Juniors
For juniors golf is a fantastic game to learn. It teaches them many skills that help them as there growing up. Cordination, concentration, discipline, patients and rules and etiquette, etc. Maybe its just a coinindence but all of the juniors i grew up with have all become succesfull, repectable individuals.
Juniors are great imatators and learn best visually. They have the inate ability to copy movements much more effectively than aduluts. Learning from seeing. Video analysing is a great for juniors.
Comparing there swings to the swings of champions. Watching a great swing in slow motion, letting it sink into there subconscious mind. If juniors have the chance to watch great players swing and move it is perhaps the greatest way for them to learn.
Juniors tend to be very flexible and create most of there power from there legs as a result of having undeveloped upper bodys. They tend to have longer swings and active legs this is how they develop there power. These areas should however be monitored and kept under reasonable control. So that changes in the future can be more easily made. Juniors tend to develop bad habits very quickly. And just like adults some bad habits later are very hard to change. There technique must be constantly checked.
I believe many juniors start the game to early. Good hand eye cordination , balance and a certain amount of strength is needed to play golf. I would encourage juniors to play other sports at a young age to develop the cordination needed for golf. Golf is not a easy game. Through a lack of strength , and cordiation, many problems arise . In a short period of time bad habits can be developed , making changes later very very difficult .
The first priority for junior golfers is that they have fun playing golf. And lots of it!!! Juniors should be encouraged to play on the golf course is much as possible. This is extremely important if juniors decide to get as much out of there game as possible. To become a good or great golfer a golfer must play literally thousands of holes on the course to develop the necessary skills and experience. This of course takes several years. My first trainer said to me that only when i had played 10,000 holes i would then have the experience needed on the course to have a chance of becoming a really good player . Learning to judge the correct distances in different weather conditions, playing enough different courses, playing from uphill, downhill ,side slopes, reading the greens and developing the feel and learning the ups and downs of the game. The game of golf is played on the golf course!!! Its only practiced on the driving range!!!
Private lessons are of course more effective than group training given that there is more one on one time. I have my own extra training for juniors on sunday where more often than not we play 9 holes on the course in a tournament situation. I am with them on the course to ensure they are learning the correct all round skills reqiured to play good golf. For anyone who is interested in starting to play golf or intersted in my training please feel frre to contact me or our friendly staff at Mariabildhausen golf club.