Golf Blog by The Orlando Golf Blogger

The Little Linksters is a junior golf program in Orlando, FL (eventually nationwide! ) for children ages three-eight. My good friend PGA Golf Professional and Head Golf Pro out at Winter Park Country Club, Brendon Elliott created the program a couple years back and has made some great progress in developing the curriculum.

Little Linksters Junior Golf Program is a great way to introduce all your aspiring PGA & LPGA junior golfers to the game we all love. The concepts introduced to the children are very simple to learn and it’s delivered in a fun and interactive way combining traditional and non-traditional golf teaching methods where there’s always an emphasis on fun.

Little Linksters – Orlando Junior Golf Program Information

• Program Runs in Five Week Sessions
• Each Session is One Hour
• Two Age Groups: 3-4 Years, 5-8 Years
• Limited to 10 Kids per Age Group

CURRENTLY OFFERED AT:

StarChild Academy (StarChild Students Only) – Lake Mary, FL

City of Deltona (OPEN TO ALL!) – Deltona, FL

Legacy Academy (Legacy Students Only) – Lake Mary, FL

My four year old Aiden, attended a couple sessions last year when they were using the SNAG Golf Clubs and he loved it. You can read about it here.

Little Linksters Weeks One & Two

Little Linksters Weeks Three & Four

We’re going to be attending the new session kicking off March 6th, 2010 out in the City of Deltona.

As part of the new Little Linksters Junior Golf Program, they’re going to begin the program using the US Kids Golf Training Clubs and eventually transition over to the Littlest Golfer Clubs. They’re also going to be using Almost Golf Balls, Almost Golf Targets, The Golfers Footprint, Eyeline Golf Training Aids and few other gadgets thrown in for good measure.

The entire five week session only costs $60 per child at the City of Deltona location and the other locations are $75 per child.

If you have a child who has shown some interest in the game, or if you are looking for a way to introduce your child to golf, the Little Linksters Junior Golf Program is a great way to do so.

Let me know if you’re going to be out there Saturday, I’d love to meet you!

I know you’ve all been waiting with bated breath for the next redition and I have to apoligize for missing a week.

For those that have no clue what I’m talking about, please refer to Little Linksters.  As a quick recap, Brendon Elliott is a local golf pro who runs a junior golf program called “Little Linksters.”  My little golf pro in the making is attending these lessons and is loving them!  Every Saturday, he has a lesson out at Lake Mary Prep.

So weeks three and four were dedicated to putting.

Week three, Brendon trained the kids on proper putting form and tempo.  They used real kid sized putters from (I believe) US Kids golf.  The method he used to teach putting, I’m calling the A-Bend-Tick-Tock.  Using the A stance the kids learned a during week two and bending at the hips, the kids are swinging to a tick-tock mantra where the back stroke was tick and the forward stroke was tock.

For the putting class, he brought out this totally awesome portable putting green that can be assembled in ten minutes..  Some guys have all the cool toys…

For the week four putting lesson, the class was indoors and the kids used the SNAG golf putters and putted at targets.

The kids seems to enjoy this more than the prevous lesson and and at the end of the lesson they even worked on chipping.  Utilizing the putting swing they learned, Brendon put the SNAG Launchers in their hands and off they went.  The biggest struggle was for the kids to remember the putting swing and not the full swing.

I’m pretty excited about next weeks lesson.  Brendon is setting up a SNAG Golf Course and the kids are going to have the opportunity to piece all their lessons together and play a round.  It’s really cool to see the excitement these kids have about playing golf, warms my golfer heart!

-Dave

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Two Saturdays ago, OGB Junior had his second golf lesson out at Brendon Elliott‘s Little Linkster’s Junior Golf Acacemy.

I know, I know, I’m a little late in posting..  I’m going to have to ask you to cut me some slack as it was a busy week last week with the PGA Merchandise Show and a few rounds of golf…ahem…. 

For those of you who have been dwelling under a rock and aren’t familiar with this program, click Little Linksters to catch up!

I was very pleased with how well the lessons went.

To the left you’ll notice a bunch of kids.  Don’t worry about the ones in the background, they’re not really important, check out that “awesome golfer in the making” in the foreground wearing that sweet lime green little linksters visor and hitting an amazing shot.  Look at that form, (whistles) man that kids got the gift…  Oh, did I mention that’s my son, Aiden?  Ah, hmm.. must’ve left that out

Eh, but I digress..

