At what age do you guys recommend introducing your kids to this wonderful frustrating sport?

Great question. My daughter is 4 and I'm hoping to get her playing next summer.

I introduced my daughter at 1.5-2 years old. Riding the cart, playing in traps, interesting things in nature, and all the goodies I bring to eat had her hooked. She's almost four now and this weekend she chose golf with daddy over a slew of choices(movies, ice cream, playground, etc)


I don't push hitting the ball at this time, but it never fails, at least twice per round she either wants to putt or hit the big dog. But she'd rather tend the flag or mess with my buddy while he putts by running her shadow over his golf ball. She usually gets ice cream when she does that without me telling her too. I figure she'll let me know when she's ready to play more, right now I enjoy watching her enjoy time outside in nature, running and jumping around with a huge smile on her face!

I started taking my son at 4. He loved it immediately. This summer he finally broke 90 at Traditions. He's 11.

What concerns me though is he really has no other kids to play with. We're members at Traditions and a club in Houston but very seldom do we see other kids playing. I've heard all the talk about concern for the future of the game and I see it when we play.

Do most of you that play and have kids bring them along to play too? I'm just curious.

I got my girls into hitting balls when they were 3 and 5 years old (about a year and a half ago), they are 4 and 7 now. The 7 year old is in the First Tee program and the 4 year old goes to all the practices but is too young to join. Having girls i felt limited with the sports and activities i could participate with them, i liked golf and i got my wife playing about 2.5 years ago so decided to introduce it to the girls in hopes that we could play as a family in the future.

I started by getting a shag bag and teeing up balls in the yard, now we have a range membership so i take them with me when i go hit balls. My 7 year old usually only hits about 15 or so balls before she is bored and wants to go play in the sand trap or fill divots but my 4 yr old will hit a full bucket or two before she wants a break and sometimes comes back to hit a 3rd bucket after playing with her sister for a while.

I try not to push them too much because they are way too young to risk burning them out. With my oldest i work on grip, address, watching the ball and posture only at this point. She makes pretty decent contact and hits the ball pretty well. With my 4 yr old i only work on grip, address and watching the ball. She makes great ball first contact but she swings really hard at it and sometimes whiffs. For the most part I am actually quite amazed at how well she hits the ball, she is able to get her ball airborne consistently with a carry of about 10-15 yards and actually makes a little bit of a divot in front of the ball after contact.

Both of the girls use U.S. Kids golf clubs, they do a good job of making light weight clubs that the kids can actually swing and control, they come in a bunch of different sizes and colors. The first clubs i got them were from academy but they were way to bulky and heavy, like they took an old mans club and stuck a miniature shaft on them. The kids weren't strong enough to swing them and never made contact and as we all know golf kind of sucks when you don't hit the ball well.

Good luck, i don't think you can ever introduce golf or any sport too early, that being said i think it is important to ensure that they are encouraged not forced to keep them from burning out.

This is always interesting to me. I have a very active 2 year old boy and he has some plastic walmart clubs he'll hit in the back yard(mostly just the iron, the wood and putter are junk). I took him to the course once and he made it through 9 pretty well. He's wouldn't stay in a cart while stopped so safety is my biggest focus with him. I have to stress it's someone else's turn you wait here then it's your turn. I had a friend with me so he helped make sure my son didn't run up on me while I was hitting. He hits really well and likes hitting out of holes, dirt, sand, clumps of grass, mud really anything but the fairway. It's kind of funny and might be my fault since I never hit the fairway. I think he could hit some real clubs if they were short enough but I'm concerned with safety at his age.

I always heard Tiger and all these pros started at 2. Now that I have a 2 year old I have to think what they mean by "started playing golf at". I also wonder at what age they can play a round of golf. I'm guessing close to 10 but I'm sure it depends on the kid. It's really tough because I can only get out on the weekends and hate feeling rushed as much as I hate slowing others down.

I think the story is Tiger shot a 45 at 3 or 4.

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This summer he finally broke 90 at Traditions. He's 11.

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well now i feel like a poon

I took a lesson last week. The next lesson was for an 11 year old who shot -9 in a tourney up in LA.

Another question, although maybe it deserves it's own thread, anyone have kids that are left handed and did you have them play left or right?

My sister is left and started playing right handed about 25 years ago, mainly because so many more options back then. She ended up being good enough to play in college. My daughter is 4 and somewhat ambidextrous, but we're pretty sure is left handed. Trying to decide what would be best for her. My son is likely a lefty as well and 2, so I'll likely have them play the same way whatever we decide.

