Empowering Young Athletes with long term development in mind
Welcome to Fit For Golf! Fit For Life Junior Edition! If you have or are a junior athlete, now is the time to make the most of the crucial windows of trainability in childhood. These years lay the foundation for lifelong athleticism, offering a head start for adulthood.
With a background in Early Childhood Development, public school teaching, and coaching hundreds of junior golfers using the Long Term Athletic Development model, I bring expertise backed by the Titleist Performance Institute's junior research and methods. Our goal is to promote physical literacy, develop solid movement patterns, and boost self-confidence in youth.
What's the plan? We can meet in person, online, or wherever suits you best. We begin every journey with a consultation and assessment tailored to your goals—whether it's mobility, stability, speed, power, injury prevention, or nutrition. I'm here to support you at every stage. Reach out, and I'll personally contact you right away. Let's work together to unleash your inner athlete!
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FUNDAMENTAL AND LEARN TO PLAY PHASE (5-12 yrs old):
Key skills like locomotion, stability, and object control, alongside agility and speed training, proper club sizing, foundational golf techniques, advanced functional movement skills, green reading, and course management are essential, while limiting participation to a maximum of three sports.
Essential Skills and Guidelines for Developing Junior Golfers
Locomotion, stability, object control and awareness skills are important.
Experiencing first speed window for agility, speed, quickness, and change in direction activities.
Appropriate length and weight of clubs is paramount
Concepts of grip, posture, alignment, ball position, balance and weight shift are understood.
Advanced FMS may be introduced: hopping and bounding for skill acquisition.
Green reading, face alignment, course management, and score should be practiced.
Limit other sports participation to 3 sports maximum.
Concepts of grip, posture, alignment, ball position, balance and weight shift are understood.
TRAIN TO PLAY AND LEARN TO COMPETE PHASE (13-17 yrs old):
Focus on physical literacy, manage growth spurts, limit to two sports, emphasize speed, power, and strength, dedicate 40% of the program to fitness, stress nutrition and recovery, balance golf practice, and ensure proper equipment and playtime.
Optimizing Junior Golf Development: Training, Fitness, and Equipment Guidelines
Should be physically literate (locomotor skills, object control, body awareness).
Growth spurt in this phase which leads to poor coordination & skill regression.
Limit other sport participation down to 2 sport maximum.
Second speed window of trainability: speed, power, strength focus.
Physical fitness (activation, mobility, stability) should be 40% of golf program.
Nutrition and recovery techniques should be stressed.
Golf practice should be 70% block practice and 30% random (hit 1,000 balls per week).
Play >18 holes per week and own a full set of custom fit clubs.
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frequently asked questions
All training for juniors is age and developmentally appropriate for each child. We work with 5 year olds – in the discovery phase of long term athletic development to 18 year olds and college athletes. They are never too young! The onset of puberty is when we start working on increasing muscular strength, speed, and power. Agility, locomotion, and coordination is incorporated as soon as possible.
We have found small group training (3-6 juniors) to be the most effective. This is where camaraderie and competition can peak performance. Juniors learn from each other and drive each other to succeed. With that said, we do see some junior athletes that are just a productive and thrive more on their own with just a coach.
Our program recognizes the value of multi-sport participation and how it can positively impact a child's overall athletic development. Engaging in other sports helps enhance various movement patterns, coordination, and overall physical literacy, which are crucial for golf. For example, sports like soccer, basketball, or swimming can improve agility, balance, and core strength, all of which directly benefit a golfer's swing mechanics, stability, and endurance. By incorporating and building on these diverse movement patterns, our program not only strengthens your child's golf skills but also contributes to a more well-rounded athletic foundation.O
There are early specialization and late specialization sports. We have found that juniors that are exposed to sports such as tumbling, hockey, ice skating, baseball, soccer, and martial arts at an early age (<10 years old) have a better athletic foundation and can pick up the sport of golf more easily. So preparation starts with the young athlete. By the time of the 1st and 2nd growth spurt (10-13 years old), if your junior’s goal is to play competitively in college, that is the moment to hone advanced skills in one sport.
Sometimes juniors rebel and do not want to listen to their parents’ advice. They see it as nagging. Having a coach can help the parents out by instilling some lifestyle protocols and holding the athlete accountable to help them with their goals. From too much phone time, not enough sleep, poor eating habits, to getting homework and training done in time….we can help!
Your junior athlete needs to attend The Club with comfortable workout clothing, appropriate shoes for movement, a water bottle, and great attitude! We supply the rest. Golf clubs are not needed, but if they have them, they can bring them and hit some balls!
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