4 Reasons Why Junior Golfers Behave Badly

Here are 4 reasons why junior golfers may behave badly.

1. They want to hide their real level of golfing skills

Golf is very demanding sport and even when you play well you still make mistakes.

Your child may be behaving badly because they don't want to show that they are really not that good at golf (although they may be, but fail to understand the difficulty of golf so they think they are not that good) so showing outbursts as if "I was really unlucky to miss that shot. Normally I wouldn't miss that."

Even adults do that. Just go around some local public courses and watch this "hiding the truth" behaviour.

What to do?

Show them how the pros miss shots all the time. If you make a mistake in golf you are not bad. If he wants to win, ask him whether this behavior helps him to win or not.

2. Following the herd

Your child and his/her peers are in puberty. They are very smart at this age.

They don't want to behave nice. Thier peers would make fun of him if they behaved nice.

And top ranked juniors are typically full of ego so they throw clubs. When you are ranked below them, you "learn" how to behave from them.

What to do?

Explain not to be a sheep in the herd and use his/her own head. They need to choose how to behave rather than just follow the rest.

3. Disappointment

Tiger was a horrible example at 8 to 12 years of age. Clubs were flying all over the course and he was sent home by his mum regularly.

Why?

Because he felt he had the potential but he didn't know how to use it. He felt he was wasting his talent.

What to do?

Encourage your child to stay on track, explain that it takes time to master golf and show them the consequences of their behavior.

Also give your child time. It's very unlikely that they will behave like that in a few years.

4. Defense mechanism

If your child criticizes himself/herself, they prevent you (or the coach or anyone else) from criticizing them. If they made a mistake and didn't react to it, someone else would, right?

No one wants to let the mistake go without trying to correct it. But it's the WRONG approach in golf. (probably in life too)

Mistake is just a feedback. Everyone is trying their best all the time but golf (and life) are so difficult that we make mistakes.

What to do?

Figure out against whom is your child protecting. Whose criticism hurts them so much that they choose to hurt themself (which hurts less!)?

If it's you or your spouse, take time to understand the game of golf. (and life)

Is it possible that they won't make a mistake in one of the most demanding sports on this planet?

Final thoughts: you can also define some rules / limits of behaviour. I am not a parenting expert so feel free to research this subject deeper.

My suggestion is to define rules: if you throw a club, the round is over. He/she needs to agree of course.

After that, follow the rules. Kids in puberty cannot control their emotions as well as adults (hmm, and I am not so sure about adults too. ) so they will break the rules every now and then.

It's not a big deal but what they want to see is whether you are disciplined enough to follow them.