My Grandson is hooked | USHandicap Classic

walter Dykema Professional Champion
Go to Last Reply 120 Views 9 Replies 10 Likes
Well this lil skinny kid of the age of 7 and soon to be 8 in June, I made a 7I & 9I for him along with a putter. We have been to the local course before here in La Porte, we have a excellent practice area for chips and putts. He was kinda interested but told me today " Paw Paw it's time ", I say what boy.. Time to teach me the swing, took a minute but figured out he was talking golf. My heart skip a beat a huge smile followed, you sure boy I said. Yes Sir, so we went in the front yard and I had a couple whiffle balls to hit. Not once did the boy get out of focus, you know like wanting to play Mario instead or ride his new bike. He actually got a good swing going and was hitting the ball solid, sure a couple deep divots and almost losing the club. My Pal did really well and I'm so proud of him, I'll be taking a few Pic's to share this week. Working the night shift and only had about 45 minutes to work with him but off the next 3 days. He's the new Chi Chi RodrÃguez so look out, this is a dream come true! Any ideas welcome !! wd
Mark Simmons Legend
# 1 12/26/2011 9:41:04 PM
Walter that's great! As someone who has coached kids for a lot of years I do have a few thoughts. 1. Do not underestimate your impact on his enthusiasm for the game. Your continued presence and support is huge! 2. Make it fun! Boys his age like to do things that are physical and fun. Create quick and fun games that have goals that are attainable. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, in fact simple is better and you'll need a bunch of them to keep his interest and enthusiasm. 3. Make your instruction clear, concise and with concrete language. Kids that age take things very literally. You should have one and only one objective for each session and very little to say by way of instruction. In teaching kids the biggest mistake I see over and over is too much instruction, too many things going on. 4. Give him plenty of praise and encouragement, but make sure its all rooted in truth. Kids have an excellent 'fake detector'.
dewsweeper Legend
# 2 12/26/2011 9:58:18 PM
Wonderful ! Hope you'll enjoy the time with him, won't be too long before he'll out score you ( I'd give 6-8 years ).
armygrunt47 Professional Champion
# 3 12/26/2011 9:59:32 PM
Always leave practice while he is having fun. This will make him wanna come back for more practice.
walter Dykema Professional Champion
# 4 12/27/2011 4:24:28 PM
Walter that's great! As someone who has coached kids for a lot of years I do have a few thoughts. 1. Do not underestimate your impact on his enthusiasm for the game. Your continued presence and support is huge! 2. Make it fun! Boys his age like to do things that are physical and fun. Create quick and fun games that have goals that are attainable. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, in fact simple is better and you'll need a bunch of them to keep his interest and enthusiasm. 3. Make your instruction clear, concise and with concrete language. Kids that age take things very literally. You should have one and only one objective for each session and very little to say by way of instruction. In teaching kids the biggest mistake I see over and over is too much instruction, too many things going on. 4. Give him plenty of praise and encouragement, but make sure its all rooted in truth. Kids have an excellent 'fake detector'. All sound advise and agree totally. I really like #2 Mark, if you can't have fun doing what you do.. then why do it or even try. Thanks, wd
bradley894 Legend
# 5 12/27/2011 5:53:28 PM
:) AWSUM! your story made my day Walter..
cogolfer1 LowIndex
# 6 12/27/2011 6:38:21 PM
Awesome! Getting the super youth hooked on golf is fun and best for the game. All I suggest is make sure to teach him etiquette and rules quick and easily as possible. Being on public golf courses frequently I see parents/grandparents lack this teaching when showing the youngens the ins and outs of golf.
PISC Legend
# 7 12/28/2011 8:52:44 AM
Another Junkie! What is this country coming to! LMAO....Walter just make it fun all the time! This is a great story!
LyinLewis Legend
# 8 12/28/2011 2:12:29 PM
My advice is to let him play a round with you...maybe 9 holes or less. I do this with both my 6 year old daughter and my 3 year old son. I take them out in the cart (because they think carts are so cool). Then I tee off while they watch. We drive to where my tee shot ended up and then they both get to tee their balls up in the fairway. Depending on how busy the course is they only get one hit into every green (or they basically get to hit a ball every time I hit a ball). When we reach the green we putt. For my son I often line him up...have him hold the club...and then on my knees I pull back his putter head and release it for him. This gives him the feel for lagging the ball (otherwise my 3 year old will take a full swing with his putter). We have a couple of rules: 1) Listen to dad 2) Be polite and quiet 3) Have fun 4) And don't swim in the ponds (thats for my son) When they get bored we head home...my son will lose interest about 4-5 holes in so I let him rake the bunkers on every hole while I hit.
walter Dykema Professional Champion
# 9 12/31/2011 7:36:53 AM
Just a quick update, we have been watching some video's off the Inet. He was losing interest so out the door with his trusted Paw Paw made 9I. Helped him mostly with his grip, we practiced with real balls today @ the park by the house. He hit his 1st ball in a pond and looked like him lost his best friend. He did want to go get that ball so bad, but that wasn't gonna happen. The session yesterday was a good one in my book. Finally got him to get them hands together and make a full swing. He said afterwards, this game is hard but fun. So I still got his attention and that's cool !