There are, in my opinion, three main factors that make this program a success.  Simplicity, kid-friendly equipment and fun.

The equipment the kids in the program are using are from a company called SNAG.  SNAG stands for “Starting New at Golf” and they’ve designed their product line to be the fun and easy way to learn and play golf anywhere!

I’ll be posting more on SNAG a little later, I had a great opportunity to speak with them out at the PGA Merchandise Show and suffice to say, I have become a SNAG convert who would gladly drink the koolaid..

In terms of simplicity, Brendon has broken down the golf swing mechanics into terms kids can understand.  There’s basically a four part motion the kids need to follow in order to have a complete swing. (Many thanks to Brendon for these wonderful pictures of his daughter and heir to the golf pro fortune )

The first part is the “A” stance.

As you can see in the picture above, the stance is pretty self explanatory.  Envision your body as a capital A (make sure it a capital A and not a lowercase a, heh, I can only imagine how that stance would look ) and set your feet about shoulder width apart.

The second part is the “Y” stance

Another easily identifiable visual for the kids to remember.  The “Y” consists of your two arms and the club.  I suppose you could call it a little y. depending on where the ball is in your stance, but, let’s not get too technical here..   So, while maintaining A stance, using your two arms and your club, form a Y.

The third part and fourth part are the L stances.  There’s the forward L and the backwards L.

So, get into the A stance and with your club and arms, form the Y stance.  Once that’s done, bring the club back and with your club and arms, create the letter L.  Once this is achieved, swing the club and with the club and your arms, create a backwards L.

To help the kids understand the path the club should take, Brendon uses the SNAG launcher and puts the Golfer’s Footprint over the top of it (see below).

The launchpad Tee fits in the middle of that yellow circle and the kids are instructed to follow the red line.

Pretty Simple, No?

The SNAG equipment lends to an early enjoyment of the game of golf because it’s pretty easy for the kids to hit.  The cool thing is that the clubs and the balls the kids use are the same weight as regular clubs, just distributed differently.  Ah, I seem to be getting ahead of myself…  The kids are hitting shots at big bullseyes almost like they were in a golf shooting gallery.  The balls are Velcro so they stick letting the kids know when they make a good “shot.”

For all you kindred handers, found us another lefty to indoctrinate.

So, this program is pretty awesome.  I can now watch with swelling pride whenever my son goes into a fit of golfers tourettes showing random strangers A, Y, L, L.

Enjoy!

-Dave

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Last Saturday, my son had his first lesson of the Little Linksters Golf Program.  If you recall, I posted an earlier post discussing the specifics of the program which can be found here Little Linksters junior golf comes to Lake Mary Prep.

Brendon Elliott and his wife Melisa started this program to serve a usually overlooked niche, the middle class families.  You’ve got the programs for the underprivileged and the programs for the over privileged but there’s nothing for those of us in between.  I guess I should also mention that they have a three year old daughter and if you ask this golf blogger, he also created the program as an excuse to play more golf (well, eventually anyway, he’s just setting the groundwork now)!

So the first week was pretty much an intro, they watched a surprisingly engaging kids golf video called “Club Pro’s Kids Kingdom.”  Regrettably I was not able to watch the entire video, I excused myself from the room once I realized I was the only parent left in the class room..   But two of the main characters was a little boy named St. Andrews and a little girl named Augusta!  I was chuckling pretty hard and I was saddened that none of the other participants got the joke…. just what are they teaching kids these days??

After the video was over, Brendon went through an eDimples junior golf activity book with them.  The book gave a good intro into some of the broader golf concepts.    Below is a picture of Brendon and Melisa with some of this classes participants.  Can you guess which of these yard apes is mine?  I’ll give you a hint, he has devilishly good looks gained from his father’s side of the family.

The class ended with all the kids getting a swag bag, complete with goodies for parents and kids alike, as well as a free twosome out at Winter Park!  It’s intended to be a post graduation round for you and your newly trained golf padawan.  For those with children, Brendon mentioned that Winter Park is a kid friendly course!

I was impressed with the amount of patience these two have when dealing with a room full of energetic children.  The kids all left the classroom excited about golf and my son Aiden was wearing his new Little Linkster’s visor all the way home.

He was so pumped about golf that I had to take him to play putt-putt, twice!!  But let’s not get me started on the price of a round of putt-putt, it’s highway robbery!

Stay tuned for more posts about the Little Linksters.

-Dave

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