When and How Does my Child golfer compete?

Playing golf for recreation is a great activity for children, but, when do we get our child golfer into competitions?

We may want to say that competing is not really the goal, somehow it is quite natural for everyone, including or, especially kids to compete at everything and golf is no exception.  This may even be the ultimate goal for you and your child as they progress in their golf game.  The ultimate objective may be a college golf scholarship and, even, the professional Tours. 

Competing is what it's all about.

The beginning of all of this is when your child, of course, becomes obsessed with the game and wants to play all the time. 

No matter where they play regularly, hopefully, there are other kids they can compete against; whether its putting and chipping, aiming at various targets on the driving range, a few holes or nine to eighteen; there's plenty of ways to compete. 

Getting in the habit of competing is a great way to challenge any kid and get them in the mode of measuring their progress in the game.
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When your child gets better and better, you, Dad and Mom, will have to make a decision

We mentioned in an earlier post that the PGA Junior League is a great way to begin competing in the game. It's pretty simple to engage with the PGA locally on this League.  Just click on the website above to find the right connection.

The First Tee also has developed competitions, but, not necessarily ongoing and increasing in skill level competitions, but, it can be a great place to begin. 

​Many middle schools have begun to offer golf programs.  The few that I have observed don't seem to have a great number of skilled players nor coaches, but, the opportunity to play and practice several times a week is beneficial to any young golfer as they not only are around the game regularly, but, the natural tendency to compete is, now, available everyday; putting, chipping, longest 5 iron, wedge to a target, 9 hole and 18 hole competitions... heck, we used to compete by seeing who could hit off of the cart path closest to the hole or any silly challenge we could think up.  It's great....

High school is when the game gets pretty serious, but, not too serious in many schools. If you're living in Arizona or Florida, even, Texas, the golfers in high school become very competitive and this is great to bring your young freshman if he or she has been competing regularly.  Hopefully, you have a great golf coach at this level, but, many high schools do not.  Don't fret, there are alot of other places to compete.
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Alright, now we're really gettin' into it!!!

When your child gets better and better, you, Dad and Mom, will have to make a decision if your child has the capacity to play with the big boys and girls....

What do we mean?  There are a number of players all over the world who are extremely great players and many of them have been groomed from an early age to compete and win at their age level or, even, at the next age level.

​This is where it gets serious and when it can cost alot of moolah!! 

The best players score in the seventies the majority of the time if not lower.  If your child is 15 or older and NOT shooting below 80 most days on his/her home course, you may not want to enter them into outside tournaments, but, if they are persistent and want to play against the better players, then search in your area for the local USGA Junior schedule and/or PGA Section tournament schedule. 

​Get ready to shell out the bucks, but, this is the best way to show your child what the competition is REALLY like and either frustrate them or invigorate them to get better..... and do it.

Lastly, we don't want to list every junior golf event across the globe and we will do this in our Facebook Groups.
But, for now, we'll just list this web address to get a flavor for the tournaments out there, then, you search and search and become more and more familiar with the events available for your child.

https://www.amateurgolf.com/amateur-golf-tournaments/TheMajorsOfAmateurGolf/junior

Best of everything.  If you need more guidance, don't hesitate to contact us at bill@golffromtheheart.golf.

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