Teaching Times April 2017 - The KiDssue (Kid Issue)
The Genius Of PLAY
The difference between these photographs: one is a great learning environment for kids, the other . . . not so much
The genius of play is a term coined by Michael Hebron (mentioned in the last issue) which describes how important it is to
play to learn
and not
learn to play
The distinct difference between the two is simply how it has been framed in our head. Play to learn makes us believe that we can learn a game by playing first with the details coming later. This concept is incredibly important when introducing a child to the game. If a kid is at play, learning and growth increase esponentially. PLAY with your kids, don’t allow yourself to get overly technical with swing mechanics, those will come on their own as long as they are playing and having fun.
What is ‘right’ for your Jr. Golfer?
From our Head Professional, Cameron Morton: I suggest that you assess your child’s game and desire to improve first and then decide what might work best. To help you organize your thoughts you should consider the 3 levels below and accurately assess your child as you begin to develop a plan.
Level 1 - Beginner with a desire to learn and try out the game. Frequent, simple one on one 30 minute sessions are great for this as well as group clinics such as our PGA Junior League and PGA Sports Academy.
Level 2 - Experienced player with a desire to improve but not a lot of time to practice or somebody who simply wants to play a lot of golf with their buddies and when doing so play slightly better than them. Playing lessons, green reading lessons, club and putter fittings, distance measurements (to figure out exactly how far each club goes) are just some of the things we offer which will help you achieve this goal as they don’t require any technique change or practice.
Level 3 - Experienced golfer who enjoys practicing and is serious about improvements and has clear goals in place of playing in and competing for championships. Lesson packages and season long coaching are the way to go here. We will do everything from dialing in your distances, to creating weekly practice schedules, to tracking your statistics. This option requires a decent time commitment from both coach and player and has limited spots available.
Footnote: All 3 of Lake Valley’s professionals are now certified by US KIDS GOLF; the leader in junior golf equipment and coaching. There is no better place to have your child learn the game than at Lake Valley Golf Club. There is more information on US Kids in the Technology Spotlight section of this issue.
Understanding Growth Spurts
Growth spurts are unavoidable. All children go through them, and these changes in body proportions drastically affect the coordination abilities of a child.
At age 2, a child’s legs make up 2/5 of their body. By age 7, their legs are now 1/2 of their body.
At age 7, a child’s arms are 2.75/6 of their body, but by age 14 their arms are 3/7 of their body.
Imagine if I added 3 inches to your arms and asked you to swing a golf club. Your swing would be all over the place. Of course, a child’s arms do not lengthen 3 inches overnight, but the growth process affects coordination and movement skills. Furthermore, when bones grow quicker than muscles, subsequently stretching and stressing the tissue, a child’s abilities can also be affected.
Don’t make growth spurts harder on children than they already are by expecting them to maintain the same level of performance they had before their growth spurt. It won’t be long before your child is feeling confident in his or her body again.
With anything in life, there becomes a time when performance plateaus and the journey to the next level may not be as quick as the previous journey. For example, reducing your handicap from 28 to 20 may have been reasonably easy, but the lower your handicap got the harder it was to reduce it, right? For a child, a common plateau occurs when they cannot hit the ball any farther. And in most cases, we need to wait for a child to get stronger before worrying about more distance.
Like periods of growth spurts, there will also be long periods of no growth, where a child’s strength may not increase for a period of months. So, if your child is struggling with gaining distance, do not get over concerned and let their bodies grow. To me, this is another great example of times when development supersedes instant success. While there may be no instant successes of hitting the ball farther, other valuable sport and life skills can be developed during this time, such as work ethic, team work, goal setting and important social skills, to name a few.
The relative age effect discusses the chronological age (how many years old the child is) and the biological age (actually how old/developed their body is).
Let’s say an 8-year-old named Billy and an 8-year-old named Johnny play against each other. Johnny might hit it 30 yards past Billy off the tee, but Billy’s relative age is only 6. Chances are, Billy won’t be 30 yards behind Johnny for long.
Research has shown that a child’s movement skills are heavily related to their ability to process information. For that reason, it’s common that young children can sometimes not grasp new movements, despite all our efforts to help.
In this case, we have to allow time for a child’s mental abilities to improve before expecting any changes in movement. Moreover, a young child is often more interested in looking at the clouds than listening to your swing tips. So quit the advice and let them play, fail and learn.
When was the last time a top athlete thanked their parents for their coaching? That rarely happens, but they almost always thank their parents for their support. As parents and coaches, we must understand that the development of a child is a highly diverse process and crucially, it is not always about golf. Sport is a great tool to help children develop in a variety of ways, and it is important not to judge them on only their sporting skill. So the next time you’re frustrated with the development of your junior golfer, remember all the reasons they could be struggling.
Success does not follow a straight-line pattern.
A child has no control over growth spurts, which can dramatically hinder their performance.
Performance plateaus again cannot be avoided in some areas of the game. Remember, there isn’t one world-class athlete who hasn’t hit a performance plateau. What’s the worry?
A 6-year-old can hardly add 12 and 15 together, so it makes sense that they won’t always understand the leg, knee and arm positions of the golf swing.
Developing your child into a well-rounded, respectful and mannered individual is most important.
Remember that as parents, you are there to support… not coach.
On a final note, if you want your child to become the best golfer in the world (and they better share that goal), understand that you have 20+ years to achieve it. Believe me, there is little value in being the best 10-year-old golfer in the world.
Technology Spotlight - US Kids Golf
When young players play with clubs that fit, they quickly develop golf swings that will last a lifetime. The proper club length and weight are keys to solid fundamentals, and that's why players are fit into U.S. Kids Golf clubs based on height, not age. US Kids has three lines of golf clubs that are designed to offer options for every skill set: Yard Club, Ultralight, and Tour Series.
US Kids has a unique fitting system to ensure that every junior golfer gets clubs that are properly fit for them. It is as simple as knowing how tall you are; there are 9 different sizes in the yard club and Ultralight Series and 5 sizes in the Tour Series.
This system makes it easy for you as a parent to know exactly the length of clubs your child needs. We can even take it a step further and measure their swing speed to find out if they need the Tour Series (A stiffer and heavier set offered in 51,54,57,60 and 63 inch sizes). Lake Valley has not one, BUT THREE USKG Certified Coaches to help you and your future tour star to get the right clubs for them.