Specialising in golf from a young age in order to try and become the next Rory McIlroy or Lydia Coe is often detrimental to the child’s physical and mental development. Golf as a sport alone does not provide the wide range of athletic skills required in order to achieve maximum levels of performance in later years. Furthermore, as a repetitive one-sided movement, it can create poor movement patterns that lead to serious injuries during the adolescent years and beyond.
However, Strength and Conditioning has been shown to increase, not only the physical side, but also the cognitive and emotional development in juniors. Every junior matures at an individual pace which can make it hard to understand which physical changes are normal and which need specific training. What’s more, a 12 year old could have a biological age – physical maturation – as low an eight year old or up to a 15 year old, meaning there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to junior development.
Therefore, applying an integrated approach to junior golf development is imperative, not only for their games, but more importantly for the development of all-round athletic skills required for all-sports but not gained from all-sports! Cognitive development is required for good decision-making, learning new skills and improved self-esteem and reduces the risk of injury and burn-out that negatively affects the individual’s experience within golf with showing a direct correlation between drop out in sports.