ORAggieFan I'm left handed and play right. Mickelson is actually right handed and started playing lefty by mirroring his dad. I don't think it matters much but I find it interesting. I've heard but never found much research on it that eye dominance may be more important than hand dominance. A pro looked at me once and knew I was left handed by how I turned my head while putting. I'm right eye dominant so he may have just been full of it I don't really know.

As far as clubs there are obviously more options for right handed clubs but you can find some steals on last years left handed stuff.

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Another question, although maybe it deserves it's own thread, anyone have kids that are left handed and did you have them play left or right?

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I cut down a putter (blade), a 5 wood and a 7 iron when my son was about 3 and for whatever reason he used the putter a bunch and he always swung it left handed. So after about 3 months of that I cut down some left handed clubs and he used those. Everything else showed he was right handed, throwing, coloring, eating.

When he started T-ball, he swung leftie and stayed that way until in machine pitch the coach put him in the batting cage one day and had him switch to rightie. Once he got the timing down he hit the ball a lot harder and more contact on the right side. The little he played golf later, he played right handed.

I used to take him out to the course when he was just out of diapers, we would walk and he would piggyback on my pull cart when he wanted a rest. Always got strange looks when we hit the first tee and everyone thought I was making him walk 9 or 18.

Same as others have said here, he would hit a few shots, throw stuff in the pond, chase squirrels, play in sand traps. Each kid will be different on how much time they spend between golf and screwing around. My son never really took to the game later, played in middle school a little but the bug never bit him.

TLDR, let them be kids on the course, let them swing however is comfortable to them, just don't let them bother anyone else while they are out there.

I bought a kid set from Golfsmith then I just recently added a US Kids Driver for my 7 year old. I just enjoy having him out there with me. My son and I had a golf vacation to SA's La Cantera (resort course, I think) and he won two packs of Starburst from me because he drove the fairway on hole #14, the par 4 that faces the rollercoaster in Fiesta Texas.

As lessons go, I take him to this lady at River Bend Country Club. She is very patient with him and he seems to enjoy her lessons.

Any of your kids competes in the 7 or 8 year old category? I just want to see/get feel of what that environment is like? I am thinking about just let him try a tournament.

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I cut down a putter (blade), a 5 wood and a 7 iron when my son was about 3 and for whatever reason he used the putter a bunch and he always swung it left handed. So after about 3 months of that I cut down some left handed clubs and he used those.

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I have no experience with this, or any validity to show for it but I thought I heard that cutting down clubs for a tot is a bad idea due to the weight of the club. It starts bad habits early.

I would be curious to know the reasoning behind this thought, but that is what I heard. discuss.

I figured at that age that it really wasn't going to matter, never even gave it a thought. I had to put a crapload of tape on the shortened shaft so the grip didn't move too much. I bought him a real kids set when he was old enough to swing them.

I do think the clubs were heavier than what is specially made now, this was back in 94 and the clubs I got from a used bin so they were ancient.

Thanks for all the responses, gents!

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I bought him a real kids set when he was old enough to swing them.

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about what age would that be?

Better these other guys chime in, that was over 15 years ago and I'm sure the choices are much, much better. Back then the clubheads seemed standard weights and a little skinny runt like my son was out of balance some during his swing.

I bought my daughter a US Kids Golf putter a few months ago. Well made and she loves it. She turns 4 soon and I'm thinking about getting her a driver to hit balls into the net in the backyard. I've only taken her to the putting green at the local muni, have not tried a round yet. But she is always askingwhennshe can ride in the cart.

my kid played with the plastic clubs beginning at age 2 after my FIL bought him a set. Last Christmas he got a metal set from his FIL. This summer we had golf lesson Sunday's, where I would be his "caddy" and tee up the ball while he hit his driver, 7i, or 9i.
He's currently five but the nearest courses state kids have to be 7 or older to even be on the course.

He is going to start lessons next year (as long as the passion is still there) at a course that's farther away but allow children six and older to play.

Ours started playing at 3 and 5. We purchased a $7.99 iron for each of them from Academy and let them him foam golf balls in the front yard.

Now they are older and love the game and are always asking to go play. We were lucky in that College Station offered golf one day a week in the after school program and there is a year round Jr. League Golf program for 8-13 year old youth.

Texas Team Golf

As they grew into golf, we went with the cheap starter sets Play It Again Sports had in stock. Now the oldest is able to play full size Taylormade clubs and the youngest has a used Wilson Set with a few cut down Senior Flex Taylormade Woods bought on eBay for $10 each.

The biggest key was keeping it fun and allowing them to progress with instruction as needed/warranted.

We played a lot of 2 and 4 person scrambles with them to keep pace of play at the golf course and to make it less stressful. They are now playing their own balls and loving it.