What's a good age for my son to start?

[CHSCHQS]

Hello GolfWRX! Newb here...per se. I haven't played golf in like 15 years, and now in my late 30s I went out and bought a set of beginner Callaway clubs from Costco and decided I'm going to re-learn golf and get good at it. My dad was a hardcore sports dad who was dead set on me going pro (tennis). I wish I hadn't disappointed him so badly, but all that shouting and berating at least bestowed on me a work ethic that has greatly benefited me, something I very much appreciate now as an adult. It's funny watching my pops interact with his grandson whom he dotes on. One time I was like, "What the hell dad?" and my pops goes, "Because there's still hope for him." LOL

 

What's a good age for my son to start learning golf? He's currently 3.5 years old with the attention span of a gold fish. My intention for him to learn and enjoy the game so we can play together for a life time, and so he can enjoy playing with his friends. If he happens to enjoy it and show  dedication, then I'll fully invest in his golf game.

 

Questions:

 

- What's a good age for him to start taking lessons?

- Should I take him to the range / practice green now to show him?

- Should I just start practice swinging in front of him? 

- Equipment. Cheap playground golf toys or actual junior set?

 

 

Edited June 6 by CHSCHQS

[Deadaimz]

Started my son around 1 years old with a set of plastic clubs. He is 6 now has his own set and I'm still just letting him swing and have fun. He loves to come out with me to hit balls and that makes me happy. 

[justl2003]

I think my brother were around 7 when we actually had the ability to focus during an hour lesson and fully comprehend what the instructor was telling us to do. 

[Llortamaisey]

Don’t worry about individual lessons until he is much older or specifically asks for one on one instruction. Group lessons or camps will be much more productive until then. Plus he will be around other kids who hopefully enjoy the game, which will go a lot further to spur his interest. Humans are social animals and kids like being around other kids. 
 

Don’t take him to the range, take him to the golf course. Demonstrate how much fun you have playing. Pete Maravich said he fell in love with basketball at the age of 7 watching how much fun his dad had playing casual basketball. He said he always wanted to have as much fun as his dad. Bring drinks and candy, make it a special treat. Let him drive the cart in your lap. He will associate golf with good times. Don’t show him any technique. Let him whack it around and figure it out for himself. Falling in love with the challenge is more important than being successful. He will let you know when he’s ready to learn. Take him to play putt putt when he’s figured out the basic principals of trying to get it in the hole. 
 

Invest in a US Kids yard club and a small putter. Get goofy colored golf balls. Once he turns five, if he’s still interested, maybe invest in a few clubs and a bag from US Kids. If he does develop a significant interest in golf, force him to play other sports as well. Expose him to as much as possible that doesn’t involve a screen. 
 

just enjoy every moment, it won’t last long. 

[RichieHunt]

I think anytime is a good time to start, it's more about how his 'upbringing' is in the game.  

I've worked with a lot of junior golfers and have studied it quite closely.  I have friends that are instructors at some of the largest and well known junior academies.  And I've seen all sorts of ways parents interact with their children with regards to the game.  It's not that every kid needs to be on the pathway for the PGA Tour or even college golf.  It's more about the child enjoying the game, enjoying competition and not shying away from it even if they aren't a superior competitor and the life lessons that go with it.  While I've seen a ton of kids get involved very with the game very early and getting burned out, I can say the same for ones that didn't get involved until their teens and they got burned out, too.

I think if you want your son to really get a lot out of the game I would recommend that you play golf, too and play a lot of golf together.  And I would recommend that once he gets about 10 or 11 years old he can start to go to the course by himself without your supervision and you need to allow for him to play golf with friends or on his own.  Those are the kids that usually don't get burned out on the game from my observations.

The kids whose parents don't play golf and just watch them every time they practice or play and the 'caddy daddy' types...even if they are well meaning and trying to not put pressure on their child...those are the kids that end up getting burned out and quit the game before they graduate college.  

