The Appropriate Age to Learn Golf

PGA Professional Wade Foreman addresses his junior golfers at Ager on Tuesday, June 9, 2015. The golfers are part of the “Eagle” Intermediate Golf Camp that meets once a week for eight weeks.

Well it is June and typically golf season is well under way, but with all of this wet weather we have been having it just seems to be getting started a little later this season. The good news is the roughs are really thick and the entire city golf courses are in great shape due to the timely rains we have received. At Jim Ager, where I am the golf professional, we are kicking off all of our junior golf leagues and golf camps this week (June 3) so it is an exciting time to see all of the new golfers coming to the course to learn and play golf for the summer.

I have added another teaching professional, Tim Fox, to help with the numerous lesson requests we have gotten so far this spring and early summer. Tim helps us teach on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and evenings and is a great instructor who makes it fun to learn the game of golf.

I often get the question from parents or grandparents: “At what age should I start my junior in learning golf?” There is never really a bad time for kids to learn golf, as golf is a game you can play for your entire life. We find that most juniors respond really well to learning the game of golf and having the patience and listening skills about the time they are 7 or 8. With that being said I do a bunch of lessons and clinics for kids ages 5-6, but we keep the clinic or lessons shorter and simple for that age so they don’t get confused. We talk about how to hold the club properly and how to swing safely with others around them.

Golf is such a fun family game that any age is good to get juniors exposed to golf – even just taking them with you to the driving range to hit some putts or watch you hit a bucket of balls. You will be surprised how quickly they will probably say they want a club to swing just like you! I know that I started playing golf at the age of 6 back in South Dakota and it was mainly because on Saturday and Sunday my parents would take me along with them to the golf course. Mostly my brother and I would walk along and look for fish or frogs but occasionally we would stop and want to hit a tee shot or putt the ball. After a while of doing this we realized we were playing 4 holes, then 7 holes, then 9 holes and having a lot of fun doing it while enjoying time with family. Jim Ager is such a perfect spot for families to learn golf together and let the juniors enjoy playing a shorter course so they can have some early success.