Beginning Golf (at 14)

[Seaweed]

Hi all, been a bit since been on the forum, I got out of golf in 2017-2018 as we were transferred for work and just too much going on.  We have joined a club again that my goals have changed more focused to the kids and not myself.  Mainly my daughter.  She's 14 and wants to start playing golf.  She played with me all the time from 3-7 or was at the course anyways.  She would hit balls back then, but it was hit it run nothing structured just fun.  She then went on to softball, and then volleyball which she still plays.  Her goals aren't really I don't believe to be a collegiate golfer, I think she would like to play for high school team, maybe not next year, but in general she just wants to start playing with probably not a lot of expectations and see where it goes.  I'm LH and she's RH, so outside of the very basic I'm not help, and I'm just not that good anymore.  Our course is about 8 minutes from the house, and a supportive wife, we could go every day or almost every day if she wants.  So with all that said I'm also completely lost with it as well.

 

- What frequency with a coach?  I wanted to get her into one pretty quick just to start her on fundamentals, but is it something you do weekly for a while, and then go less often.  I guess this kind of depends on what her goals are, but for now taking the approach playing the game for fun to see where it happens.

 

- With the availability to go as often whats a practice schedule look like for y'all?  I personally spend less time hitting driver and more hitting wedges/putting/chipping, but starting out I could see more time on the range just hitting the ball?

 

- What am I looking towards clubs?  I see the ladies sets, and realize it's probably more about the shafts, but also have seen lighter heads.  Once she has a golf swing I would expect her to have decent swing speed, she's not a tiny little girl, works out everyday, and plays volleyball. Currently borrowing some clubs from a friend that have some regular flex graphite on some old X-12's I think.  Obviously this isn't long term just to see if she likes it.  So long question of how long do I wait to get her fitted, and I guess fitting would answer my other questions?

 

If you made it this far through my babbling, thanks...I'm pretty lost so far on what angle to take here.

 

Appreciate any advice.

[tatertot]

As the dad of a soon-to-be high school senior athlete, my advice is don't push too hard and enjoy the ride. Golf is a "lifetime" sport and hopefully she's in for the long haul. You 2 could have years of late afternoon rounds and amazing memories ahead.

[Seaweed]

Thanks for that, for sure won't be pushing.  I've told her basically you tell me when you want to go.  Volleyball is her main love, so I don't think golf will overtake that, however, like you said lifetime sport is 100% true.  I have almost 5 year old as well that I will be introducing at some point to come drive the cart and hit the random ball, so it's not all for her yet.

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

43 minutes ago, tatertot said:

As the dad of a soon-to-be high school senior athlete, my advice is don't push too hard and enjoy the ride. Golf is a "lifetime" sport and hopefully she's in for the long haul. You 2 could have years of late afternoon rounds and amazing memories ahead.

I would agree 100% - "As the dad of a soon-to-be high school senior athlete, my advice is don't push too hard and enjoy the ride."

I've been blessed to have a son that found golf around 14 and just finished his first year of college.

My daughter started when she was about to turn 14.  Its been a blast playing with her.  We have battled it out for slurpees many of nights.

"- With the availability to go as often whats a practice schedule look like for y'all?  I personally spend less time hitting driver and more hitting wedges/putting/chipping, but starting out I could see more time on the range just hitting the ball?"

 

I would say if you usually look at the numbers of shot per round.  About 55-60% are putts and chips.

 

"- What am I looking towards clubs?  I see the ladies sets, and realize it's probably more about the shafts, but also have seen lighter heads.  Once she has a golf swing I would expect her to have decent swing speed, she's not a tiny little girl, works out everyday, and plays volleyball. Currently borrowing some clubs from a friend that have some regular flex graphite on some old X-12's I think.  Obviously this isn't long term just to see if she likes it.  So long question of how long do I wait to get her fitted, and I guess fitting would answer my other questions?"

 

I would just pay for the fitting and see what happens.  Lucky we live near a PGA superstore.  We can hit about 3 different combinations on a slow day.

[Seaweed]

agree on the practice, and if she gets a lesson will obviously get his input as well.  I guess my thought in the beginning is you have to be able to get to the chipping and putting area.

 

Good thought on PGA superstore, we have one 5 minutes away.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Best of luck! My son is also 14, turning 15 this summer, and about to start high school. I bought his first set of real clubs for Christmas when he was 13, and he's hoping to make the HS JV golf team--and has a LOT of work to do this summer to do so. 

 

My thought would be to let her take the lead. If she really wants to make the golf team, then you need to figure out exactly how competitive it is and what scores she needs to shoot. Apparently for my son, they say shooting about +15 over 9 holes on a regulation (par 36) course should do it. That's a LOT better than his current level, so I told him that if he wants to do it, this summer will involve a LOT of golf. He seems to be up for that, and he doesn't have an alternate sport picked out that he loves, so he's going to make his best go at it. 

 

I had a very frank discussion with my son when he expressed this interest. I asked him if this was something he was doing just because he knows that I play golf, and wants to play golf with me, or whether it was really something he wanted to try to do. I wanted to make sure he was in it for him, not for me. Because going out to the golf course together is a great father/son thing and I wouldn't want to push him into a golf team situation and burn him out if all he really wants to do is go play golf with me. He said he really wants to do it, and is willing to put in the work this summer, so I'm doing what I can to support him. 

 

But if this is just something she wants to do for fun, and if she's not REALLY serious about making the HS team, there's no sense in pushing her. Especially if this is priority #2 (or lower) in her sports life. If, ultimately, she wants to do this because she likes the game and perhaps wants to spend time with her dad, then some lessons to get started with good fundamentals and letting her play and practice at her pace is the way to go. 