The parents that don't play don't quite understand how hard the game is and that their child doesn't hit a bad shot or play a bad round because they aren't trying.  And there's too much negative body language from the parents that puts pressure on the child.  Golf is often the first experience for a child to call the shots.  If they want to hit a 6-iron then they can hit a 6-iron.  If they want to hit a draw around the trees, they can try to hit that shot.  The rest of their life is filled with adults telling them what to do.  And it's very liberating for the child and why those kids whose parents aren't 'helicopter parents' end up having a great passion for the game.  The worst thing a parent can do is take that away from them and demand they play the game the way the parent wants them to play it.

 

 

 

 

RH

[jlevitt9]

Great topic. 
 

My son is five and loves sports (mainly soccer). Over the past year and a half he’s gone to the driving range with me maybe a dozen times.
 

we have 2 rules. 
 

1) stay in your spot when hitting 

2) no running on the putting green

 

Everything else is fair game. I don’t tell him how to swing, what clubs to hit, or anything else.

 

He has four-club set with a wood, two irons, and a putter. Of course golf balls in every color. 
 

When we go, I bring my lob wedge, and we have a little contest about who can hit it further or hit a target 40 yards away. 75% of the time I let him win, lol.

 

i’m not the greatest dad in the world, but there is a 0% chance I’m going to screw up my kids enjoyment of sports.

 

I did try taking him to a lesson a few months ago just to get the basics down, but his attention span just isn’t there. So that was that. 
 

I guess I don’t have a ton of advice about when to start lessons, but my only recommendation would be let him interact and engage with golf in an way he enjoys to help build his love of it. Along with the above, my kid also loves to get a Leonard TMNT popsicle from the pro shop cooler, lol. Whatever makes him happy!

Edited June 6 by jlevitt9

[DLiver]

2 minutes ago, jlevitt9 said:

Great topic. 
 

My son is five and loves sports (mainly soccer). Over the past year and a half he’s gone to the driving range with me maybe a dozen times.
 

we have 2 rules. 
 

1) stay in your spot when hitting 

2) no running on the putting green

 

Everything else is fair game. I don’t tell him how to swing, what clubs to hit, or anything else.

 

He has four-club set with a wood, two irons, and a putter. Of course golf balls in every color. 
 

When we go, I bring my lob wedge, and we have a little contest about who can hit it further or hit a target 40 yards away. 75% of the time I let him win, lol.

 

i’m not the greatest dad in the world, but there is a 0% chance I’m going to screw up my kids enjoyment of sports.

 

I did try taking him to a lesson a few months ago just to get the basics down, but his attention span just isn’t there. So that was that. 
 

I guess I don’t have a ton of advice about when to start lessons, but my only recommendation would be let him interact and engage with golf in an way he enjoys to help build his love of it. Along with the above, my kid also loves to get a Leonard TNMT popsicle from the pro shop cooler, lol. Whatever makes him happy!

I love this. I think you want your kids to think that golf is fun. Johnny Miller had some great advice for getting your kids into the game. He said make golf all about having fun. He said to do things like bringing some old shag balls with you and let your kids hit those into a pond. Don't worry about swings and scores, just get out there and beat it around and do everything you can to make your kids equate golf with fun.

[Soloman1]

about 55-years old.

[Santiago Golf]

golf isn't that easy or fun as junior ... golf clubs (even light junior ones) and still be heavy for kids. 

 

I don't have kids, so take my advice with a grain of salt but do have a good amount of golf experience and also coaching juniors

 

I would say get them 'playing' other sports first. Soccer, tennis/pickleball, swimming, biking, and let them have a set of golf clubs for 'fun'. 

 

Get a few clubs from US Kids golf that match their height, Driver, 7 iron, sw, putter. 

 

I started with Little Tikes practice clubs at 5 years old. Got a few US Kids clubs at 7 and didn't really play my first 18 holes until I was 12. 

 

I shot 126 in a 18 hole tournament at 15 years old and passed my PAT at 20 years old. Shot under par in a competitive rounds at 26 years old. Golf is suppose to be fun, you have to learn to love it early on and never take it seriously (This was one of my biggest issues. I sucked and took it way too seriously for too long). 

