What is considered coaching?

[heavy_hitter]

28 minutes ago, Bizzle80 said:

 

I mean if we go to watch a pga/lpga event why wouldn't we want to watch our own kids play? this is such a troll argument.

 

hundreds watch kids football/basketball/soccer games...golf no different. would you argue not to watch a football game because its for the juniors not the parents?

How many stories do you hear of older men "My dad never came to a game and I always wanted him there."?  My Father and Father In Law always talked about this.  Kind of sad.  Have a good friend from Miami whose dad watched him play baseball once.  ONCE!!  He was always working.  I am not at every junior golf tournament, but to say Parents shouldn't watch is asinine.  

[kcap]

3 hours ago, Fairway14 said:

 

Absolutely  play as much golf as you can with your son.  During and after those rounds you two can talk about the shots played, which is great.

But there is no good reason to be following him around during his tournament rounds. Junior tournaments are for juniors, not parents.

Clearly doing something i love (like seeing my son compete ) is not reason enough for you! 
 

Other reasons why I like being there

1. look for golf balls off errant shots.  not only for my son but the other players.

2. General encouragement to all the kids. These guys are sweating it out in extreme temperatures sometimes.

3. Making sure my son eats and drinks. He is not good about this. 
4. Meet other interesting parent on the course. Have made a bunch of friends over the years. 
5. it is way more healthy than drinking beers in a  club house. 
6. The most imp.  I keep detailed stats for our Post round discussion. He is 14 after all, his recollection of a shot or situation can be a lot different than reality. 

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

6 hours ago, kcap said:

Clearly doing something i love (like seeing my son compete ) is not reason enough for you! 
 

Other reasons why I like being there

1. look for golf balls off errant shots.  not only for my son but the other players.

2. General encouragement to all the kids. These guys are sweating it out in extreme temperatures sometimes.

3. Making sure my son eats and drinks. He is not good about this. 
4. Meet other interesting parent on the course. Have made a bunch of friends over the years. 
5. it is way more healthy than drinking beers in a  club house. 
6. The most imp.  I keep detailed stats for our Post round discussion. He is 14 after all, his recollection of a shot or situation can be a lot different than reality. 

100% agree

Favorite past time is number 1.

I love talking to other parents and meeting new people.  If they don't wanna talk you can't tell within about 15 seconds.

Enjoy watching golf.  Beats the hell out of watching from the couch.

Kids are in the zone playing, so saying thank you to the volunteers (rules officials, spotters,etc.)

[Noles]

People have mistaken me for a college coach several times since I am never really around my son.  I am always in the landing area when the kids are teeing off and once all the balls are safe, I head up towards the green.  Again, once all the balls are where they will be easily found, I head out on the next hole.  I see as many shots from the group in front as I do my son's group.  I just help find balls that may be tough to find and carry the drinks and snacks/lunch.  I don't feel the need to be there watching my son on the greens.  If he misses a short putt or 3 putts, I don't think my being by the green would help things.  

[kelpie]

Always walk a shot ahead of the player, that way there's no temptation to say anything at all. Plus, the kids don't have to worry about the emotions shown by the parent. If the player has scheduled food/drink, they can wave and let you know if they are not prepared. The worst thing to experience is a parent that lives and dies on every shot, and let's their kid know it. 

[mrshinsa]

Experienced an interesting event today.

 

While following my sons group, one of the player dropped his phone on the way to his ball.  

I didn't realize it was his, so picked it up and looked at the screen.  

 

Saw two pending text messages from "Dad", who is walking ahead of the group.    🤨

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by mrshinsa

[leezer99]

54 minutes ago, mrshinsa said:

Experienced an interesting event today.

 

While following my sons group, one of the player dropped his phone on the way to his ball.  

I didn't realize it was his, so picked it up and looked at the screen.  

 

Saw two pending text messages from "Dad", who is walking ahead of the group.    🤨

 

 

I caught a dad doing this exact thing red handed.  Such a bull s*** move.

[RmoorePE]

On 7/19/2021 at 8:15 PM, leezer99 said:

 

I caught a dad doing this exact thing red handed.  Such a bull s*** move.

Just finished a 2 day event and I was wondering about this. Can kids check their phones in the match? Seems like that should be a written rule.

 

 I tell my daughter to leave it in the bag because it would distract her (snapchat etc), but I can imagine it is tempting for parent's to send tips. 

 

Will report that in the 2 day event (which was a little more serious than the past few) I never really saw any parent coaching. Sometimes I saw parents try to encourage dejected kids after a bad stretch, which may be on the coaching spectrum, but telling them to keep their head up, or keep going seems like minimal coaching.  The course was difficult (long, brushy, trees, etc) so it was more convenient to fore caddie and locate the kids' balls. That also gave me a chance to chat with the rules officials hanging around, which was fun.

[heavy_hitter]

2 hours ago, RmoorePE said:

Just finished a 2 day event and I was wondering about this. Can kids check their phones in the match? Seems like that should be a written rule.

 

 I tell my daughter to leave it in the bag because it would distract her (snapchat etc), but I can imagine it is tempting for parent's to send tips. 

 

Will report that in the 2 day event (which was a little more serious than the past few) I never really saw any parent coaching. Sometimes I saw parents try to encourage dejected kids after a bad stretch, which may be on the coaching spectrum, but telling them to keep their head up, or keep going seems like minimal coaching.  The course was difficult (long, brushy, trees, etc) so it was more convenient to fore caddie and locate the kids' balls. That also gave me a chance to chat with the rules officials hanging around, which was fun.

AJGA are paperless events and require you to use phones to keep score.

