As a nearing-middle-age dad of two who lives in quasi-suburbia, it should be clear to you that I love golf. I love talkin’ golf, thinkin’ golf, eatin’ golf ball shaped cookies from my aunt who knows I love golf and most of all, I love playin’ golf.
As a nearing-middle-age dad of two who lives in quasi-suburbia, it should also be clear to you that it’s very, very difficult for someone in my position to carve out the 6-8 hours that it takes to:
- Drive to the golf course and mutter increasingly angry things about the other people on the road WHO CLEARLY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DRIVE
- Play a 5 hour round while muttering increasingly angry things about the golfers ahead of me WHO CLEARLY DON’T UNDERSTAND ETIQUETTE. YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOUR TOP FLITE FOR 5 MINUTES I’LL GIVE YOU THE 75 CENTS TO PLEASE CONTINUE YOUR ROUND
- Have a little lunch in the form of an ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS Cuban sandwich
- Drive home and mutter increasingly angry things to myself BECAUSE THERE’S NO REASON TO HIT A DRIVER ON #14, DOES IT FEEL GOOD TO BE THE BIG MAN WHO HITS A DRIVER…DIRECTLY INTO THE WOODS AND MAKES A DOUBLE? IDIOT!
Sure there’s the option to be the “golf dad” that plays twice a weekend and leaves his kids with his wife for 12 hours after she also worked all week and also wants some down time. BONUS: This option comes with a 1BR apartment above AND below a falafel restaurant and bi-weekly access to my children. HARD PASS.
(This is both the shot of my future bare-walled apartment and the consolation I require after a bad round)
All this to say that I’ve had to find other ways to feed the golf beast AND parent, simultaneously. This manifests itself in the form of teaching my 4.5 year old daughter how to golf.
I procured some old clubs from my 10 year old nephew who outgrew them (Affiliate Link).
I then picked up some wiffle ball from Amazon. At that point school was in session, or so I thought (Yes, golf clubs are expensive but your child should be able to use something like this for several years). My daughter was extremely excited to practice until swing 3 where she lost interest. As any parent knows, it’s very, very difficult to force children to do anything that they’re not having fun doing. I swallowed my pain, buried it real deep and went back inside for an hour of stamp time, which was sooo much better than golfing, I promise.
However, a few days later, 3 swings turned into 5 and 2-3 months later, I can pretty consistently get her out to the backyard for at least 10 minutes to putz around with the clubs. The uptick in interest coincided with an uptick of contact with the ball when she swings the club. Outside of the basics…
- Hold the end with the rubber grip and not the metal part with the grooves
- Try to get the ball in the middle of your stance before you start your swing
- Avoid moving your feet too much when you swing or you’ll miss the ball
- For the love of god don’t let go of the club as you’re swinging
…I received a really good tip from a friend. Grab your own club and take a few swings and ask your child to watch closely. As you work through a few swings, give them something to focus on – “watch my hands and arms on this one.” Do this a few times every time you play/practice. I was amazed at how quickly my daughter was able to pick up a reasonable facsimile of the golf swing using this tactic. The trick is that you’re tapping into your child’s amazing natural ability to imitate. Give it a try and tell me what you think in the comments!
While I doubt I have the next Tiger Woods de-turfing my backyard, I think her interest just might stick, which is a tremendous coup, selfishly speaking, for me. There could be Saturdays in my future where I’m taking her to the course and playing a round, simultaneously feeding my addiction and appearing to the outside world to be a really good dad. So to start, head out and spend the best $24.99 of your life on some plastic clubs. Best case, you have a kid who’s interested in your favorite “sport” and you get to spend a ton of quality time with your child and only slightly less importantly, the golf course. Worst case your 1.5 year old boy takes the clubs out of the bag and viciously hammers anything that’s unfortunate enough to get in his way. It’s a win / win until the thing that gets in his way are your nuggets.
Chris Jordan