Instruction
Getting Kids Hooked on Golf
Sharing your love for the game with your children // by ARTHUR UTLEY
Ray Dingledine says he is asked
this question all the time: How
did you get both of your boys
to play golf?
“I have friends who are avid golfers, but
their children never showed any interest
in the game and never took up the
game,” says Dingledine, a VSGA member
at Stonehenge Golf & Country Club in
Midlothian, and father of Quint, 17, and
Talon, 13, who each started playing at 5 or
6 years old. “I didn’t set out to force them
into the game. It was more about sharing
something that I loved to do.”
Dingledine also has been approached
by non-golfing parents who have asked
about getting their child involved.
“Typically, these questions are more
tactical. Where can I get junior clubs?
[Do you have] recommendations on
junior coaches for lessons?” Dingledine
says. “The avid golfer conversations tend
to be more interesting because they can’t
figure out why their child doesn’t want to
do something that the parent loves to do.”
What then is the best way to go about
getting your young child involved?
Dingledine, who sports a low single
digit handicap index and writes a blog
about junior golf ( juniorgolfinsider.com/
get-em-interested get-em-hooked), came
up with a list of do’s and don’ts. The first
one—let them be around the game—was
first on Quint’s and Talon’s memory list.
“They remember riding around in the
cart when my dad and I would play; maybe
hitting one shot every
couple of holes, but being
in charge of the flag and
raking the bunker for us,”
Dingledine says.
I have similar memories
with my own child, and
now, my grandchildren.
In the early 1990s, my
son, Jordan, would play
some holes with my wife
and I at Hermitage Country
Club on Fridays. I cut
off a 9-iron (no U.S. Kids Golf clubs then),
and he would beat plastic and real balls
around. When he was 6, baseball and basketball
entered the picture and golf dropped
down the priority list.
“
“Fun,” “enjoy,”
“interested” and
“hooked” are key
words in the world of
golf instruction for
youngsters.
”
“Golf took a back seat to other sports
while I was growing up, but I was familiar
with the game and always had the opportunity
to play,” says Jordan, a two-time
VSGA Amateur finalist who didn’t make
golf his sport until he was 13. “Not only
was golf important to [Dad], but it helped
that Mom enjoyed the game as well, so
it was nice that golf was embraced by
the entire family, especially
when it became a
bigger focus during my
teenage years.”
Nearly 30 years later,
Jordan has two sons,
4-year-old Colt and
2-year-old Tucker.
I gave each of them
their first clubs, those
big-headed plastic
ones from Little Tikes,
on their first birthdays.
Colt is hooked; Tucker is getting more
interested by the day.
“Once Colt learned to walk, he took an
immediate liking to golf and his enthusiasm
is exciting to see as a parent,” Jordan said.
COURTESY RAY DINGLEDINE
34 V IRGINIA G OLFER | M AY/J UNE 2020
vsga.org