Is Golf a Good Sport to Get Kids Into?

2 Aug

Name me a better Parent/Child bonding sport than Golf. Struggling to think of one? Me too…

Welcome to 54 to Scratch, the weekly(ish) blog following this golfers ambition to rise through the handicap ranks from beginner (started in 2022) to something resembling an actual golfer - currently at 22.7.

So, back to the question at hand. So there is definitely a merit to transports such as Football and Cricket. However, there is only so much of a competitive game that can be had when playing in the garden or park without having others involved.

So although there is a lot of fun, I think it’s unlikely you would get to play alongside each other in any form of competitive format. On the opposite side, racquet sports would be too one sided for too long and would be potentially difficult to keep fun as a result.

Golf on the other hand realistically is just you vs the course. There are so many techniques that it is also possible for someone new to the game to excel at one point, whether it be putting, chipping, approach play, irons, woods, driver - the list really does go on.

Because of this, it really is such a low pressure environment for someone young to learn to play and equally, when on the course, you can actually show them what it’s like to play a “proper” game.

All of this reflection comes off the back of my first game proper with one of my sons. My eldest stopped playing football a while back after falling by the wayside within his team as the “fun” element was removed in favour of a competitive edge.

We have been going to the range together for quite a while now, I think something like 3-4 months, and he has been progressing nicely. His work with the driver in particular has been something that took me by surprise, with a natural draw on a straight down the middle shot.

He has also had some group lessons with Paul at Kingsnorth GC, which came to their end this weekend.

Having seen how much he was enjoying the range, I decided to get him a course membership - Kingsnorth do them for under 16’s for £105, which is cheaper than a football team for the year (we were paying £25 a month for him to play for a local team).

It’s definitely worth asking your local club what their rates are!

Clubs obviously aren’t cheap, but also probably in the region of a couple of pairs of football boots, and some clubs don’t have the same clothing restrictions to kids as adults, making it a surprisingly affordable sport to get kids into, albeit with a front heavy investment.

So onto the first round. Zach was playing off of the red tees, me off the yellow. Kingsnorth is quite a short course, so he would probably be going off a shorter tee I guess if at another.

On the first hole, something happened that I think made Zach look at me in a different light. My tee shot went to the right hand side of the fairway, which meant my next shot was going over water, but also the second tee.

That shot is always a little nervy, as an errant shot is hitting someone and anything short obviously gets wet. A group of my friends were actually ahead of us, so as I’m apparently less concerned about harming friends vs strangers, I took the shot, hitting it perfectly onto the green, prompting one of my friends to shout “Great shot Patrick!”

When I looked around, Zach was walking over to me from his ball with a big grin on his face. Was a lovely moment - I felt like the coolest dad in the world (as sad as that sounds).

As the round progressed, there were some really nice moments. Zach played well for someone so new - his Drive on the second making the corner, a PW out of the heavy rough and a 30ft putt off the fringe hitting the flag were all highlights.

It was also funny to see him experience the highs and lows that golf throws up over the course of the round. What was really good to see though was his reaction - he showed a lot of character (more than me) and didn’t really become flustered.

The best part though - simply getting to share the experience with him. Walking the course took a while as he only has little legs (plus letting some others through), however this really gave us some great opportunities to talk, something we don’t get a lot of at home what with other distractions.

As I said at the beginning, I can’t think of any other sport that offers what golf offers when it comes to parent/child bonding - so, if you haven’t gotten your kids involved yet, nows the time to do it, you won’t regret it!

More to come over time I’m sure, but thanks for taking the time to read!

Happy golfing all - have a great game!