Michigan Golf Journal September 2020

Michigan Golf Journal Junior Golf This has been anything but a typical year in golf in 2020. Not just on the professional Tours. The junior-golf season has been turned inside out, as well. Around the country, young golfers got a late start on their events and are starting the new school year amid the uncertainty of the global coronavirus pandemic. Golf is a safer sport to play than contact sports, but the question is begged: What is the goal of pushing juniors into competition so early?  The answer reveals a pernicious side to the junior game. At an amateur tournament that I covered late last year for another digital publication, I was working on my story after the first round when I heard a junior golfer in a yelling match over the phone, apparently with his father. In what was a nearly vacant locker room, the golfer shrieked, “I don’t know, Dad!” over and over as he undoubtedly was being questioned about play that “Dad” must have viewed as substandard. It was heart-breaking but – also all too common . At the same event, a parent had to be escorted off the course after having become unruly with a tournament official. Another parent called the USGA to report the tournament over what the parent believed was an unfair ruling. It’s natural for parents to want their children to succeed, but there comes a point when ‘helping’ does more harm than good. Overbearing parents are a trope of youth athletics. If it feels as if such incidents are more common than in the past, that’s because they are. There is more access to organized youth athletics than ever. Instead of local sports such as school-sponsored teams, Little League baseball, A Cautionary Tale for Parents of Junior Golfers By Shawn Allen Note: This story first appeared in the daily online golf source, Morning Read , on August 12