Junior Golf
them to be the very best he or she can be, but
we need to be certain that we are noticing
the things they’re doing right more than
what they’re doing wrong. As a rule of
thumb, recognize five successes to one fault.
Kidding Around
Adhering to some important principles about how to best
coach and parent developing golfers can go a long way
to keeping and fueling their interest
by MIKE HANSEN, Titleist Performance Institute Certified Junior Golf Coach
with TOM CUNNEFF
W
hen the staff at the Titleist
Performance
Institute
in
Oceanside, Calif., set out to
develop a junior program, they knew what
they didn’t want: kids lined up on a range like
robots pounding balls all day.
So they polled young kids in the San
Diego area and asked them what they liked
to do after school. The top three answers:
team sports, video games and martial arts/
dance. The reasons why? They had fun, their
friends were there, they felt like they fit in,
meaning it was designed for kids, and they
were good at it.
That research became the basis for TPI’s
new Junior Golf Certification Program,
which focuses on long-term athletic development to maximize kids’ athletic potential,
starting with fundamental movements skills
before moving on to basic sport skills.
“Junior golfers who play other sports
already have great control of their bodies
and are quick learners when it comes to
de