My family recently joined the golf club I grew up on as a child, and it's been a full circle moment for me. Golf was always around when I was a kid. My dad and uncle played a lot and were good players. When my grandfather retired, he ran the pro shop at this very same club. Up until I was about 12 years old, I would only sporadically visit the course. I played other sports, and just didn't have the same interest in golf as I did in basketball and baseball. That all changed when I started seeing other kids my age at the course. A handful of those kids are some of my best friends to this day.
My oldest child was brought into this world with golf all around him. We had golf clubs in our announcement when my wife was pregnant. I've always had little plastic sets of clubs around, but in his 5 years he's hardly ever shown any interest and I've never pushed it. If I could choose what sport might interest my children, golf would be at the top of that list, but I'll never try to force it on them.
When we joined the club, his interest in golf completely changed. In the past couple months, we've been a handful of times. And he LOVES it. He's asking to go multiple times a week and is absolutely ecstatic while we're there.
We've only been on the range and the putting green thus far. We'll split a bag of balls, and then go hit a few putts before we leave. I'll help him get started, and tee up a few balls for him, but I've just been letting him go. My only instruction has been to back away from the ball a couple of times, and to hit it really hard! He makes contact most of the time, and everyone is happy. He gets to ride in the cart, check out the creek, and play around in the practice bunker.
We started off with a US Kids Golf yard club that was for a child a foot shorter. He didn't seem to mind, but I ended up getting him an age and size appropriate fit. When we gave him his new clubs he lit up, and toted his bag all around the house.
I'm sure a big part of the attraction is that it's something out of the ordinary that he and I get to do. There's not many things that he and I do by ourselves. It's a special feeling getting to share something that I'm very passionate about with my child. Hopefully I'll get the same opportunity with my youngest in the next couple of years.
