US Kids Worlds - Daughter on Younger end of Field

[JKgolfer]

I have a daughter who is 8 and her birthday is roughly a month before US Kids Worlds.  This means she's at the young end of the field when she gets to US Kids Worlds.  An extra 10-11 months in age would be an advantage if she were born in mid to late august, but she's on the other end of the age deadline. 

 

She had fun at Worlds last year, placed in the mid-50s, but she's at a disadvantage due to when the tournament falls in the calendar year.   In the last six months since Worlds she's practiced a lot, played some regionals, grown a bit, (about 2-3 inches taller) and gained 25 yards off the tee (from average 110 at worlds in August to 135 currently). I think she can continue to add distance to 150ish by Worlds, but she's still young and an older, bigger, longer hitter in the 9 girls division will be pushing 200 yards off the tee.

 

Aside from the value of having fun and a very good event, is there a downside to her competing year after year in a tournament where her ceiling may be capped due to the calendar and being 10-6 months younger than a lot of the others in the field?  I can explain it to her and set goals, but I don't want her to get discouraged or lose confidence. What do some of you golf parents think?

[darter79]

16 minutes ago, JKgolfer said:

I have a daughter who is 8 and her birthday is roughly a month before US Kids Worlds.  This means she's at the young end of the field when she gets to US Kids Worlds.  An extra 10-11 months in age would be an advantage if she were born in mid to late august, but she's on the other end of the age deadline. 

 

She had fun at Worlds last year, placed in the mid-50s, but she's at a disadvantage due to when the tournament falls in the calendar year.   In the last six months since Worlds she's practiced a lot, played some regionals, grown a bit, (about 2-3 inches taller) and gained 25 yards off the tee (from average 110 at worlds in August to 135 currently). I think she can continue to add distance to 150ish by Worlds, but she's still young and an older, bigger, longer hitter in the 9 girls division will be pushing 200 yards off the tee.

 

Aside from the value of having fun and a very good event, is there a downside to her competing year after year in a tournament where her ceiling may be capped due to the calendar and being 10-6 months younger than a lot of the others in the field?  I can explain it to her and set goals, but I don't want her to get discouraged or lose confidence. What do some of you golf parents think?

Someone will always be hurt by the cutoff but a good friend of ours has a July 30th birthday and she was top 5 last year in my kids age division. It can be overcome. At girls 9 most the kids are NOT hitting it 200 especially at longleaf, especially on how some of those holes are setup, way uphill on a few (especially since they made it shorter last year vs when my kid played it).  It be hard to find a single kid hitting it that long at that age. That being said I have other friends who have July birthdays who go to just compete and have fun knowing top 25 is just the goal. Worlds is a great tournament my mindset has always been if you qualify we will go. IMO if she can get to 150 off the tee that's all you need at longleaf front. With 3 par 3s and 3 5's you can score that way. I will say go but keep realistic goals and scoring in front of her to keep her confidence up. 

[Bizzle80]

My daughter is in same boat, but we will be going just to have the experience, have fun and meet other kids we will hopefully be seeing for the next decade. 
 

im not at all worried about where she places, just want to enjoy the opportunity. 

[JKgolfer]

@Darter79 - She'll be in in the 9 division and I think they will play the back 9. I've heard from parents who were in that division last year that length off the tee is a bigger advantage on the back 9.

[wildcatden]

1 hour ago, JKgolfer said:

I have a daughter who is 8 and her birthday is roughly a month before US Kids Worlds.  This means she's at the young end of the field when she gets to US Kids Worlds.  An extra 10-11 months in age would be an advantage if she were born in mid to late august, but she's on the other end of the age deadline. 

 

She had fun at Worlds last year, placed in the mid-50s, but she's at a disadvantage due to when the tournament falls in the calendar year.   In the last six months since Worlds she's practiced a lot, played some regionals, grown a bit, (about 2-3 inches taller) and gained 25 yards off the tee (from average 110 at worlds in August to 135 currently). I think she can continue to add distance to 150ish by Worlds, but she's still young and an older, bigger, longer hitter in the 9 girls division will be pushing 200 yards off the tee.

 

Aside from the value of having fun and a very good event, is there a downside to her competing year after year in a tournament where her ceiling may be capped due to the calendar and being 10-6 months younger than a lot of the others in the field?  I can explain it to her and set goals, but I don't want her to get discouraged or lose confidence. What do some of you golf parents think?

 

 

What are your daughter's thoughts on this situation?   Does she have fun?  She's only 9YO.  Golf needs to be fun. She needs to love the competition of golf and enjoy it. If she doesn't, nothing you do now will matter when they get older and decide to drop the sport because it is no longer fun. 

