The Do's and Don'ts of Junior Golf.

By Louis Honore Sr.

Chapter 2. The Practice

There are many things we can thank Tiger for besides making televised golf more exciting. He brought golf to the inner city. Many golf courses started jr. programs and many golf organizations got new life through grants and donations. They started clubs and got young people involved in the sport, that had never given it a thought. For a time you couldn’t find an open mat at many golf courses for they were filled with those youngsters with proud parents standing behind them with visions of winner’s checks dancing in their heads.

Then, they stopped coming. First the parents would leave them in the care of the organization or the teacher, because it got boring or cold or hot or tiring. Then the kids stopped coming, couldn’t get a ride, got too hot, too cold, and too tiring. Only that few that wouldn’t give up kept coming. But they were at a handicap before they stepped on the course. They didn’t know about the shaft and the grip and all those things we talked about on the previous pages. They came out on Saturday and got their five minutes of group lessons, and either continued to hit balls at $1.00 or $5.00 a bucket depending which course they were on, or they went out to play with the group from the organizations they belonged to at the time. They repeated this same routine every weekend, for years. And they never got better. Why? They had lessons from a Pro, clubs someone had found for them, balls someone had given them, and they practiced at least once a week in the summer, when it wasn’t raining or when they could get to the course. Why didn’t they get better? Remember I told you this game is tough to learn? It’s even more frustrating when you think you know a little about the game, only to find out how little you really know. Most amateur golfers don’t know how to practice.

Even if you have the best clubs fitted to your child and the best lessons once a week or more, and you practice everyday, you have to know how to practice, and no one should practice alone. As a parent who pays for lessons, or you get them free of charge, you must know what is being taught and take notes. The reason is because you are the coach, and though you don’t teach, you must be the one who takes them to practice and see to it that they work on what the teacher has taught them, if they don’t, the lesson is lost. Even if you do not play yourself, you must know how to practice.

“Those who fail to plan, plan to fail”. You must have a plan.

A typical practice day should begin before you leave home, you should discuss what you are going to work on when you get to the course. Example, “today we are going work on our irons, 8 through sandwedge”. When you get to the practice course, if you don’t plan to play, take only those clubs and leave the rest in your car. This should be the norm every time you go to the practice course, the only difference should be the clubs you take with you.

Get your practice balls and try to find a spot where you can talk to your child with out distraction or distracting others. Have them hit those irons using the lessons from the Pro, and work your way from sandwedge to 8 iron and back again. Always hitting to a target [which we will cover later] and always slow and even. Even when he hits it poorly, stay with it,

reminding them of the previous lessons. Take notes to ask the Pro the next time you see them. Most will answer questions over the phone. You should do this everyday you practice, no matter what you’re working on. Take those same irons to the chipping area, if the course has one, and chip a bucket of balls using each club to chip the ball to different targets. [There’s that target word again] This will show them that there are many clubs they can use around the green, not just that lob wedge or sand wedge. Ask for specific lessons from the teacher using these clubs around the green. He will marvel at how savvy you are on the short game.

Target, never hit a golf ball unless it is at a target. That’s putter through driver. Say it with me now, “ never hit a golf ball unless it is at a target”. Most amateur golfers think the only target is the flag on the green or practice range; even then they seldom hit it to the target, because they seldom practice it. As soon as your child can understand, teach them about targets. Targets are chosen by the professional golfer to get the ball started toward the ultimate goal, the hole on the green. The target is hardly ever the flag; it’s usually a leaf in the tree behind the green, a brown bush on the fairway, a blade of grass in front of the hole we’re chipping to, or a tiny spot

behind the hole we’re putting to. The professional golfer picks the smallest target on his intended direction he wants the ball to go. This focuses his attention on what he is doing and shuts out everything else. The mind will only focus on one thing at a time, and if that is a tiny blade of grass or a leaf in a tree behind the flag on the green, most times the ball will head in that direction.

Now let’s all say it together. “Every ball you hit or chip or putt, must start out at a target”. This routine must follow you wherever you practice, and whatever clubs you are working on. The same goes for putting.

Many golf courses do not have ideal putting greens to learn how to putt. Most are very busy with the “duffers” and you just can’t do the things you need to do to help your child become a great putter with a lot of people around. However there are courses that are not too busy during the week. Find one, I did and it’s free. You can capture a hole and spread balls out in a circle or various distances, and make it a game for your young golfer. Work on the smooth clean stroke the Pro taught him and check that putter head. It too, should be flat on the ground to ensure that the ball is struck with the full blade. Remember that the putter must also fit, get it adjusted also. Check with the teacher on what grip and what stance your child should use and stay with it. However, you must remember this, putting is boring and if you practice too long your child will want to avoid going with you. Make that part of your practice short and fun. In fact, try to make every practice session fun, special lunches, target games and contests, but above all keep them practicing

It is said that a famous violinist walked up to a LA Traffic Cop and asked, “How can I get to the Hollywood Bowl”? The cop looked at the violin case and then at the well-dressed man, and said, “practice, practice, practice.

There are many wonderful golf organizations that want to help your young golfer; we will discuss them in the next chapter.

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For information or additional news, contact the editor at marilyn@ygaa.org