Golf? Never to early

You never know, I mean never, what your kids are going to be into. Not to embarrass Seb but he has tap lessons, and goes to my wife’s rhythmic gymnastic lessons (she coaches). He’s surrounded by women all the time, and he loves it. He joins in enthusiastically and really enjoys it all. Plus he’s really good at it too!

Equally he likes nothing better than chasing his Grandfather around the house (he stay’s with them one a week), shouting “Aarrggg!” and trying gouge out eyes with Pirate swords. His rendition of “Eye Eye Captain” when visiting HMS Warrior in Portsmouth’s Dockyard is perfect.
So, when I see something that I think he may like, I usually try it just to see. It’s kind of like the scatter gun approach to child development. Do everything, see what sticks.

The best example came around 18 months ago, just before Seb was turning 3. We’d gone shopping, and my father-in-law and myself were wandering around JJB Sports. They were having a sale and we were just killing time until we met up with the girls and Seb.

Walking amongst the sporting equipment, I came across the golf section. Taking out a driver, I gave it some test swings. I’ve never played much golf, but when I did, I enjoyed it, and I am blessed with some natural talent (you’d need a theodalite and GPS equipment to detect it but it’s there).

As I was trying out a 3 Wood, my eyes fell on the discounted section on the end. Amongst all the normal clubs was a single, tiny 3 Iron. It was tiny. It barely came up to my knee. Which meant it would be perfect for Seb.

I believe I paid about £9 for the club, a club for myself and a set of six luminous yellow golf balls. A small outlay to be set up for game of golf!

Hiding the club well, we met up with girls. The sight on Seb’s face when he saw his own club was a picture. He couldn’t believe that he had a club, just like Dad’s.

We went down the park that afternoon when it was quite. I showed him a couple of shots, and then left him to hack away at the grass with the club. His strike rate of ball against grass was about 6%, but when he did hit it, he was so excited. I just wandered around knocking my own golf ball around.

Near the end, just before we went home, Seb caught the ball just right. It sailed through the air, and hit the football wall, dropping to the ground. I made such a fuss of him.
After that, we played golf pretty regularly until the weather worsened. Even know, he still asks if we can go golfing. He says “We haven’t been in ages”. It’s obviously struck something in him.

Which is why I feel so strongly that you should always try and expose your child to as many positive experiences as possible.