2020 at 6:47 PM, mcneergolf said:

To me I would think its a mental game problem more so than anything but wondering how to you got your junior to that next level if mental game?

Are you expecting too much long-term concentration from a child in middle school? Also, could the onset of puberty be disrupting focus?

And, maturity and puberty aside, there's this reality. You cannot pour consistency into your junior golfer's ear. She must develop consistency herself. You can help, but she must embrace it. 

My daughter is 14 and is. Competitive junior golfer. She has always been behind on distance because of her size so she has to make up for it in the short game. As she has gotten older she obsesses about each shot being perfect. Her coach has worked with her on this and my guess is she does this because of her lack of size. She thinks she has to hit it perfect to compete. Her coach recommended using decade golf so she had some actual data to show how she was hitting in relations to others. That way she couldn’t get mad when she hit it to 10 feet with a wedge and the data showed that was better than average. She also would

have a bad hole and blow up because of it. I got tired of watching her throw away tournaments because of this. So i told her from now on, if she had a bad attitude on the course that I would take whatever it cost me for the tournament out of her bank account. She didn’t want to give up her money so miraculously the attitude has gotten better. Maturity is huge here and it comes at different times for different kids. 

Consistency is a very hard thing to define.   It's different for every golfer.

Starting out you need to be able to get the ball in air and hit greens and be able to lag putt.  If you can do that you can play ok and sometimes even post a pretty good score. The vast majority of golfers are in this stage.

A really good golfer though needs to be able to repeat their swing hit any lie and be able to shape their shots and understand why putts went off line.  This will take years and few golfers ever achieve this level.

The real question you and your daughter needs to ask is what score is she happy with.  If you can  score low 80's and sometimes into the 70's you can enjoy golf a lot and honestly not need a lot commitment..  

If you want to break par the level of commitment is very high and may be too much.

This sounds like my 11 yr old. We are going through the same things as you are.

I have two kids, a 9 and 11 yr old, both boys.

My 11 yr old's best shots is probably the best I have seen from a kid, distance isn't his issue, he drives about 180 on average with roll I say 200+ on a normal day isn't a problem, and have a decent short game, averages 32 putts or less but like your kid, his avg score is around high 80's to low 90's. Most rounds in tournaments, he would be neck to neck with the top kids in our area for 5-6 holes, then boom, a triple or double will happen, then the score would really get up quick. From what I can see, same issues as your kid, OB, bladed chips off the green, approaches start missing. I watch most rounds he plays and notice his form, small stuff, little things he does not do will get the best of him, this goes for his Drivers all the way to his putting, so to counter, we been just working on his setup and routine, and I think thats the biggest issues, ball position, his grip, just slowing down with everything before his swing.

With that said.....

every kid is different, 4 hours, 18 holes, some kids just cant miss as well, and golf is fun but hard, im sure we all can agree to this, Good Luck! 

On 12/25/2021 at 5:41 PM, MRx747 said:

This sounds like my 11 yr old. We are going through the same things as you are.

 

I have two kids, a 9 and 11 yr old, both boys.

 

My 11 yr old's best shots is probably the best I have seen from a kid, distance isn't his issue, he drives about 180 on average with roll I say 200+ on a normal day isn't a problem, and have a decent short game, averages 32 putts or less but like your kid, his avg score is around high 80's to low 90's. Most rounds in tournaments, he would be neck to neck with the top kids in our area for 5-6 holes, then boom, a triple or double will happen, then the score would really get up quick. From what I can see, same issues as your kid, OB, bladed chips off the green, approaches start missing. I watch most rounds he plays and notice his form, small stuff, little things he does not do will get the best of him, this goes for his Drivers all the way to his putting, so to counter, we been just working on his setup and routine, and I think thats the biggest issues, ball position, his grip, just slowing down with everything before his swing.

 

With that said.....

 

every kid is different, 4 hours, 18 holes, some kids just cant miss as well, and golf is fun but hard, im sure we all can agree to this, Good Luck! 

Several things can be going on with this.

Nutrition

Fitness (probably the least likely)

Mental preparedness (probably the most likely).  This is not only a maturation process, but is how they are wired upstairs.  How and what you think within the routine is just as important as the routine.  I am not talking about focus because that is an entirely different concept.

Maybe a bit different than what you are looking for, but I had same question to a buddy for my 8yo daughter. How come one day is lights out and next week like she’s never played before?

He asked me if she was growing…and then it dawned on me that she was in a spurt.  We talked about how kids hit these moments and growth spurts that are subtle and their coordination takes a minute to catch up. Might not even be a week or two, but now, every now and then she can’t hit the ball…and I don’t even worry about.  Like a week later I’m giving her too much club because she’s hitting it better and longer. 
 

literally 2 weeks ago we went out to play a few with our club pro/her coach and she couldn’t get an iron in the air. Yesterday she shot 91 from ladies tees (5200yds) at Mayakoba. Longest she’s ever played a course. 

Growing pains = lack of consistency. Anyone else experience this?

26 minutes ago, Bizzle80 said:

Maybe a bit different than what you are looking for, but I had same question to a buddy for my 8yo daughter. How come one day is lights out and next week like she’s never played before?

 

He asked me if she was growing…and then it dawned on me that she was in a spurt.  We talked about how kids hit these moments and growth spurts that are subtle and their coordination takes a minute to catch up. Might not even be a week or two, but now, every now and then she can’t hit the ball…and I don’t even worry about.  Like a week later I’m giving her too much club because she’s hitting it better and longer. 
 

literally 2 weeks ago we went out to play a few with our club pro/her coach and she couldn’t get an iron in the air. Yesterday she shot 91 from ladies tees (5200yds) at Mayakoba. Longest she’s ever played a course. 

Growing pains = lack of consistency. Anyone else experience this?

 

I can’t confirm whether the ups and downs come from growth spurts, but my kid does the same thing. From my experience, the bad goes away in a week or two at most. 

Think of it this way. How many of the adults you know can't have any level of consistency either? Most of them for me. Most just don't pay attention to all the little things it takes to score well, even if they have the skills to do it. If most adults can't do it, it is a big ask for. junior to develop those skills at a young age. Pushing too hard will probably only turn her off. 

My advice would be to encourage and hope it develops and give little hints about what will help them (focus on a target only and be wiling to divorce feelings from result, etc). Hopefully she will want to know and you can teach or pay a great teacher/D1 player etc to take them around for 18 and show what they are focusing on. They will either love how much they have to learn and be encouraged or realize it is too much work and decide to be more casual about golf. At least then you have an answer (for now).  Good luck a

heres something to think about is maybe the reason some kids seem to always score the same is play the same tournaments on the same courses for years. 

If your doing your job and playing a wide variety of courses it will take a lot longer to see good consistent scores.

Interesting topic.  Just for fun, I looked up my son's scores last year for tournaments he played within the same organization.  Out of 7 tournaments, his scores were:   75, 70, 80, 71, 80, 76, 79.   During these tournaments my son was a just turning 11 and yardage was between 5,600-5,800 yards.   Basically he wasn't playing USkids :).    I'd say these scores are fairly consistent.   Note that there were several par 4's that he was hitting approach shots with hybrids, 5 woods, and 3 woods.  Not easy.   I also remember 3 things that he did well for the lower scores.  1.  Short game was very good; 2). Several par saves in the 10-15 foot range; 3).  No penalty strokes.  With the higher scores, he basically did everything mediocre with penalty strokes from water hazards mixed in.