Golf is a game you can play for a lifetime. When you step on the range, it’s not unusual to see a pint-sized junior golfer swinging right next to a retiree. That’s part of the beauty of it.
Playing from an early age is hugely advantageous for development. Learning the fundamentals of the game early on sets you up for success down the line. Like most things, learning as a kid is much easier than learning as an adult.
But don’t let that make you fall into the trap of thinking that you — or your child — need to be a complete golfer as a teenager.
“The biggest mistake parents make is they get too obsessed with results early,” says GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood. “If you get obsessed with results early — winning tournaments early — you stifle development.”
As a junior golfer, you needn’t worry too much about your place on the leaderboard. You aren’t going to lose your PGA Tour card or be relegated to the mini tours based on how you place in a junior event as a 12-year-old.
“Early on it’s about development, skill mastery, skill transfer, and creating the player for later on,” Yarwood says. “That’s really the key. Early success does not mean you’re going to be a great player [later on].”
This mindset echos a similar sentiment held by the game’s best player, Scottie Scheffler. After winning the 2025 PGA Championship, he explained that one of the best things his long-time swing coach Randy Smith taught him as a junior golfer was patience.
“Randy always did a really good job of reminding me that it was a long journey to become good at golf,” Scheffler said. “I wasn’t always the best player. I felt like I could be the best player. But I was a good junior player, a good amateur player, and I did a good job kind of rising up the ranks in professional golf. Randy was always by my side helping me stay patient and teaching me little things along the way.”
If you want to truly be great, it’s not about being the best golfer at the age of 12. At that age, it’s much more important to develop the fundamentals and skills that you will lean on later on.
If you’re a junior golf parent, remember this advice. Exercise patience and don’t get too obsessed with results early on. If you do that, you’ll do a much better job positioning you kid for success later on.
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