Do you harbour secret desires that your teenager will one day play the PGA or LPGA tour? Millions of dollars in prize money attracts so many talented golfers willing to sacrifice everything to have a crack at making money playing golf.
So how can you help your teenager become a more successful golfer? Give every opportunity to develop their skills, experience and knowledge in golf. Becoming successful at golf is not easy, so you need a solid team to give you help and guidance to make it happen. At the Australian High Performance Golf Academy we design programs to the specific needs of our students
Your Golf Support Team
To progress to professional golf, your teenager must understand what is required to nurture their talent continually. Golf is as much a mental game. Ideally they need one hour golf lessons every week (forty to forty five lessons per year) from the age of twelve and they should be focused on a number of critical factors;
1. Good good grip produce good golf swings.
2. Start right and practice right; a golf swing that is in plane and a strong rotation of the body and arms to generate sufficient club-head speed.
3. Junior golfers grow continually; they can suffer from postural problems like slouching shoulders and bending from the waist not from the hips. Shoulder stretching every day particularly in the back of the legs, (hamstrings) and upper body (shoulders/chest) is vital.
4. Begin working with your teenager’s attitude towards adversity. Develop effective coping strategies to deal with setbacks and accelerate their progress through the tough spots.
5. Get them into competition right from the beginning and teach them to enjoy the idea of competing against others and also the added bonus of developing lifelong friendships.
6. Encourage your teenager to study the rules and etiquette of golf and become familiar with the most important and most common rules infractions so they feel confident about any situation that may arise on the golf course.
7. Your teenager should spend sixty to seventy percent of their time working on their short game and the rest of the time on their long game.
Find a good golf instructor early in your child’s development and build a committed relationship with them. Ask around and find a coach who is getting success with junior golfers and interview them about their approach to teaching junior golfers. I’ve seen many parents chop and change golf teachers to the detriment of their son or daughters golf progress. It is critical to start laying down a good golf technique as early as possible and going to different teachers looking for the ultimate golf lesson doesn’t work and will lead to confusion and dissatisfaction.