Professional Champion

120 Views 9 Replies 10 Likes

Well this lil skinny kid of the age of 7 and soon to be 8 in June, I made a 7I & 9I for him along with a putter. We have been to the local course before here in La Porte, we have a excellent practice area for chips and putts. He was kinda interested but told me today " Paw Paw it's time ", I say what boy.. Time to teach me the swing, took a minute but figured out he was talking golf. My heart skip a beat a huge smile followed, you sure boy I said. Yes Sir, so we went in the front yard and I had a couple whiffle balls to hit. Not once did the boy get out of focus, you know like wanting to play Mario instead or ride his new bike. He actually got a good swing going and was hitting the ball solid, sure a couple deep divots and almost losing the club. My Pal did really well and I'm so proud of him, I'll be taking a few Pic's to share this week. Working the night shift and only had about 45 minutes to work with him but off the next 3 days.
He's the new Chi Chi RodrÃguez so look out, this is a dream come true!

Any ideas welcome !!
wd

Mark Simmons

Legend

# 1 12/26/2011 9:41:04 PM

Walter that's great! As someone who has coached kids for a lot of years I do have a few thoughts.

1. Do not underestimate your impact on his enthusiasm for the game. Your continued presence and support is huge!

2. Make it fun! Boys his age like to do things that are physical and fun. Create quick and fun games that have goals that are attainable. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, in fact simple is better and you'll need a bunch of them to keep his interest and enthusiasm.

3. Make your instruction clear, concise and with concrete language. Kids that age take things very literally. You should have one and only one objective for each session and very little to say by way of instruction. In teaching kids the biggest mistake I see over and over is too much instruction, too many things going on.

4. Give him plenty of praise and encouragement, but make sure its all rooted in truth. Kids have an excellent 'fake detector'.

dewsweeper

Legend

# 2 12/26/2011 9:58:18 PM

Wonderful !
Hope you'll enjoy the time with him, won't be too long before he'll out score you ( I'd give 6-8 years ).

armygrunt47

Professional Champion

# 3 12/26/2011 9:59:32 PM

Always leave practice while he is having fun. This will make him wanna come back for more practice.

walter Dykema

Professional Champion

# 4 12/27/2011 4:24:28 PM

Walter that's great! As someone who has coached kids for a lot of years I do have a few thoughts.

1. Do not underestimate your impact on his enthusiasm for the game. Your continued presence and support is huge!

2. Make it fun! Boys his age like to do things that are physical and fun. Create quick and fun games that have goals that are attainable. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, in fact simple is better and you'll need a bunch of them to keep his interest and enthusiasm.

3. Make your instruction clear, concise and with concrete language. Kids that age take things very literally. You should have one and only one objective for each session and very little to say by way of instruction. In teaching kids the biggest mistake I see over and over is too much instruction, too many things going on.

4. Give him plenty of praise and encouragement, but make sure its all rooted in truth. Kids have an excellent 'fake detector'.

All sound advise and agree totally. I really like #2 Mark, if you can't have fun doing what you do.. then why do it or even try.

Thanks,
wd

bradley894

Legend

# 5 12/27/2011 5:53:28 PM

:) AWSUM! your story made my day Walter..

cogolfer1

LowIndex

# 6 12/27/2011 6:38:21 PM

Awesome! Getting the super youth hooked on golf is fun and best for the game. All I suggest is make sure to teach him etiquette and rules quick and easily as possible. Being on public golf courses frequently I see parents/grandparents lack this teaching when showing the youngens the ins and outs of golf.

PISC

Legend

# 7 12/28/2011 8:52:44 AM

Another Junkie! What is this country coming to! LMAO....Walter just make it fun all the time! This is a great story!

LyinLewis

Legend

# 8 12/28/2011 2:12:29 PM

My advice is to let him play a round with you...maybe 9 holes or less. I do this with both my 6 year old daughter and my 3 year old son. I take them out in the cart (because they think carts are so cool). Then I tee off while they watch. We drive to where my tee shot ended up and then they both get to tee their balls up in the fairway.

Depending on how busy the course is they only get one hit into every green (or they basically get to hit a ball every time I hit a ball).

When we reach the green we putt. For my son I often line him up...have him hold the club...and then on my knees I pull back his putter head and release it for him. This gives him the feel for lagging the ball (otherwise my 3 year old will take a full swing with his putter).

We have a couple of rules:
1) Listen to dad
2) Be polite and quiet
3) Have fun
4) And don't swim in the ponds (thats for my son)

When they get bored we head home...my son will lose interest about 4-5 holes in so I let him rake the bunkers on every hole while I hit.

walter Dykema

Professional Champion

# 9 12/31/2011 7:36:53 AM

Just a quick update,
we have been watching some video's off the Inet. He was losing interest so out the door with his trusted Paw Paw made 9I. Helped him mostly with his grip, we practiced with real balls today @ the park by the house. He hit his 1st ball in a pond and looked like him lost his best friend. He did want to go get that ball so bad, but that wasn't gonna happen. The session yesterday was a good one in my book. Finally got him to get them hands together and make a full swing. He said afterwards, this game is hard but fun. So I still got his attention and that's cool !

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