I shared last week
about our son's win at the AJGA Junior PLAYERS Championship. As fun as it is to celebrate, I couldn't help but think about how in golf you're going to lose more than you win, which is so tough for our juniors to understand at a young age.
Each of our kids' experience with junior golf has looked different, but one trait our kids have in common is
they're easily flustered when a round doesn't go their way (whether in a tournament or just playing with friends). One of them gets frustrated because they didn't win or another gets so frazzled after hitting a bad shot that it leads to the demise of an entire round. As a parent it can be equally hard watching this unfold.
When we started facing these big emotions early on, we turned to our
son's golf coach for some advice and maybe this is advice you find helpful.
- Remind your child to be patient (easier said than done, but it's true)
- Talk about what they did well in the round
- Take a mental note of what was most frustrating in the round or tournament
- Use this struggle as a focus for an after-round
routine (such as focusing on full swings, chipping, or putting)
- Practice this one particular frustration until they're more comfortable with it, then move on to another focus the following week
- Have your junior golfer write down successes and challenges post-round, that way they can use it as a future reference when a new frustration pops up and see how they worked through a particular
challenge
This is by no means the answer to every issue our junior golfers face, but perhaps it offers you a starting point when you're not sure what to say when they're feeling down on themselves or upset after a tough round.