 

Last week my son played in a 3 Day Hurricane Event at Sea Island.  Caddies were allowed as long as they weren't parents.  Was sad to see that there was no vetting for the caddies.  A lot of parents were on the bag.  Brought to the directors attention on Saturday, which I though should have been an automatic DQ, and nothing as there were still parents huffing on Sunday.  One of the dads even rented a cart to drive his kids bag on.

[leezer99]

1 hour ago, heavy_hitter said:

AJGA are paperless events and require you to use phones to keep score.

 

Last week my son played in a 3 Day Hurricane Event at Sea Island.  Caddies were allowed as long as they weren't parents.  Was sad to see that there was no vetting for the caddies.  A lot of parents were on the bag.  Brought to the directors attention on Saturday, which I though should have been an automatic DQ, and nothing as there were still parents huffing on Sunday.  One of the dads even rented a cart to drive his kids bag on.

 

If you're a daddy caddie you had better get off your butt and walk with that kid's bag.  That's just straight BS.  I caddied for my son the other day in an event and played 36 holes in one day from the tips (7,100 yards) with a 45 minute break to chill and eat.  That's 8 miles if he hits the ball straight from tee to green and if you know my kid he is anything but straight off the tee.

[kekoa]

While we are on the subject.  Got paired with a kid over two days at FCG Worlds.   The dad starts off telling me what a stickler he is for etiquette etc.   I was like ok, whatever.   After the 2nd hole he tells me that my son keeps moving around while his son is putting.  Dad also says that everyone needs to stay off the tee box while his son is teeing off.   Love it!!   This dad actually cares more about stuff than his own child does and it showed.  It was actually funny and annoying at the same time.  Throughout the round, he is giving full on advice to the child.  Everything from 'Check the wind to watch your lie.'   The kid even used a motorized push cart for a few holes, but told the rules guy that he didn't know he couldn't use one.   It was complete torture!!!

[Bizzle80]

5 hours ago, kekoa said:

While we are on the subject.  Got paired with a kid over two days at FCG Worlds.   The dad starts off telling me what a stickler he is for etiquette etc.   I was like ok, whatever.   After the 2nd hole he tells me that my son keeps moving around while his son is putting.  Dad also says that everyone needs to stay off the tee box while his son is teeing off.   Love it!!   This dad actually cares more about stuff than his own child does and it showed.  It was actually funny and annoying at the same time.  Throughout the round, he is giving full on advice to the child.  Everything from 'Check the wind to watch your lie.'   The kid even used a motorized push cart for a few holes, but told the rules guy that he didn't know he couldn't use one.   It was complete torture!!!

 

 Nobody breathe when I’m putting please...

[leezer99]

9 hours ago, Bizzle80 said:

 

 Nobody breathe when I’m putting please...

 

There was a guy in our men's club that would back off a putt if a hummingbird farted nearby.  

[RobS]

I follow my son in some of his tournaments but at a distance.  I see some parents coaching on occasion but not a lot as these are teenagers.  The most interaction I have is helping spot errant balls for the group as I usually walk a shot ahead.  If we cross paths, I'll occasionally say something generic like good playing, have fun, hang in there, finish strong.  When parents walk along side their kids, I tend to see kids looking at the parents after bad shots.  More body language than comments and it generally appears to cause some stress.  The problem I see is when parents get involved in rulings, drops in particular.  I've witnessed parents, several times, advising their kids to take questionable relief or when they are legitimately entitled to relief, they are advising improper drops.  Earlier this summer I watched a kid hit an approach into a hazard.  He was about to make a proper drop at the nearest point of relief and his Dad told him to take relief at a different angle so he could drop it on the cart path and then take relief again on the other side of the cart path.  I might not be explaining it clearly but the net result was the kid dropping about 10 feet from the nearest point of relief with easy shot to the green and a better lie.  I walked by and politely said they might want to double check the nearest point of relief from the hazard or get the official if they were unclear because the son, to his credit, was questioning his Dad on it.  I probably shouldn't have said anything but there seemed to be some confusion and in those cases, people usually want some input.  They went ahead with the (bad) drop. The Dad flipped his lid and spent the next hole following me telling me how he was right. Life's to short for that, so I just basically said "my bad" for saying anything.  I think he was worried that I would say something to an official, which I didn't have any plans to do.

[heavy_hitter]

15 hours ago, RobS said:

I follow my son in some of his tournaments but at a distance.  I see some parents coaching on occasion but not a lot as these are teenagers.  The most interaction I have is helping spot errant balls for the group as I usually walk a shot ahead.  If we cross paths, I'll occasionally say something generic like good playing, have fun, hang in there, finish strong.  When parents walk along side their kids, I tend to see kids looking at the parents after bad shots.  More body language than comments and it generally appears to cause some stress.  The problem I see is when parents get involved in rulings, drops in particular.  I've witnessed parents, several times, advising their kids to take questionable relief or when they are legitimately entitled to relief, they are advising improper drops.  Earlier this summer I watched a kid hit an approach into a hazard.  He was about to make a proper drop at the nearest point of relief and his Dad told him to take relief at a different angle so he could drop it on the cart path and then take relief again on the other side of the cart path.  I might not be explaining it clearly but the net result was the kid dropping about 10 feet from the nearest point of relief with easy shot to the green and a better lie.  I walked by and politely said they might want to double check the nearest point of relief from the hazard or get the official if they were unclear because the son, to his credit, was questioning his Dad on it.  I probably shouldn't have said anything but there seemed to be some confusion and in those cases, people usually want some input.  They went ahead with the (bad) drop. The Dad flipped his lid and spent the next hole following me telling me how he was right. Life's to short for that, so I just basically said "my bad" for saying anything.  I think he was worried that I would say something to an official, which I didn't have any plans to do.

This kind of stuff happens all the time.