My Golfing Goals Academy

Congratulations to 7 year old James Imai for an incredible showing at The U.S. Kids PGA Golf Club Invitational tournament in Port Saint Lucie, Florida this past weekend.

James qualified locally last month for this national event, and ended up finishing in ninth place over-all out of thirty-seven other junior competitors. In only his third tournament ever, James proved a force to be reckoned with after flying a wedge straight into the hole from fifty yards out on hole #4, and playing the last four holes at 2 under par.

His final birdie came on the final hole, from a very difficult lie, with water surrounding the entire right side of the green… knocking a seven iron to 3 inches from the cup!

Great job James… keep up the great work!!!

Two major, major recommendations I have for those parents out there that have young children playing golf competitively:

• Only Demonstrate Positive Emotion & Encouragement… especially when in a competitive environment! A major problem I see when parents are caddying for their kids, or watching their child from the sidelines at a golf event, are the emotions parents display. Kids are masters at reading emotions, and their parents are the first ones they look for after a good shot or bad shot. If a parent throws their arms up in the air, and gives facial expressions that read “I can’t believe he missed that short putt” or “How could she have hit that ball in the hazard” then the child will grow up with a fear of hitting bad shots. As much as you care, want your child to play well, and want to let out an “Ewww!” or an “Oh no!”….. or even a “@#$%”, DON’T! As difficult as it is, swallow your pride and show as much encouragement as you can muster up! If you continuously show a positive spirit, and only demonstrate positive emotion, your child will know nothing else… and follow in your footsteps! Remember… fearless golfers are dangerous golfers… so don’t ever let your young boy or girl think it’s a horrible thing to hit a bad shot!

• Learn To Read Greens… take a short-game clinic, or short-game lessons for yourself. If you plan on reading your child’s putts, you better actually know how to read greens yourself. Green reading is an art in itself, and takes lots of practice… but it’s critical for you to learn if you’re going to be telling your child where to hit their putts. Your child could potentially have a wonderful putting stroke, but if you keep giving him or her the wrong read (telling him or her to aim the putt in the wrong spot), then they will unintentionally start pulling or pushing putts and think the problem lies in their putting stroke or ability to make putts. But in reality, the problem lies in his or her parents ability to read greens. Remember, if you give someone a bad read, they will actually have to do something wrong to make the putt… not good!!!

I recommend attending a Dave Pelz short-game golf school or clinic. They do a wonderful job at teaching you to understand green reading and give you some great tips on how to read greens. You will also learn some really simple and fun shots around the green that would really improve your child’s game and yours!

Click here to find a Dave Pelz clinic in your area.
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