Downtime

[darter79]

I know a lot of people and their kids on here play year round some not so much but my question how much down time do your kid take with no golf. I know some that play spring and summer and shut down for the fall. Just trying to feel out what everyone does.

[hangontight]

We’ve discussed before, but we’ve taken a 3-4 month break each of last three years. Son just turned 8 for reference. Last three years the trip to Pinehurst was his big Tmnt of the year and I’ve found for him it seems that taking a break just after that is best timing since he has been going hard at it all spring and summer up to that point . He resisted and it was tough , but no doubt he comes back fresher and ready for more. It seems to take about a month and a half to get back into form.

[yellowlover519]

We take a 3-month break during winter. He’s involved in travel basketball and they practice/play 4 to 5 times a week. But he will hit balls anytime we visit his grandparents, since there’s a nice heated range. But that’s like once every two weeks for a couple of hours. I do think it’s harder to take long breaks if they decide at age 13+ this is the sport they want to excel at.

[kekoa]

We never shut it down. Maybe take a week off here and there but always have a club in the hand whether it be at the range, course, or just putting.

[wlm]

My 2 cents is for kids to play multiple sports for as long as is practical. There will be natural downtime when the other sport is in peak season.

[darter79]

We never shut it down. Maybe take a week off here and there but always have a club in the hand whether it be at the range, course, or just putting.

 

Is golf his only sport or does he play others? Never shut it down at all?

[wildcatden]

We have 2 tournaments left this year. After that, we will shutdown golf till April. When we start back up, we will only play casual rounds or work on specific skills that he needs improving. We are passing on all tournaments next year except for one local JGANC down the street in August.

[darter79]

We have 2 tournaments left this year. After that, we will shutdown golf till April. When we start back up, we will only play casual rounds or work on specific skills that he needs improving. We are passing on all tournaments next year except for one local JGANC down the street in August.

 

no tournaments at all? Why the change?

[kcap]

We shut down tournament golf in the winter due to the weather etc and cause Hockey season picks up. Last year, he did not do much in the off season and I felt he started really slow and was playing catch up all year long.

 

This off season, he is taking lessons, working on some swing mechanics, trying to get stronger and putting. He is 11 and does play multiple sports i.e. travel hockey and basketball.

[tiger1873]

We live on a golf course and we can play year round. My kids like to go out as much possible so it's impossible for me to shut it down since it is basically our back yard. We do take vacations and some weekends we go out and have fun with something other then golf.

 

However I also build in breaks between tournaments and this time of year it means we use this time to practice change something drastic and experiment. It's very important in my opinion to do this every few months to avoid burnout. It's also fun sometimes to stack tournaments for a few weeks in a row and see improvement in every one.

[wildcatden]

We have 2 tournaments left this year. After that, we will shutdown golf till April. When we start back up, we will only play casual rounds or work on specific skills that he needs improving. We are passing on all tournaments next year except for one local JGANC down the street in August.

 

no tournaments at all? Why the change?

 

Some kids have the maturity, focus and drive (competitiveness) for tournament golf or sports in general. We'll get our Youth On Course renewed and play our own tournaments for $5/round next summer.

[hangontight]

Noticing a lot of folks are responding at their “Time off” means no Tmnts, but still practicing regular and maybe even harder on some specifics in some cases. For my own kid, the practice and preparation during the season is probably more of a grind then the actually tournament play . We pretty much have gone cold turkey for the breaks that we’ve taken. No doubt it takes longer to break back in and knock the rust off, but for my kid I do think the metal refresh of completely stepping away is better in the big picture. So far he has had great success with this agenda and he has “peaked” for his biggest Tmnt of the year in August...so the timing seems to have worked well for him. As always, will monitor and adapt as needed, but for now he is only 8 so paying close attention to the balance in his life for the good of the long run.

[MikekiM]

We golf year round here. Usually just 1 visit to the course a week, sometimes less when football or basketball season overlaps. During some of the bigger tournaments we'll find time to visit a second time during the week. Never really shutdown golf, but never really playing a lot of it. We've often gone 2-3 weeks at a time without touching a club.

[AUSweeper]

We tried before to take the winter off then try to ramp it up just before the spring season begins...the weather would never cooperate (too cold and too rainy). Last year, the first spring tourney was just the second time we got to the course for the year. The plan this year is to go to the course throughout the winter. I figure we will get plenty of rest between freezing temps and rain.

[DGord10]

I think so much of this depends on how old the kid is and how serious they are about golf. When my son was 8-10, we took off the winter for the most part, except for some trips to warm climates and perhaps hitting inside a few times. When my son was 10-11, he continued to take his lessons once a week during the winter and then sometimes supplement that with hitting inside maybe once or twice a week for 30-60 minutes. However, by the time he was 12 (last winter) and 13 (this winter), things changed quite a bit. Golf became his primary focus (though he plays bball on his junior high team) and taking the winter off just was no longer an option if he wanted to take his game to the next level and hit the ground running once spring comes. As a result, last winter he took lessons once a week and then practiced hitting, chipping and putting inside at a facility nearby with trackman setups and a nice chipping/putting area for an additional 5-6 hours a week (he also uses the simulator that we have the in garage as well 20-30 minutes here and there throughout the week). I expect that he will do the same throughout this winter. That indoor practice last winter was incredibly beneficial for my son - he not only maintained his level of play from the end of the season but also really improved his ball striking and honed his distances using the trackman.

 

Being in Chicago we are forced to take a number of months away from the golf course but I actually view it as a good way to focus on improving swing/technique, honing distances and working on accuracy on the simulator, etc. without the draw of just going out on the course - so, perhaps view it as primarily work on the game during the season and work on the swing during the off season. We have pretty much stopped tournament play however each winter and probably won't pick that up again until the spring.

 

At least for my son at his age, I think this is the right "downtime" for him - he practiced/played about 40+/- hours per week during the summer and so dropping that to under 10 is really backing off, letting him regroup and step away but while still maintaining his game. I should add that we always take the lead from our son - he practices when he wants to practice and as much as he wants to practice, though sometime during the summer we "required" him to take a day off now and again. We have never had to pull him to the course, only pull him off the course.... I think everyone needs to figure out how passionate their kid is about golf and based on that decide whether it is merely an activity for the summer or something more serious and follow their lead.

 

I suspect though that next winter we will need to step it up quite a bit because it is hard to compete with kids in warm climates who can play and improve 12 months a year when our season is only 7 months if we are lucky.

[TigerMom]

you should not stop kids from playing or practicing if they want to

 

if they truly love it they will not burn out if they are doing it on their own initiative

 

I have never met a kid who had trouble finding ways to have fun or goof off when left to themselves

[BertGA]

you should not stop kids from playing or practicing if they want to

 

if they truly love it they will not burn out if they are doing it on their own initiative

 

I have never met a kid who had trouble finding ways to have fun or goof off when left to themselves

 

You haven't met my son when we tell him that's enough video games for today.