The benefits of playing golf for juniors

There are enormous social, physical and mental emotional benefits for juniors taking up the game of golf. PGA Professional Wayne O’Callaghan explains those benefits.

Social:

Junior golf provides a pathway to making life-long friends and is a fun challenging game to play.

The golf course is a safe place for juniors to learn. Golf demands honesty and also develops problem solving skills, which also helps junior golfers in life. Meeting other golfers will also help develop good social skills as they will interact with people they may not of met before.

Golf also provides for individual competition along with team events. Research local clubs and their junior programmes. I’ve been lucky enough to run my own junior programmes in courses that are fully invested in making golf accessible to juniors and keeping the emphasis on having fun, which is the main benefit for any child taking up golf.

Physical:

Golf is a non-contact and a safe sport which is something a lot of juniors like and it will promote hand eye coordination, good balance, core strength and flexibility.

Golf is a game that can be played for a life-time by anyone. In this day and age -of computer games, it is very beneficial to get juniors out in the fresh air and getting some exercise. There are tremendous golf programmes out there run by PGA Professionals that train juniors in a fun environment with golf fundamentals while also developing fundamental movement skills.

Mental:

Golf is a challenging game just like life and will help junior golfers to develop skills of patience, discipline and focus. The best golfers in the world suffer from disappointing games which can be frustrating, but they have learned to develop self control, learn from their mistakes and turn that into an opportunity to improve and be ready the next time they might be in the same situation. This is also a skill that will help in life whether it’s in business or other situations.

As I mentioned at the start, golf has enormous benefits for junior golfers which will give them not only a golf game, but skills for life while making friends along the way.