Golf drills at home for 8 year olds

At a glance

At 8

24 golf drills the app opens for an 8 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old.

How often

At most 3 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: foam balls (9 of the 24 drills), putter (6), balls (4), short iron (4), club (3), tees (3), wedge (3), pencil (2). 1 drill needs nothing but space.

Safe at home

One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

24 at-home drills

Golf drills for 8 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for an 8 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.

course management

Course Management

• Know Your Yardage MapAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Pace Off the DistanceAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Where Would You Aim?Ages 7 and up · 8 min

driving

Driving

• Balance Statue SwingsAges 7 and up · 6 min
• Big Target Tee GameAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Tee Height and SetupAges 7 and up · 8 min

focus & composure

Focus & Composure

• Good Shot DiaryAges 7 and up · 6 min
• Quiet Statue Before the ShotAges 7 and up · 6 min
• Three-Breath RoutineAges 7 and up · 8 min

iron play

Iron Play

• Grip and Posture CheckAges 7 and up · 6 min
• Hoop Landing GameAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Brush the GrassAges 7 and up · 8 min

putting

Putting

• Family Putting CourseAges 7 and up · 12 min
• Putter GateAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Short Putt CircleAges 7 and up · 10 min

A 21-minute session

A home golf session for an 8 year old

A warm-up, 1 drill and a cool-down, 21 minutes in all. Do it up to 3 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Golf Warm-Up, Ages 7 to 10An 8-minute moving warm-up for golf players aged 7 to 10: easy running, moving stretches, balance and soft landings, then golf moves. Before practice, never still stretches first.8 min
2. 2Chip to a TowelWeight forward, quiet hands.8 min
3. 3Golf Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 7 to 10A 5-minute cool-down for golf players aged 7 to 10 after training: an easy walk, then gentle stretches for the legs, hips and lower back, each held for a slow count of 10.5 min

At 8

What changes in golf training at 8

The app opens the same 24 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting golf into a week at 8

At 8 the limit is 8 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 3 sessions of 25 minutes is 1.25 hours, which leaves 6.75 for team practice and games. Even 3 days at the app's longest, 30 minutes, is 1.5 hours.

The research behind it

• Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.

  Côté and Vierimaa 2014

• Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.

  NATA youth sport specialization recommendations

Questions and answers