Creating your Own – Putt-Putt Golf
My teacher, Mr. Harvey Penick, told me at a very young age that players should spend 75% of their time on chipping and putting. I think it fair to say, Mr. Penick statement shines true when you look at the careers of Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite.
For young children, teaching them to love to putt is very important. Through a child’s eye, the putting green looks pretty boring. You have a smooth piece of grass with a bunch of holes in the ground. They might be thinking “what is so fun about that… I want to whack some balls on the driving range.” And as result, parents and children spend the vast amount of their play time banging balls and never learning to love the art of the short game.
So… let’s mix things up and take a page out of the Putt-Putt Golf success. Kids love to play games, kids want to have challenges, obstacles, contest, etc. So, why not incorporate some of these ideas onto the putting green.
The other day, with my group of My Little Golfers, we designed 3 putting holes. We named the 1st one – Chicken Bone, the 2nd one – Big Toe and the 3rd one – Daddy’s Belly (uphill over a hump J).
To design your own mini putt-putt course, just go look in your garage and find some stuff… we used a red ribbon, some jump ropes and tees. Waalaa… we had brought putt-putt to Austin Country Club.
The impact – remarkable, the kids played the three holes over and over… refining their skills with the different challenges.
Now… parents, your goal for this weekend, get out on the course and go build your own hole. Send me a picture and the name and I will repost.
Thanks Harvey for teaching me to love putting!
Take Dead Aim!
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I have twin 7 year old boys so of course cost is a issue . How do you think they would respond to a point system ? Maybe 5 within a foot 4 within two and so on . They compete against each other in just about everything they do so sometimes I think it’s a advantage for me because they feed off of each other . I’m your typical parent that is making the mistake of trying to teach them backwards meaning driver to green instead of short game to long . Advice would be helpful . Thanks
Mark – I certainly would start the child close to the hole and work outward. It is the building blocks of the swing. Go from short putts, putts with distance, chips shots (putts with loft), pitch shots (swings with small hinge/short backswing).. to the full swing. At each one of these phases, make up games that keep the child interested… either having them keep their personal best or the ability to earn a prize for hitting a goal (some ice cream/coke float). Some resources: http://www.junior.golf, http://www.weegolf.com (download app). At the end, the goal is making it fun (and keeping it play). Best of luck… keep up the great work.
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