Golf & Tourism Magazine July - September 2014

Learning from the Must-Knows About Developing Junior Golfers By Chip Koehlke When it comes to developing junior golfers there are many topics to discuss and debate. In this article we will deal with two big issues which are must-knows for their parents: development pathways and the parents’ role. DEVELOPMENT PATHWAYS A development pathway is simply the steps taken to develop a junior from start to ﬁnish. Over the last 15+ years there has been some signiﬁcant research done on development pathways for junior athletes. Based on the best available information this research indicates that there are three pathways for junior athletic development. However, we will treat them as two pathways with a third one as just a fork in the road. Chip Koehlke is a highly experienced PGA Professional, with 2013 marking his 30th anniversary as a golf professional. He brings extensive experience to his clients, including developing and coaching many top professional tour players on the PGA, LPGA, Champions, European and Asian Tours. Most importantly his holistic coaching philosophy has assisted countless golfers just like yourself to truly change their game! 16 EARLY SPECIALIZATION PATHWAY deliberate play, as well as lack of fundamental athletic function, which they would have developed by playing other sports as well. SAMPLING PATHWAY This pathway allows juniors to sample multiple sports with a high amount of deliberate play and a low amount of practice from ages 6 to 11. This is where there is a fork in the road. Some juniors will desire to become more specialized and some won’t. Both choices are acceptable and they should be the ones making that decision. “Some juniors will desire to become more specialized and some won’t. Both choices are acceptable and they should be the ones making that decision.” With this pathway, the junior athlete is trained only in a speciﬁc sport from a very young age, with a high amount of deliberate practice and a low amount of play. Pictures of Tiger Woods swinging away at a young age have motivated more parents to steer their kids into a single sport at a very young age. This concept has been going on for some time in many sports, and it is even the norm in some team sports such as hockey. While this pathway may produce an elite performance outcome there are some drawbacks such as reduced enjoyment, as well as physical risks with early bur

Golf & Tourism Magazine July - September 2014 | Page 16