Junior self caddie - teaching them to do it on their own

[kekoa]

Personally, I think US kids is right where it should be with caddies for a few reasons. Primarily due to the caliber of players in the younger divisions. The US kids rounds already take way too long. I feel that without a caddie to help the younger kids, the rounds will just be extended even further. My son plays the players tour in SCPGA where most of the kids are fairly seasoned. They go about their business and don't have a caddie yapping instruction at them for every little shot or putt.

[JuniorGolfParent]

I wasn't advocating for no caddies at US Kids as a policy. I was simply pointing out that, for parents who want to wean their kids, US Kids Local events are a good opportunity to let them try it out on their own.

With the new changes in qualification for priority status last year, it makes it even more doable. There used to be a lot of pressure to win the Local Tour to gain Burgundy status to get into Worlds, etc, and so getting the extra edge by having a caddie at every tournament was helpful and perhaps essential. Now that you can qualify via score by playing as few as 2 tournaments, once a child has reached the desired status the rest of the time can be used for experimentation, including going solo.

[leezer99]

I feel ya. This is a solid point.

[leezer99]

Little off topic but I hear they are considering no caddies on PGA tour events from what Max Homa had said the other day during an interview. Do you think they'll allow pushcarts for them or even motorized pushcarts for old guys like Tiger?

[Bisonpitcher]

My 10 year old has only (with one exception, Junior Club Championship) played no caddie tournaments. Here in Oklahoma/Kansas, we have a tour put on by the South Central PGA section. They have about 3-4 tournaments a week in June and July. You pick and choose which ones you want to play. They have 9-11, 12-13, 14-15, 16-18 age divisions for both boys and girls. For boys, 9-11 plays 9 holes from Forward Tees (a couple of courses move them up further but most don't). 12-13 play 18 holes, white tee usually. 14-15 go back to tips unless there are more than 3 tee boxes. 16-18 always play tips. Usually have about 60-100 per tournament. Parents have to stay on cart path and can give no advice or talk to them outside of helping find a lost ball or rules question. I much prefer that to the daddy caddie stuff. Do they struggle or make poor decisions at times, of course. But he has learned his own game so much better IMO, than if I had always told him what to hit and how to hit it. Today my 10 yr old son had 140 to green downwind and hit his 5 wood (160 club). Airmails the green into the trees behind the green and makes double. Afterwards I asked him why he hit it and he said his rangefinder said 161. This course had a 150 pole in middle of fairway and he was 10-15 in front of it. Pretty sure the rangefinder picked up the trees behind the green instead of the pin. Talked to him about not just relying on the rangefinder and make sure with other cues that what the rangefinder says makes sense. Lesson learned.

They also play much faster than if they have caddies. Most rounds they have 3 players and the finish 9 holes in about 1:30-1:50. He was in a twosome last week and they played in 1:20. The kids also have to learn to communicate and socialize with each other instead of with us. All the kids get to know each other and it's a great experience. Competition is top notch as well (most tournaments are won with under par score, kid shot 29 last year in a tournament).

When we played in the club championship last year, the rounds took forever because some of the caddies had to do everything for their kids.

[leezer99]

There’s a local pro that I’m buddies with who runs a junior tour that has “camps” where he takes kids out on course and does playing lessons with them. Teaches them the ins and outs of getting around the course. Hugely beneficial for the kids. He has caddied on all the major tours and was even Chi Chi’s caddie for a while.