 

Also, 9 year old girl (possibly close to 10YO based upon the cutoff date) hitting it 200 yards off the tee is VERY VERY long.  Like Darter79 says, it would be hard to find a girl hitting it that far at that age. Also note, parents will quote WRX yardages even when not posting on WRX. 😂

 

Finally, was having a conversation at our course with another parent of an older junior golfer in the 14-18 YO range.  They told me that distance off the tee matters to some degree, but short game, short game, short game is where it is really counts.

 

 

[tiger1873]

It' an issue if you are looking to compete and end up the being the youngest for an event. The older they get the less is matters and that is the thing you need to remember.

 

IMO being younger is better then being older because they will be playing against harder competition.   You be surprised at how many kids are held back in school and play with younger kids.  When they reach high school it doesn't matter and some those kids can't adjust.

 

Having said that maybe you want to look at playing other events that time your daughters birthday better.  I know the Honda is popular for younger in kids and is in January.

 

AT the end of the day if you have fun and learn something then an event like us kids worlds is worth it.

[kekoa]

Have her get deadly with wedges and putter.  She can compete no matter how long her competitors are hitting it.  My son is and always has been the youngest in his group of golf buddies.  You learn very quickly to sink or swim when kids are bombing it 30-40 yards past him.  He knows eventually he will catch up.  If your daughter wants to go and she qualifies I say go for it.  

[MWhack]

2 hours ago, JKgolfer said:

I have a daughter who is 8 and her birthday is roughly a month before US Kids Worlds.  This means she's at the young end of the field when she gets to US Kids Worlds.  An extra 10-11 months in age would be an advantage if she were born in mid to late august, but she's on the other end of the age deadline. 

 

She had fun at Worlds last year, placed in the mid-50s, but she's at a disadvantage due to when the tournament falls in the calendar year.   In the last six months since Worlds she's practiced a lot, played some regionals, grown a bit, (about 2-3 inches taller) and gained 25 yards off the tee (from average 110 at worlds in August to 135 currently). I think she can continue to add distance to 150ish by Worlds, but she's still young and an older, bigger, longer hitter in the 9 girls division will be pushing 200 yards off the tee.

 

Aside from the value of having fun and a very good event, is there a downside to her competing year after year in a tournament where her ceiling may be capped due to the calendar and being 10-6 months younger than a lot of the others in the field?  I can explain it to her and set goals, but I don't want her to get discouraged or lose confidence. What do some of you golf parents think?

Same for my little one but additionally she is small for 8 and has to play with the 9s 🙂 it is what it is, we go there for the fun and hope to not get last 🙂 and tbh its not that much about age, more about size and weight from what I have seen so far.

But after the Book "Changing the game" I see the upside as well, she gets motivated to work harder to get a better placement next year, and if this repeats long enough at 13-15 after everything evens out more, she will be probably much better 🙂

I disagree a bit about the short game, I checked the yardage from last year and for us its more like Driver -> 5h or 7I and hope to be on the green with a 2 putt, kids in that age will not do every hole a up and down, to play for the win. If you hit off the tee 130-150 you probably play there bogey golf and are happy with each day +5, anyway just have fun, got told from many parents even if you end up last its a great experience so we fly there as well 🙂  lower your expectations without discouraging your child. 

Drop me a DM if you want to go out there with the girls before/after the tournament.

[darter79]

2 hours ago, JKgolfer said:

@Darter79 - She'll be in in the 9 division and I think they will play the back 9. I've heard from parents who were in that division last year that length off the tee is a bigger advantage on the back 9.

technically it's the front.  The back is what girls 8 plays. My daughter had a top 10 finish playing girls 9. While distance is important it becomes less so because of 3 par 5s.(one par 5 is downhill) Get a wedge in your hand on all 3 of those you can score. Outside of 1 we left it short on the other two on purpose for angles on pitch shots. Find a way to make par on the 3 par 3s you can score. (those are the hard part on the front) One par 4 is very short, Two are longer. They were 250-270 when my kid played now they are 220 range. One is uphill one is not. 7 is a very tough hole regardless. Distance is not as important as what you have heard there. If she hits it 150 in the fairway and avoids the trash waste bunkers and has a solid wedge/iron game you can score decent there. Now if she goes there hitting it 130 then thats another story. 

 

Feel free to DM if you have more specific questions on longleaf. 

[darter79]

2 hours ago, wildcatden said:

 

 

What are your daughter's thoughts on this situation?   Does she have fun?  She's only 9YO.  Golf needs to be fun. She needs to love the competition of golf and enjoy it. If she doesn't, nothing you do now will matter when they get older and decide to drop the sport because it is no longer fun. 

 

Also, 9 year old girl (possibly close to 10YO based upon the cutoff date) hitting it 200 yards off the tee is VERY VERY long.  Like Darter79 says, it would be hard to find a girl hitting it that far at that age. Also note, parents will quote WRX yardages even when not posting on WRX. 😂

 

Finally, was having a conversation at our course with another parent of an older junior golfer in the 14-18 YO range.  They told me that distance off the tee matters to some degree, but short game, short game, short game is where it is really counts.

