Junior Golf Clubs

Junior golf clubs can give kids a great start. A lot of parents who golf want to get their kids interested in playing the game.  After all, golf has a lot of advantages over some of the other stuff children can get involved with.  It's a fine way to spend time in the great outdoors, among the trees, birds and freshly-cut grass instead of computer monitors, TVs and video games.  In other words, golf means healthy physical activity vs. being a couch potato.  It also teaches kids how to play by the rules, how to be honest in their dealings with themselves and with others, and how to engage in friendly competition.  People of all ages can enjoy playing golf, and there's no better time for someone to start learning how wonderful the game can be than when they're young.

So, golf is good for kids in a lot of ways.  Unfortunately, many parents try to get their children started by giving them a set of hand-me-down clubs that were almost certainly designed to be used by adults.  The shafts are too long and stiff for junior golfers, the lofts are too strong, and the clubs are too heavy.  Adult clubs just aren't suitable for junior golfers.  To make matters worse, they're probably at least five or ten years old (if not more), so golf club design and technology passed by those hand-me-downs many years ago. 

Giving your child a set of adult clubs to play with will just make the game less fun and more frustrating, and that's not a good combination for kids. Instead of expecting your child to play with a completely unsuitable set of clubs, invest in a good set of junior golf clubs. They're available in a wide range of prices, because several major club manufacturers (Callaway, Ping, Nike, TaylorMade, Wilson, MacGregor, Adams and Tour Edge) make them as well as a few companies that are not quite as well known (Lynx, Zevo, XPC, Hippo and US Kids). Some of these companies concentrate more on individual junior clubs, while others design and manufacture full club sets.

Junior golf clubs are, by necessity, shorter than adult golf clubs. That means that the typical adult golf club bag won't work. The clubs are simply too short for an adult bag's slots. Not to worry, though, because junior golf bags are available. In fact, many sets come complete with their own golf bag.

We'll discuss complete sets in more detail in a separate article. For now it's enough to say that you'll be able to find a junior golf club set for a boy or girl of just about any age. Investing in one of these sets is probably the best way to introduce any junior to this glorious game.

There are, however, a few things to keep in mind, whether you're looking for single clubs or a complete junior golf club set.

The Right Length

Naturally, you'll want to find clubs that are the correct length right now. Kids grow, though, and you'll also want something your junior can keep playing with for a while. A growing child can make getting the right length a little tricky, but getting clubs with a little extra length is okay because the child can choke down a bit (no more than an inch or it will change their swing) until they put on some more height.

The Right Shaft Flex

Make sure the golf clubs you're looking at have shafts that are the right flex for a junior's slower swing speeds. The manufacturers we mentioned earlier all use very flexible shafts in their junior golf clubs.

The Right Grip Size

In addition to being shorter and having slower swing speeds than adults, most juniors have smaller hands. Naturally, that means their grips should be smaller than the grips that are intended for adults, so make sure the junior golf clubs you're looking at are equipped with junior-size grips.

The Right Weight

A club that's too heavy makes it difficult for a junior golfer to make a smooth, complete backswing. The result will be a great deal of inconsistency in striking the ball. Lighter-weight junior golf clubs help a young golfer develop a smooth, repeatable swing that will give much better, more consistent results.