Instruction
Teach self discovery at a young age
Over the years, I’ve developed a passion for working with junior golfers. I’ve learned from some of the best teachers in the world, and found that there’s a common thread common between all of them when they work with juniors players. They never “over teach.” In other words, they give junior golfers the right amount of information and then allow them to figure some of it out on their own.
What I want to emphasize in this story is that teaching children is not always about getting them in the correct positions and being overzealous about training technique. What’s often more important is allowing for self discovery.
It’s as LEGO said in its 1970s letter to parents:
“The most important thing is to put the right material in their hands and let them create whatever appeals to them.”
Especially in golf, there isn’t always a model or perfect way to execute a shot. Players have to use their imaginations and hit the shots they see. Below, I’ve shared a few stations that I use with my junior golfers to help them learn concepts without much technical interference.
Bunkers
Bunkers can be tricky for golfers of all ages, especially kids. I dampen the technical aspects and instead focus on the overall goal: getting the ball onto the green. With the goal in mind, I encourage juniors to hit slightly behind the ball and splash the sand onto the green. I’ve found that the “Happy Face Drill” takes the focus away from hitting the ball and promotes proper technique.
Happy Face Bunker Drill (hit 10-15 balls)
- Draw a happy face in the bunker 6-8 inches wide.
- Place the ball as the nose.
- Assume a normal bunker setup and take aim for the smile (mouth).
- Swing through, entering the sand at the smile (behind the ball) and erase both the nose and eyes.
- You should be left with an “unhappy face.”
Chipping/Pitching
This area of the short game can help infuse proper alignments throughout the swing. In essence, I don’t like to discuss things such as a “flat left wrist at impact,” so instead I put them into station that helps promote this position without them needing to think about it. I call this the “Over-Under Drill.” You can set this station up either on the range or near the practice green.
Over-Under Drill (hit 15-20 balls)
- Spray paint a line about (1 foot in length) and peg a pool noodle 12-14 inches in front of it.
- Attach another pool noodle to alignment sticks about 12-14 inches in front of that.
- Start with the ball on the red line, and have students make a backswing about hip high. On the way through, have them focus on brushing the grass on or in front of red line.
- The ball should pop up over the first noodle and under the second.
Putting
Putting is something that juniors can become good at rather quickly. With a little guidance and the proper exercises, they can learn how to control both distance and direction. I like having the kids align the arrows on their ball to the target while performing the ladder drill.
Ladder Drill (practice for 10 minutes)
- Set up a ladder with string, yarn or marking tape. Make the boxes about 1-foot long and 2-feet wide. The amount of boxes is up to you!
- Start approximately 3-5 feet from the first box.
- Have students line up the arrows/line on the ball and putt to the first box. If he/she makes it, have them putt in the second box. Keep progressing until they reach the last box.
- When completed, have them try to putt to the last box first and work backward to the first box. If they do not putt into the boxes sequentially, they must start over from the beginning.
Conclusion
We have to remember the minds of children are like sponges and they absorb so much of what’s around them. That’s why it’s extremely important that they learn the correct things without all the extra noise. Give them direction, show them examples of how to complete a task and let them figure out what to do and how to succeed.
Golf is a game that not only requires skill, but also ample amounts of creativity and imagination. Think of Seve Ballesteros and Bubba Watson; they are some of the best the game has ever seen and probably the most innovative during their rounds, in part, because they learned much of it on their own.
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Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
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Instruction
The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic
My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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greg p
Aug 29, 2015 at 10:10 pm
At what age do you recommend kids start taking lessons?
Chris Ardolina
Sep 5, 2015 at 8:46 am
greg- i think it depends on the child. I usually don’t have the kids start taking formal lessons until about 4-5, but you can get a “light weight” club in their hands as early as 2-3.
Golf Mom
Aug 27, 2015 at 4:46 pm
Chris,
Thank you for some great ideas along with keeping it simpler the kids. I know golf can be as complicated as one makes it. Our young golfers need to still use their imagination I 100% agree!
Thanks and hope to keep reading you informative article!
Chris Ardolina
Sep 5, 2015 at 8:42 am
golf mom – simpler is always better when it comes to kids! I say give them a little and let them run with it. thanks for reading!
Stephanie
Aug 27, 2015 at 4:43 pm
Chris,
Thank you for some great ideas along with keeping it simpler the kids. I know golf can be as complicated as one makes it. Our young golfers need to still use their imagination I 100% agree!
Thanks and hope to keep reading you informative article!
-Steph 🙂
Mac n Cheese
Aug 26, 2015 at 1:45 pm
Have you ever thought about creating a youth league, like other sports? I would set it up as teams with an assigned coach. Get the course to create children’s tee boxes, like significantly shorter than normal, and shorten the course to 6 holes (for the kids). Let them play on this modified, really short course and compete and keep a running stats board like other youth leagues. To me this is a great way to bring the kids into the game. Of course a big one would be offer cheaper fees so the families can afford it.
Chris Ardolina
Aug 27, 2015 at 1:33 pm
Mac- Thanks for checking out my article. You are absolutely right about the kids golf. The PGA of America just started a youth league called “PGA Junior League”. Any club or course can start their own team. The kids get collared “jerseys” with numbers on them and play against other teams. It has really started to take off in the last two years! This is the web site http://www.pgajrleaguegolf.com/usa/ .
rod
Aug 25, 2015 at 11:26 pm
Nice ideas Chris and I know a lot professionals do excellent work to find a fun introduction for kids.
It would be great to see more articles like this, especially how you describe things to kids. I have been fortunate enough to get my two children interested in golf and we try to find a balance against some practice and playing three of four holes. We play one ball and take it in turn to keep the pace up but then all have a go around and on the green. People should try to remember that kids are the future of the game. It can be bewildering to see some peoples behavior when they encounter young children on the course. I think being able to experience and admire a course layout and how to navigate it is as valuable and learning to hit a ball.
Chris Ardolina
Aug 27, 2015 at 1:46 pm
Rod- You are absolutely correct, the kids are the future of the game! As to why it’s so important to get them started off correctly.
It’s unfortunate that many places don’t want or allow kids around the course. I have encountered this numerous times. I always preach to my juniors that the rules and etiquette are even more important than hitting good golf shots. When people see that the juniors know not only how to play the game, but also know how to act and behave on and around the golf facility, they begin to warm up to the idea of having the kids around.
other paul
Aug 25, 2015 at 10:17 pm
Just watched Grandpa teaching grandson. Wanted to help that poor kid. “hold your lag, keep your eye on the ball, shift further left in the down swing, dont rotate your lower body just your shoulders”. Bad advice with bad delivery. 20 years from now he will have a 15 handicap and a sore back.
Chris Ardolina
Aug 27, 2015 at 1:49 pm
Paul- Let’s hope his grandfather seeks out a local PGA Professional to help his grandson, or else he may not even play the game 20 years from now!
Thanks again for checking out my article!