 

 

My kid is on the other side of things. Aug birthday typically one of the longer ones. I say it again at 9 no kid there is hitting it 200. Having played that course A LOT. At 9 The very longest kids were 175-180 max max (those were closer to 10 than 9). That witness with my own eyes. 2-3 of the huge bombers at that age. 

[ncalgolf]

19 minutes ago, darter79 said:

technically it's the front.  The back is what girls 8 plays. My daughter had a top 10 finish playing girls 9. While distance is important it becomes less so because of 3 par 5s.(one par 5 is downhill) Get a wedge in your hand on all 3 of those you can score. Outside of 1 we left it short on the other two on purpose for angles on pitch shots. Find a way to make par on the 3 par 3s you can score. (those are the hard part on the front) One par 4 is very short, Two are longer. They were 250-270 when my kid played now they are 220 range. One is uphill one is not. 7 is a very tough hole regardless. Distance is not as important as what you have heard there. If she hits it 150 in the fairway and avoids the trash waste bunkers and has a solid wedge/iron game you can score decent there. Now if she goes there hitting it 130 then thats another story. 

 

Feel free to DM if you have more specific questions on longleaf. 

This is spot on about the course and driving distances

[amace04]

It entirely depends on your daughter's mindset.

If she has a hard time with losing or not being as long or strong as the other girls, then yes, it'll be hard for her.

If she has the mindset that she's younger and feels she wants to prove herself, she'll probably be fine.  

 

it's certainly tough in a sport at an age where 9 months of physical development can make such a difference, but eventually, she'll catch up, and if she's serious about golf, she should be in a great position once other girls' development slows down.

 

She could have an advantage later in that now, she needs to put in the work to compete.  These bigger girls can naturally just dominate.  once the physical advantage disappears, they may have a tougher time, while your daughter, if she keeps at it, could be in a much better position because of how hard she'll have worked at it over the years.

Edited February 23, 2022 by amace04

[Bizzle80]

I think the thing to remember is that success at age 9 is meaningless in the long tail of her golf career and future. Go have fun at worlds.  See you there hopefully...

[Medson]

@JKgolfer, what you described is called Relative Age Effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_age_effect). The main negative effect of RAE in a team sports is that the coach tends to focus on older kids since they are bigger and stronger and are perceived as "more talented", which creates a vicious cycle for the younger kids. While the symptom of RAE exists for golf, golf is an individual sports in competition and coaching so we aren't competing for play time or coaching. 

 

And if you think relative age is an issue, wait till you get to 10-12 yo age group. Some girls are still like kids, some are full grown adults. 

 

My daughter is also on the young side, so I feel you. To be honest, I think the pre-teen competition is simply a crapshoot. You got relative age, you got some kids are born bigger and stronger, etc. Most of these advantage or disadvantage are transient. 

 

If confidence is an issue, check your daughter's current distance against those older girls' you met at the World at that point. I wouldn't be surprised the numbers are pretty comparable. RAE at work ... 

[JKgolfer]

19 hours ago, Medson said:

@JKgolfer, what you described is called Relative Age Effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_age_effect). The main negative effect of RAE in a team sports is that the coach tends to focus on older kids since they are bigger and stronger and are perceived as "more talented", which creates a vicious cycle for the younger kids. While the symptom of RAE exists for golf, golf is an individual sports in competition and coaching so we aren't competing for play time or coaching. 

 

And if you think relative age is an issue, wait till you get to 10-12 yo age group. Some girls are still like kids, some are full grown adults. 

 

My daughter is also on the young side, so I feel you. To be honest, I think the pre-teen competition is simply a crapshoot. You got relative age, you got some kids are born bigger and stronger, etc. Most of these advantage or disadvantage are transient. 

 

If confidence is an issue, check your daughter's current distance against those older girls' you met at the World at that point. I wouldn't be surprised the numbers are pretty comparable. RAE at work ... 

You're right, comparing her distance now with 4-5 months left until her 9th birthday is comparable to the older girls we know and met at Worlds.  We'll probably plan to go with a major goal of top 25 and a lesser goal of improving her placement from last year.  

 

Last year we drove about 30 minutes outside of Southern Pines and found a "membership" all you can play arcade with old-school games and newer games the kids like (dancing games, etc.).  She is excited to go play golf this year and compete, but she is really looking forward to getting back to that arcade. LOL.

[Jkhogbear]

On 2/23/2022 at 1:47 PM, Bizzle80 said:

I think the thing to remember is that success at age 9 is meaningless in the long tail of her golf career and future. Go have fun at worlds.  See you there hopefully...

This is accurate.