Golf can be a great thing for a father and son (or any combination of parent and child) to do together. However, golf isn’t exactly like football or golf where you can bring the child out to the backyard and throw a ball around with them at any age. Children must be a certain age to learn golf, and by that age you’ll need a little more strategy in teaching them the game than just tossing the ball around.

The first important step in teaching the junior in your life golf is to get them excited and maintain that excitement for a period of time. One of the biggest ways you can do this is encouragement and being positive. You should do this towards the child’s game but also towards your own game. Golf can be a very frustrating game, especially when you begin to take it seriously. Many a golf career has been cut short because expectations of lower scores never came to fruition or came more slowly than expected, so make sure that the child is having fun first and improving second. The child won’t have the perseverance to improve if he isn’t enjoying it to begin with.

If the junior has shown enough interest to warrant purchasing a set of clubs, go ahead and do it. Having their very own set of clubs will often keep children interested in the game long enough to develop some skills. Don’t get them a top of the line set. Children grow fast and are temperamental in their hobbies; an expensive set could be gathering dust in the garage in a few weeks. Besides, expensive golf clubs add so little to your game that you may want to consider making an inexpensive purchase on your next set as well.

When it comes to the actual instruction, there are a few basic things to keep in mind. First, emphasize accuracy over distance. 300-yard drives are exciting but you can achieve par without them. You can’t achieve par without accuracy. Juniors will tend to get excited about long, inaccurate drives that leave them just as far from the hole as a much shorter drive would. Make sure the child knows that long is good, but straight is better.

In the same vein, you will also want to emphasize chipping and putting. Experienced golfers know that more strokes are wasted on the green than anywhere else on the course, but this may not be intuitive to children. If it seems like they want to spend all their time at the driving range, try and get them out to a putting green every once in awhile too.

Finally, your child might benefit from taking some lessons. Many golf courses offer lessons specifically designed for children and the instructors may know some tricks for teaching children the mechanics and fundamentals that you wouldn’t think of. It’s also great for getting to know other children of the same age who are interested in golf. Golfing with dad is great, but your child will appreciate golfing with someone who is at a similar stage in their game, too.