- Welcome, Adam Bazalgette here,
two time PGA Teacher of the Year award winner.
Today's subject, a really good one, I think,
teaching golf to kids.
Let's check it out.
(mellow music)
So, teaching golf to kids, could be your kids,
could be your grandkids or whatever
really, really important 'cause this is how
the game's gonna grow.
And, we wanna see them have fun.
I've got quite a bit of experience in this
and I'm gonna show you what your real objective
should be at the beginning entry level,
younger kids and whatnot.
And secondly, I'll give you some dos and don'ts
things to avoid and things you should emphasize
as we go through the video.
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Would love to get more free content.
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Have full courses in every aspect of the game
including one-on-one internet lessons with me.
Okay, let's check it out.
Okay, before we get into the dos and don'ts,
at least a couple on my list of teaching
young kids golf here's the thing you've gotta know.
This is not an easy game, and I don't care,
the club face is small down there.
I don't care how coordinated the little kid is
if they're younger and they're new to golf
they're not gonna have consistent success
and hit the ball solidly.
So, that's not necessarily your object.
The only way they're gonna develop that skill
that you gotta have to play decent golf
is if they stick with it.
So, in order for them to stick with it, I'm telling you,
they have to feel that golf is fun.
If that isn't that way for them with golf,
if their experience is difficult and dad keeps yelling at me
they're not gonna stick with it.
So, you tell me if my little student here Laney
is having any fun.
Let's check it out.
Hi, we're gonna aim over here.
What's more fun hitting it on the range
or hitting it in the lake?
- Hitting into the lake.
- Okay, show me then.
Nice one, wanna try one more? - Yes.
- Why is it more fun to hit it in the lake?
Just is, huh?
- 'Cause you're hitting it in the lake.
- Okay.
- That one looks more white.
(laughs)
- Did you see it bounce out on the water?
(laughs)
Good job.
You like M and Ms? - Yeah.
- [Adam] Have a couple.
So we eat a couple, then we hit some balls, right?
- Uh-huh. - Excellent.
You like driving the golf cart?
- Yeah. - It's fun, isn't it?
Okay, a little bit this way.
You're getting good at this, you know, okay.
Okay, so Laney came to me about a year ago.
Her mother brought her out, wanted her to try golf
see if it was a fit.
And, as you can see we have some fun doing it.
She loves to drive the golf cart
in a safe way, who wouldn't?
Loves to have a little bit of candy.
Loves hitting a couple of balls down by the lake.
We use a couple of old ones and it's kind of a reward
for hanging in there and doing well.
We walk down by the edge of the lake and do that.
We'll take a nature break if something interesting
in nature happens we'll put the club down
and go take a look at that.
Point is, she learned to have fun early in golf
and within a few weeks she was asking her mom
if she could keep coming out for golf lessons.
And, it's only in that context sticking with it
that she's gained some skill.
We'll talk about that here in just a second.
Now, let me give you two don'ts, two things
you really gotta avoid when you teach these kids
and two things I would recommend.
First don't, and this is biggie, don't offer
corrections and fixes every time they mis-hit the ball.
They're not gonna hit it that consistently.
If every time they mis-hit it you dive in
and say, "You moved your head, you straightened your arm,"
or whatever it is you did, "you didn't watch the ball,"
it's purgatory and it doesn't help.
Believe me if you were teaching a kid to walk,
a two or three year old, what do you have to do?
This is something I learned from one of my mentors,
Fred Shoemaker, you don't correct them every time they fall.
They know they fell.
You provide a safe environment.
You put cushions down.
You make sure there's no sharp edges to the furniture.
Let 'em make mistakes, let 'em develop
and encourage them.
So, don't number one is don't try to correct
with a fix every time they make a mis-hit.
Number two don't, see a lot of parents doing this.
They kind of know what a good golf swing should look like
and they try to discipline their kid's swing
to make it too good looking and they take motion out.
Listen, these little guys and gals aren't that strong so,
me back up a bit you'll frequently see them
moving their feet and moving around.
That's how they can create some motion and some energy.
Let them do that.
Let them have some motion.
Far more important to create some dynamics
and some speed then to look really disciplined,
feet and head still.
So, those are the two don'ts.
Two of the dos, generally speaking pay more attention
to the golf club.
Teach 'em with the golf club.
Don't teach 'em what their knees should be doing
and their head and their legs.
I'll show you Laney in just a minute
and some of the development she's had.
And secondly, the kind of feedback that's valuable to them,
we just said when they're learning to walk
hey if they fall they know it.
They don't need you to tell them you fell over
and they react to that.
But, the golf club not quite so obvious.
So, if they're hitting balls, let's say off the very end
of the club and it's going off line, going to the side
go tell 'em, "Hey, you're making contact
"with the ball right here, that's why it's shooting there."
That's feedback that's helpful to them
and doesn't bog them down or tell them,
"Hey, if you're hitting the top of the ball
"that's why it rolls.
"You need to hit this way."
Give them some feedback about what the club
should be doing and let them work out with their body
how to make that happen.
So, let's have a little look at Laney.
She's hung in there for a year now.
We have a great time when she comes out.
I haven't told her a whole lot, but here's how
I've trained her a little bit, check it out.
So, there's Laney the first time she came in.
And again, she'd hardly played any golf,
a little undisciplined there.
Kind of just a scoop, obviously wasn't getting
a lot of solid contact.
Now, really mostly what I've done with her
is just take the club and kind of hit it with her
so she feels a little bit of that reaction
of the club, the lag, how to apply pressure
to the ball, not to hit up on it.
But, I don't detail it out in a lot of lingo.
And, here we are after she's hung in for a while.
And, watch this for an impact.
That's a great impact, it might be leaning
a little too much through the shaft or whatever,
but she can hit some solid shots now.
What a difference from that all without saying
a whole lot.
If you look at her from this angle same idea,
she's just got used to what the club does
and her body reacts beautifully.
So, she's making progress and she loves the game.
So pretty good there, and as I said I didn't tell her
a whole lot, we just hung in there with it.
So again, job one is they have to associate golf with fun.
Don't number one, don't correct after every bad shot,
offer some kind of solution as to what might have happened.
Number two don't, don't kill motion,
let 'em move a little bit.
Number three, give them feedback,
but really regards to club, where's the ball
hitting the club, why is the ball doing
a few of the things it's doing.
And number four, there make sure you're teaching them
more with the golf club and less with their body
as they go.
If you do these things your kids will have
a lot more fun.
They'll stick with the game.
And, you'll have a lot more fun with 'em
in the game as well.
And of course, it's critical we grow this game.
Gotta have a generation of people coming up that love it
if it's gonna survive and do well.
Well, I hope those thoughts are helpful for you
with teaching golf to kids.
As I say, I've had some experience with this
and I've got a sense of what works and what doesn't.
And, I've had some good input, of course,
from some other people in the industry
that've helped me figure it out.
So, if you like the video please subscribe
to the channel.
Would love to get you more free content.
Scratchgolfacademy.com is my website,
one-on-one internet lessons with me.
Thanks again for your time.
(clicks)