While golf is a great sport for any age, it’s especially beneficial for children. The sport will teach them valuable life lessons, keep them fit, and encourage them to take on other sports. If you love golf, it’s also a great way to spend quality time with your child. 

Sure, golf is one of the hardest sports to master. You could spend half of your prime years out on the course and still not make it in the pro league but that’s okay. One of the lessons golf teaches is that nothing good comes easy. The sooner we understand this fact of life, the better. Indeed, golf can teach us a lot of things while having fun.

Looking to explore these advantages better? In this article, we break down the key benefits that the youth can stand to gain by playing this centuries-old sport.

Promotes Overall Fitness

Between 2017 to 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that as many as 19% or 14.4 million of two to 19-year olds in the United States were obese. It’s a problem whose prevalence has risen throughout the years not just in the US but globally. In 1975, only 4% of children were obese but by 2016 it affected over 18% of five to 19-year-olds around the world.

Golfing can be an effective way of combating obesity and promoting overall fitness. It strengthens the core muscles and spine while building hand-eye coordination among other crucial skills. Generally considered a low-intensity sport, it’s still a much better alternative than playing on the PS4 or lying on the couch staring at a television screen for hours.

Plus, carrying all their golfing equipment around and walking around the golf course is sure to burn some calories. 

Promotes Mental Health

Golf has been known to reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression. There have been many testimonies where golfers struggling with mental health issues were able to overcome them by golfing. 

Since golf is a mental game that needs complete focus and concentration, it has provided many mental health sufferers with much-needed distraction from their emotional and mental struggles.

Encourages Outdoor Activity

As we spend more time indoors in front of our computers, tablets, and phones, so do our children. However, as responsible parents, we know that spending time outdoors has crucial benefits that can’t be had while inside the house. 

Outdoor activities like golf allow our children’s bodies to get more exercise, vitamin D, regulate their circadian rhythms, get some fresh air, and appreciate nature to name a few.

Because golf is an outdoor activity, it encourages kids to play outside while teaching them the joys of being outdoors. It also contributes to their mental health and helps them become more well-rounded.

Helps Develop Strong Relationships

Golf helps build social skills by giving children the opportunity to interact with other players on the same golf course. Since the sport isn’t physically demanding, children can easily keep up with conversations without negatively affecting their game.

You can even enroll your child in junior golf programs for kids to help their social skills even more and to help them become more engaged with the game.

Teaches Patience

Golf culture is rooted in traditional values like patience and mental resilience. While the goal is relatively simple, achieving it can be a frustrating and time-consuming affair. Even after carefully choosing the club, cautiously putting, and hitting the sweet spot, you can still miss the mark. 

To have any success in this game, children will need to learn patience, overcome frustrations, and keep playing to the best of their ability until they notice a marked improvement in their play style.

Additionally, the slow pace of golf helps kids improve their emotional responses since they have to wait their turn and be mindful of other players. 

Enhances Analytical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills

Golf is largely a mental sport. By getting kids into golf, you’re helping them cultivate their decision-making skills, analyze risks, weigh pros and cons before they swing, use numbers to their advantage, and strategize their way into a win. These skills are important in life and in their careers later on. 

Golfing Benefits for the Youth: A Hole-In-One Decision

By playing golf, young people can look forward to physical, mental, and emotional benefits. It helps build their character, promotes physical health, develops mental toughness, and strengthens their problem-solving abilities.

Now that you know just how beneficial playing golf can be for kids, take your children on golfing trips with you or enroll them in a golf program for the youth.  As you can see, golf is much more than just a game. It’s an attitude and mindset that can help children with whatever life throws at them.