Junior golf: the sequence that keeps a child playing
Buy by height and buy used, start on the putting green, use junior sections, and let the professional do the coaching.
Children rarely give up because of the golf. They give up because they carried a bag that was too heavy, played eighteen holes too soon, or because a parent offered three tips per shot. The order that works.
Equipment that fits, bought used
A cut-down adult club does not become a junior club: the shaft stays too stiff and the head too heavy. Buy a junior set for the child’s height, second-hand, and change it when they grow. Four inches of growth means a new set — that is the normal rhythm.
Three clubs are enough for a long time: a wood, a mid-iron, a putter. A light bag the child carries themselves.
Start on the putting green
Putting is the only shot where a seven-year-old is immediately as good as an adult, and the only place where an hour passes without fatigue or frustration. The first sessions happen there, then in the chipping area. The driver comes much later.
Group coaching rather than individual lessons
Clubs across Britain run junior sections, and the Golf Foundation supports school and community programmes that put a club in a child’s hands for the first time. The group matters more than the quality of the coaching: a child comes back for their friends. Ask about junior membership rates and season tickets — they vary enormously from club to club.
What the parent must not do
- Do not coach. The parent’s job is driving, paying and saying nothing about the swing.
- Do not keep score before the child asks for it.
- No eighteen holes. Three or six holes in the evening, and stop while it is still fun.
The format that sticks
Forward tees, reachable flags, nine holes as a scramble with an adult. Golf becomes a game in which you score rather than an exercise in which you fail. Many clubs have short courses or academy loops: find them, they are what produces players.
The rhythm
One session a week is enough until ten. A child who wants two will ask; a child pushed into three stops at thirteen. Progress in golf is counted in years, and the variable that matters most is the number of years played.
Handicaps and membership
For competitions and a maintained Handicap Index, a child needs club membership or, in England, an iGolf subscription from England Golf, which costs £47 a year and includes public liability insurance (checked September 2026, englandigolf.co.uk). Scotland, Wales and Ireland run their own equivalents through their national bodies. Junior club subscriptions vary hugely: ask the secretary directly.
Winter
From November the course is on winter greens and mats. Indoor centres and simulators keep the movement alive, but a child does not need a winter season. Other sports are excellent golf preparation, and the swing comes back in April.