 

I would start him out just hitting the ball around 4 to 6 years old. It doesn't matter how he grips it (even cross handed, he will grow out of it) and it doesn't matter if you have try to hit a tennis ball first. 

 

If you take him to play, follow the operation 36 format. Have him tee of from 25 yards to start and his goal is to get the ball in the hole in 4 shots. After 6 shots pick up. Once he can break 36 from 25 yards, he can move back to 50 yards. then 100, 150, 200, 300, Forward Tees, etc. 

 

You can even start by having little putting competitions from 5 to 10 feet with him for ice cream or something.

 

keep it fun

[mizunoMP14]

My three girls started with US kids set at 4. Don’t do much at first , hit balls and putt.
Once they complain they are hot or tired we go to the club house and get a lemonade and candy bar that we don’t tell mom about. 
 

By about 6 they could handle riding a cart with me for 9 and hit shots from 50 yards and putting. 
 

I don’t instruct them. I just tell them to hit it as far as they can 
 

I never have a problem with getting anyone to go to the course with me. 

[RobertBaron]

The best time was yesterday. The next best time is now. 

[justl2003]

17 hours ago, Llortamaisey said:

Don’t worry about individual lessons until he is much older or specifically asks for one on one instruction. Group lessons or camps will be much more productive until then. Plus he will be around other kids who hopefully enjoy the game, which will go a lot further to spur his interest. Humans are social animals and kids like being around other kids. 
 

Don’t take him to the range, take him to the golf course. Demonstrate how much fun you have playing. Pete Maravich said he fell in love with basketball at the age of 7 watching how much fun his dad had playing casual basketball. He said he always wanted to have as much fun as his dad. Bring drinks and candy, make it a special treat. Let him drive the cart in your lap. He will associate golf with good times. Don’t show him any technique. Let him whack it around and figure it out for himself. Falling in love with the challenge is more important than being successful. He will let you know when he’s ready to learn. Take him to play putt putt when he’s figured out the basic principals of trying to get it in the hole. 
 

Invest in a US Kids yard club and a small putter. Get goofy colored golf balls. Once he turns five, if he’s still interested, maybe invest in a few clubs and a bag from US Kids. If he does develop a significant interest in golf, force him to play other sports as well. Expose him to as much as possible that doesn’t involve a screen. 
 

just enjoy every moment, it won’t last long. 

I love this second paragraph because that is exactly how my dad brought me and my brother up with golf. After dinner going to our course for 9 holes, letting us drive the golf carts, always looking out for the Cart person to get frozen snickers. I have some great memories from that time.

[naval2006]

Great age for your kid to go the plastic club way and take it as a fun game.  They'll imitate dad or the guys on TV.

 

There's not a fixed rule for ages and not all kids are the same.  My boy's 15, he plays decently but now he doesn't care about golf at all.  

 

Golf camps are good for little kids, but formal lessons are to do with how mature a child is.  Unless you value the knowledge a coach passes on to you, golfers will be wasting time and money.  Golf Federations start working with kids on a one to one basis when they are 12/13 years old.

 

 

[KD1]

22 hours ago, CHSCHQS said:

I haven't played golf in like 15 years, and now in my late 30s I went out and bought a set of beginner Callaway clubs from Costco and decided I'm going to re-learn golf and get good at it.

 

Just like the advice for your kid, just have fun man. Don't expect too much from yourself.

[phizzy30]

My father introduced me to the game at 8 which I think is a good age to start.  A child at that age has the ability to swing a club while still having a long enough attention span to practice and focus. 

Edited June 11 by phizzy30

[xkilgorextroutx]

My son started at 7 when he and I would play putting games together in the living room. I let him dictate what he wanted to do and when,  if we went to the driving range together I'd give him a handful of balls and never once gave him instruction, I just let him do what he naturally wanted to hit the ball. A few years later my wife was going through all the summer programs available to kids and when she got to golf he immediately said "yeah that one!". Later he went on to PGA Jr when he asked if he could join after some of his friends had talked about it.

 

I always let him decide what he wanted to do with golf, and never once pushed anything. I've seen too many of my friends' kids burn out on stuff because their dad was trying to live vicariously through them.