Taught a Golf Elective at My Kid's School

BeerPerHole · March 20, 2019

I recently completed teaching an elective at my kid's school, for Jr. high kids. It was "Intro to Golf". Been hacking away for a couple decades plus so I thought I could contribute. It ended up being a lot of fun, for all of us. I had six boys sign up. I submitted an agenda, acquired some training stuff, dug out a bunch of old clubs from my garage, etc. It was over six Friday afternoons. Very first thing we covered was the basic grip. Topics included basic swing, chipping, etiquette, etc. I included one movie day where we ate popcorn and watched a documentary of a recent US Open. We hit a lot of foam practice balls on the soccer field on campus. On the last day I got them out to our club's practice hole. That included a little lecture on proper golf attire (and behavior). By the end of our session at our club the kids were all focused, calm - that was magical. I gave a final exam with 10 questions. Scores ranged from 10% to 100%. Out of the six, four have substantial a.d.d., one with autism (the 100% score), and one old-fashioned (no diagnosis). That was entertaining. They learned my favorite golf quote - "The harder I work, the luckier I get." - Ben Hogan. Fun stuff...

JBirdUt · March 20, 2019

Well done o.p.! Paying it forward is a great motto to follow. As one who works with many kids with disabilities, your patience shows.

sailfishchris · March 20, 2019

That's awesome! A great way to grow the future!

TIM929 · March 20, 2019

That’s pretty awesome. They will never forget you, Beerperhole.

getair23 · March 21, 2019

Great post, this is an awesome story. Gold needs more people like you!

BeerPerHole · March 21, 2019

JBirdUt said:

Well done o.p.! Paying it forward is a great motto to follow. As one who works with many kids with disabilities, your patience shows.

Thanks. I think an interesting point is that this group was just a random sample of boys from a standard jr. high. Only one with no diagnosis. I find that alarming, that only one doesn't have a developmental disability. One of my favorite moments though...at one point the kids opened up about their diagnosis with me and each other and the one kid who's "normal" just stood there with his arms folded, looking down with a smile. The others all started poking at him in a mocking way, pretending to be making fun of him. It was really great. Great kids, these boys. "Haha...Nathan is normal!" There were a few pictures taken that last day at the club and I cherish them.