 

[Abh159]

If, like you stated, her motivation is just to play for fun (maybe playing on the high school team) then I don't think you need to get too serious or overthink anything.

 

- What frequency with a coach?  Get her a "package" of beginner lessons with a local pro. Just about any coach can work with her on basic fundamentals. Also, sign her up for a Jr clinic or camp where she can learn the rules, etiquette, and etc. I wouldn't bother with paying for weekly, bi-weekly, or even regular lessons if she doesn't plan on playing competitively. 

 

- With the availability to go as often whats a practice schedule look like for y'all? Just let her go play/practice when she wants. She doesn't need a prodigy-like practice routine if she's just playing for the enjoyment of it.

 

- What am I looking towards clubs?  Won't comment on this as I have no experince with clubs for jr girls.

 

You can always decide to get more serious about it in a year or two if she does want to take it further than just for fun / HS golf. 

[Seaweed]

Thanks for the responses everyone.  That's pretty much my line of thinking.  For sure not pushing her.  We went and played 8 holes Sunday afternoon, literally didn't talk about the swing or anything, just had fun spending time with her.  I have stressed to her that as well, it's about what you want to do.  I'm going to try and be very stand offish from that standpoint, other then support if she wants to go.  The game I feel will dictate what she ultimately wants to do, as well if any of her friends play.  In the end I don't look for her to be a competitive golfer, and I'm saying competitive in the sense of even playing for the high school.  She is in volleyball, but it has as much to do with comradery of the team.  Sense golf is mostly individual that likely alone will drive her from wanting to play the competitive side.  Although Sunday she had a blast and I got to hang out with her, so I really dont' care what she wants to do.  She asked me this morning if we can go hit balls and eat dinner there tonight, so I plan to let her dictate that.

 

Good idea on the "pack of lessons"...

 

[Hawkeye77]

Keep it fun, but I strongly suggest finding a good instructor in your area and see how that goes. She's at a perfect age for starting instruction, but doesn't have to be rigid or overwhelming.  Frequency should be up to him or her, and if a pro at a local shop or course I'm sure that would open up the opportunity for clubs that are appropriate.  There are "fittings" and there are "fittings" - finding an appropriate shaft with a little competent help should be pretty easy and then lots of good club options, new or used.  At her age, with any speed at all, what passes for ladies clubs these days would likely be all wrong for her.  My daughter, who has some speed, played KBS Tour 90s in regular after age 16 and some regular Ping shafts at 14, nothing "ladies", but it all depends on her and what she needs.  

 

Sounds like you are having and will have a great time.  Just get her some decent tools to start with and the rest will come.  No point having swing issues creep in because the clubs are too stiff/whippy, wrong length, etc.

 

 

 

 

[Seaweed]

That's kind of where I was at Hawkeye, the current clubs she's using has like some R-99 callaway graphite regular shafts, she has no "issues" swinging them.  Want to get a swing "established", then go down that path if she wants to play.

 

I appreciate all the input.

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

9 hours ago, Hawkeye77 said:

Keep it fun, but I strongly suggest finding a good instructor in your area and see how that goes. She's at a perfect age for starting instruction, but doesn't have to be rigid or overwhelming.  Frequency should be up to him or her, and if a pro at a local shop or course I'm sure that would open up the opportunity for clubs that are appropriate.  There are "fittings" and there are "fittings" - finding an appropriate shaft with a little competent help should be pretty easy and then lots of good club options, new or used.  At her age, with any speed at all, what passes for ladies clubs these days would likely be all wrong for her.  My daughter, who has some speed, played KBS Tour 90s in regular after age 16 and some regular Ping shafts at 14, nothing "ladies", but it all depends on her and what she needs.  

 

Sounds like you are having and will have a great time.  Just get her some decent tools to start with and the rest will come.  No point having swing issues creep in because the clubs are too stiff/whippy, wrong length, etc.

 

 

 

 

^^^^^^ 100% on the ladies flex.  My daughter has the Mizuno JPX921s.  I originally was going to get them shafted with USTRecoil F0.  We set up one with a 6 iron.  The club was like  a pool noodle.  She is only 5'2 and 100lbs so we ended up going F2 cut down 1/4 from women's length.

[tiger1873]

10 hours ago, TripleBogeysrbetter said:

^^^^^^ 100% on the ladies flex.  My daughter has the Mizuno JPX921s.  I originally was going to get them shafted with USTRecoil F0.  We set up one with a 6 iron.  The club was like  a pool noodle.  She is only 5'2 and 100lbs so we ended up going F2 cut down 1/4 from women's length.

 

The biggest things with shafts is the flex varies from manufacture to manufacture and even with different shafts made by the same firm.   Most ladies shafts and sadly a lot things sold for ladies is actually inferior and should be avoided.  

 

The biggest thing you can do when going to fittings is ignore the marketing and labels on stuff and just go out and watch the numbers and ball flight.  Don't worry what it actually says and just try out a variety shafts and clubs to see what works,

[Seaweed]

Sounds good, that's what the plan is.  Figured let her work on fundamentals a bit and then will go towards the fittings and figure it out

[leezer99]

4 hours ago, Seaweed said:

Sounds good, that's what the plan is.  Figured let her work on fundamentals a bit and then will go towards the fittings and figure it out

But what are fundamentals?

[Movingday]

4 minutes ago, leezer99 said:

But what are fundamentals?

Just teach her d plane and ball flight laws.  Everyone knows that. 

[Seaweed]

1 hour ago, leezer99 said:

But what are fundamentals?

 

 

That's for her and eventually whatever her coach figures out.  I'm too much of a hack to tell her those.  But in my mind setup, grip, posture, general swing, etc. all things I suck at