Play Like a Kid Again

What adults can learn from the best little tournament players in the world.

- Keely Levins

The first week of august in Pinehurst, there’s a tradition unlike any other. This year, 1,552 players representing 52 countries came to take on 10 courses. It’s the major of all junior majors: the U.S. Kids World Championship. Perhaps you saw the Netflix documentary “The Short Game,” which followed a group of competitors and their parents at the 2012 tournament. The kids compete in nine- and 18-hole events, and everyone plays three rounds. Remember when you were 6? You probably weren’t grinding out 27 holes of stroke play.

I’d flown from New York with the idea I’d see what made golf click for these kids. Gratification these days is as immediate as a like on Instagram, so why are all these youngsters choosing a game that takes so much time and effort? And just how did they get so good?

To be honest, I had reservations. First, I was worried about hanging out with a bunch of kids who can kick my butt on the golf course. It doesn’t feel good to see a 7-year-old with a smoother action than you. Second, and apologies for sounding judgmental, but I was worried some of the parents could be, well, a little nuts.

One of these fears came true: These kids are darn good. Sihan Sandhu from Virginia shot 23 under par to win the 10-year-old boys division. That’s 23 under, over three rounds, on a course set up at 5,201 yards. That’s probably about the distance of the forward tees at your course.

The other fear was misplaced. Sure, many of these parents have spent a lot of money on their kids’ golf careers, from travel to equipment to swing coaches. I met one boy from Hungary who travels with his family to the south of Spain for a month during the winter to practice. One girl from India had a swing coach and a trainer. But after sitting down with 30 kids and their parents, overwhelmingly, I found the kids to be the ones driving the need to play golf.