Junior golf in Las Vegas: where to start

My grandfather put me in lessons at five, before I could really hold the club, and I've never stopped. If you want to start your kid, here's what I'd tell a friend: when, with what, and how much to spend before you know if they'll love it.

The right age

Any age they can swing a plastic club in the backyard and laugh about it. Real lessons make sense from about six or seven, when they can focus for twenty minutes. Before that, it's a game you play together, and that's the most important part anyway.

Clubs

Don't buy a full set. A used junior set with a driver, a 7-iron, a wedge, and a putter is plenty until they're hooked. Length matters more than brand: a club that's too long produces a swing that's hard to unlearn. Any junior-specific brand sized by height is fine; cut-down adult clubs are not.

Group or private?

Start with a group. It's cheaper, there are other kids, and golf alone is boring at eight. Las Vegas has junior group programs at several courses for around $45 a session. When they ask to go more, or they want to make the middle school or high school team, that's when a private lesson earns its money: one coach, one swing, and a plan.

For the competitive kid, course management beats swing polish every time. A fourteen-year-old who plays the number will beat the kid with the prettier swing most weekends, and I say that as the coach who sells the swing lessons.

How to not be that parent

Watch from the cart. Don't coach from behind the rope. Ask "did you have fun?" before "what did you shoot?" The kids who stay in golf are the ones for whom it never became a job, and the parent decides that more than the coach does.

Questions people ask