Feeling
The
Flow
Empowering Kids with a Stick and a Ball
by GAVIN PARKER , Director of the Salisbury Golf Academy at Salisbury CC
THE QUESTION THAT MOST ADULTS HAVE ABOUT A JUNIOR GOLFER IS , “ Will this kid be the next ‘ fill in the blank ?’” As a junior golf coach , I instead ask , “ Where is this child emotionally , socially , and what type of person are they ?”
When I first started coaching , I wanted to help the type of kids who desired to be the best and strived to play college golf or even professionally . My philosophy was very traditional , mainly because I was once a junior golfer who was coached to be the best or strive for the best . See the pattern ? I became a junior golf coach myself and quickly realized that not every kid I coached wanted to be the best or even play competitively . At that time , there was no environment for them to explore the game and go on a journey of self-discovery .
When I was a student at Campbell University , I studied Professional Golf Management ( PGM ). During my second semester I was taking a lesson from our Director of Instruction , David Orr , who is a world-renowned putting instructor . That lesson was the first moment I had a coach make me feel inadequate . In our study , my
34 V IRGINIA G OLFER | M ARCH / A PRIL 2022
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