Oli explains how his sporting background has helped him tailor his coaching for juniors.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWhen I first looked into what was going on in junior golf it seemed very boring and very technical\u201d, he says.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cLooking at other sports like football, sessions would be very loud, very energetic and it was only golf that were doing it quite old school \u2013 it was slow and there was a lot of focus around gripping the club which didn\u2019t really need to happen.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cComing from outside of golf I was lucky enough not to follow that mould and I could do my own thing and make it a bit more interesting and based around movement skills. This also helps to get juniors better prepared for whatever sport they want to take up.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With golf\u2019s technical side the subject of much debate, Oli feels it is important for the young juniors to let that side go, and focus on their coordination by creating challenges or games.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cA lot can be done in golf to increase its playability\u201d, he notes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThe excitement factor of making the hole bigger has been talked about and a lot of clubs believe it\u2019s the right thing to do \u2013 unfortunately no one is doing anything about it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cSimilarly with shorter tee boxes \u2013 the current junior tees are not short enough\u00a0when they can only hit the ball a certain distance. The same problem arises for the seniors off the back tees.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

For Oli, juniors can benefit from having the freedom to play and work out their own swing and style.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Certainly, with the wide and wonderful variety of golf swings in the professional game \u2013 Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson\u2019s techniques spring to mind \u2013 there is no correct blueprint to sit down and replicate.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With this in mind, Oli explains that parents can quite easily prove a barrier in their child\u2019s development.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cOften parents need to let the kids play \u2013 let them get on with it! There is so much going on in kids\u2019 heads already so it\u2019s best to keep these thoughts limited.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re working with an elite junior, they will only have one or maybe two things to work on at a time concerning either their swing or pre-shot routine.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWhat is so frustrating is seeing parents translate lessons from their own game onto their child\u2019s technique \u2013 it can be incredibly confusing.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

There is truth in the consensus that the game of golf is stubborn in keeping its traditional ways.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Certainly, when it comes to encouraging juniors into the game, there must be a considered move away from the technical and towards pure enjoyment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If moving tee boxes and creating different hole sizes can help this, why not try it?<\/p>\r\n

***<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Oli Tucker is a resident professional at Horton Park GC
https:\/\/hortonparkgolf.com\/<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

You can contact or follow Oli using:
e: oli@hortonparkgolfschool.co.uk
Insta: olitucker10
Twitter: tuckeroli<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PGA Professional Oli Tucker reveals how junior coaching can take a step forward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[2680,2682,707,2683,2684,204,708,2676,2691,2321,1637,2693,2218],"class_list":["post-227450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","tag-beginner","tag-children","tag-coach","tag-coaching","tag-drills","tag-february","tag-interview","tag-junior-golf","tag-pga-professional","tag-practice","tag-qa","tag-style","tag-technique"],"yoast_head":"\n