I really enjoyed Lewine Mair’s article and had no idea how young golfers developed in Sweden, but I think it is an excellent system (“Swedes take long view on player development,†Sept. 18 GGP).
Most children are rushed into competing for the glory their parents crave. It’s a shame so many burn out before they have any chance to enjoy their sport.
I went to Texas Tech and have been a fan of Ludvig Åberg while he was going to college here in Texas. He is not only a great player but appears to be a really good kid, a tribute to the Swedes’ system. I will be rooting for him in the Ryder Cup.
John Ochsner
Pinehurst, Texas
It was very interesting to read Lewine Mair’s latest column about the Swedish long view of the junior game (“Swedes take long view on player development,†Sept. 18 GGP).
When I was due to take over as junior organizer at Knole Park, my old club in Kent, England, I arranged to visit the head of junior golf at the Swedish Golf Federation while we were in Stockholm visiting friends. A chance meeting with the junior organizer of the Stockholm Golf Club, where the SGF was based at the time, led to an annual junior exchange tour between the two clubs that has continued to this day.
The strength of the older juniors – say, the 15-18-year-old age group – has been consistent with the Swedish players, but in England it has deteriorated, based on my experience of the junior league that I run in Kent.
When I started the league in 1997, it was based in the northwest Kent/southeast London area, and I had no problem finding the optimum number (14) of clubs able to field six-a-side teams in our foursomes competition. Fourteen clubs gave us two divisions of seven, with each club playing three home and three away matches – about the right number of fixtures, bearing in my mind the number of other competitions available. The fixtures were reversed the following year to give some continuity.
However, about six or seven years ago, it started to become difficult to find clubs with enough “older†juniors to participate, to the extent that I opened the league up across Kent so that now we have a West division and an East.
I’ve held a theory about this, which Lewine Mair’s column reinforces. I believe there is just too much junior golf.
Now, you might think that an odd thing to hear from someone involved in the junior game for nearly 30 years, but this is what my thoughts are based on.
We now have primary school-aged kids being driven around large regions by their parents to venues where they are treated like mini-pros. By the time they reach the age where, traditionally, they would have joined a club – let’s say around the time they move up to secondary school – they are almost burnt out, and many leave the game.
I’m convinced that is why there is a dearth of the older juniors. Yes, we’ve always had mid-teenaged juniors leaving the game for other reasons, but there now is a smaller pool left after they have moved on.
What is also worrying is that the parents of those very young juniors are being lost to the game when their young sons/daughters leave the game. By “lost,†I mean that, had their kids not been so pressurized and continued to play through their junior years, some of those parents would have become club junior organizers. What we have now is many assistant pros taking on the role. That is good from the coaching aspect, but they haven’t got the time for the other responsibilities of a junior organizer, such as transporting the juniors to matches, for example.
Mark Timlett
Bournemouth, England
(Timlett serves as league administrator of the Junior 4somes League in Kent.)
Apropos of nothing, I thought I’d comment on an article that keeps popping up about the British Open. I mention that it keeps popping up since the event was over a few months ago. If I remember correctly, it was from a former chairman of the R&A. Essentially, he was dismayed that the Open Championship was being referred to on this side of the pond as the British Open. We, the former colonials, were advised that this was incorrect and even disrespectful.
My comment is that we former colonials settled things with the Brits about 250 years ago. We then put an exclamation point on the win in 1815. So, maybe we can call it anything we want. That little tournament across the pond? Even the British!
Well, as the winners, and not wanting to kick the losers while they’re down (Brexit results and all), I guess I can cut them a break. It is indeed the Open Championship, but they might want to ease up on instructing the former colonials on proper behavior. It has not gone well in the past. There's probably some tea in a harbor (that's harbour to you Brits) somewhere.
Blaine Walker
St. Paul, Minnesota
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