This is the worst thing you can do for a junior golfer learning to play

Getting any new golfer into the recreation can be tough, particularly when you take into account all the boundaries to entry — like gear. For junior golfers, the proper gear is much more crucial to get them off on the proper foot to not solely be taught the correct method however to have enjoyable.

How do you do it the proper means? We’re right here to assist.

The flawed means

It used to be that if a junior needed to choose up the recreation of golf, an grownup would merely go to the storage or the used bin to discover a single membership and lower it down so the child might hit a few balls.

Does it operate as a membership? Yes. But does it operate as a means to truly assist them have enjoyable and progress? Not a probability. Here’s why.

A regular golf membership and shaft are designed round a particular size and head weight to work collectively to finest match the supposed participant. It’s one thing to lower an inch off a driver that is already 45.5 inches lengthy and constructed for an grownup, however to take a membership and lower any greater than 3-4 inches off it (and even up to a full 12 inches) you’re successfully turning it into an ultra-stiff metal pole with a golf membership head hooked up to it.

Any cut-down membership, particularly one with a metal shaft, is extraordinarily stiff and heavy for a junior golfer, which makes it tough to hit a golf ball. Even worse, well-struck photographs aren’t rewarded since the suggestions a little one will get is an excessive amount of undesirable vibration in the fingers.

You know that feeling when you hit one off the vanguard on a chilly October morning? Well, that’s the feeling a junior will get on each shot they hit when utilizing a cut-down steel-shafted grownup membership. Not a enjoyable means to be launched to the recreation.

The answer

For funds causes, having a cut-down membership to be used as soon as for a vary session — or to carry round to assist a junior really feel included in the recreation — is OK. But the actual answer is discovering a membership correctly constructed for their dimension and power, and the better part is it doesn’t have to break the financial institution.

One of the finest choices for children simply beginning out is a yard-training membership package from U.S. Kids Golf. It affords a pre-molded grip to assist with hand placement, an ultra-lightweight and versatile shaft and an outsized membership head. It even comes with light-weight foam golf balls to make it simpler to get the ball in the air.

After a single newbie membership, the choices develop into plentiful and embrace partial units with 3-5 golf equipment with a bag beginning at simply over $100. You can go all the means to fully-custom junior units which have 10-12 golf equipment and are designed for extra superior gamers.

If a junior decides to choose up the recreation, there is no substitute for getting them began on the proper path from the begin. Just make sure that to forgo the outdated cut-down membership and discover one thing their dimension. That means they can be taught with you, and you might need your self a golfer for life.

Golf.com Editor

Ryan Barath is GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com’s senior editor for gear. He has an in depth club-fitting and -building background with greater than 20 years of expertise working with golfers of all ability ranges, together with PGA Tour gamers. Before becoming a member of the workers, he was the lead content material strategist for Tour Experience Golf, in Toronto, Canada.