Golf is kids' play.

Byline: Mike Stahlberg The Register-Guard

The golf swing is like a foreign language - it is best learned when you are young.

A tongue can easily trip over sounds not learned early in life. And "golf can be awkward physically" for those who take up the game after their muscles are already developed, said Dan King, the teaching pro at Tokatee Golf Club near McKenzie Bridge. "But if you start young, your muscles will have developed swinging a golf club, so it's not something that's awkward."

That's one reason King and other local golf professionals say parents should not hesitate to put a club in a child's hand, regardless of age.

"If they show an interest, you need to get them out there and start teaching them how to play," said Mark Tunstill, general manager of Mallard Creek Golf Club east of Lebanon.

"Depending on their age, you'll be teaching different things - maybe even something as simple as how to still be standing when you've finished swinging."

"We usually start kids somewhere around age 7," said Al Mundle, director of instruction at RiverRidge Golf Course in Eugene. "But a lot depends on the child himself or herself - I got started when I was about 5."

Mundle's been teaching golf since 1957 and has run junior golf programs since 1977, making him one of the most-experienced youth instructors in the area.

He recommends parents who have youngsters interested in golf "try not to give the kids too much information."

Mundle said he sometimes overhears a parent on the driving range telling their child to "keep your left arm straight, keep your head down" or other swing mantras.

Such advice can "really hang a kid up," Mundle said. "We try to give them some freedom before we tighten down" on swing mechanics.

Indeed, Mundle said you often don't have to tell child anything at first.

"It's amazing how well kids will do if you just give them a golf club and let them watch somebody swing and then let them swing," Mundle said.

"They're pretty good at mimicking."

RiverRidge's instructors "try to keep it as simple as possible" when working with young golfers, Mundle said.

And, remember what may be "right" for an adult may not work for a youngster.

"We work with the kids on learning how to place their hands on the club as properly as possible," Mundle said. "But some children have small hands so they are not going to have a grip that looks real good to an adult ... You have to let the kids grow with it and, as their fingers get longer, they'll get a fairly decent grip."

At their junior clinics and schools, Mundle and his instructors show the golfers the good posture and balance that are the foundation of a good set-up. "Then we teach them how to swing the club to the right and swing to the left, without too many details.

"We spend a lot of time on balance and a lot of time on set-up and finish - if they can do those couple of things well, they'll probably do pretty well."

The best place to start a child, however, is probably on and around the green, putting and chipping.

By starting with short putts and chips, Mundle said, "there's a success factor which leads to excitement which leads to more golf."

It's also important to make sure a golf lesson is "challenging, fun and rewarding," he said.

To motivate kids to practice, "you have to make the game fun," Mundle said. "We have games and get them on the course every day in our schools. We feel that getting them on the course and starting to play eliminates some of the hesitation to keep it up."

To make practice more fun, Mundle suggests simple putting competitions - "like HORSE in basketball" - where parent and child can compete against each other.

Mundle said it's easier for kids to learn golf now because the equipment situation has improved significantly in recent years.

"Fortunately, the manufacturers have come up with golf clubs for kids that fit them, and that was not the case 10 years ago," he said.

Starting a youngster with a cut-down adult club "generally makes it too heavy, too stiff and oftentimes the grip size is too large - we have to be real careful about that," Mundle said.

"The shafts need to be pretty flexible. More flex makes it easier for kids to swing clubs."

If a child is going to use a driver, he said, it should have "somewhere around 13 to 16 degrees of loft - the more loft, the better."

Tokatee's Dan King, however, said parents shouldn't be overly concerned about equipment at first.

"I've always felt that getting a club in a kid's hands that's the right length and teaching him how to get the ball in the hole is good enough," King said. "Once he reaches a certain level of ability, then there's a lot of club-fitting than can help. But I don't know that's so important at the very beginning."

The playing - and the enjoyment of playing - is the key thing, most pros agree.

And golf courses - faced with flat or even, in some cases, declining numbers of rounds - are going to greater lengths to embrace young golfers with clinics, discounted greens fees and even, in some cases, free golf.

Up at Mallard Creek, for example, Tunstill this year began offering free golf to anyone younger than 15, when accompanied by an adult. The offer is good only at off-peak times - after 1 p.m. weekdays and after 4 p.m. weekends.

However, youngsters ages 12 to 15 can become "certified" to play free any time, without adult accompaniment, on a stand-by basis.

All they have to do is complete a free two-day clinic covering basic golf skills and course etiquette - such as the importance of maintaining pace of play, repairing ball marks, raking bunkers, etc.

About 100 youngsters have become certified so far, Tunstill said.

"We're getting a great response," he said.

"It's been such a neat thing to provide these kids a chance to play. Golf courses are getting so expensive, it's difficult for kids to play. ... I really feel we're providing a great thing for the community - exposing kids to a sport where you can teach morals and ethics. Golf is the only sport I know where you call a penalty on yourself."

Junior golf schools have been a staple at many courses during the summer, but this year RiverRidge also began offering after-school programs for middle-school-age youngsters.

In addition to two 90-minute lessons a week, participants get a chance to play one of RiverRidge's short courses for free.

"We have kept pretty close attendance records, and we have a whole lot of kids that are coming back," said RiverRidge owner Ric Jeffries, who was looking for a program that would appeal to students who are "not geared to KidSports and team issues - the population of kids that really needs to be doing something in the summer."

The program, Jeffries said, "has taken off.'

`Kids are excited about hitting golf balls," he said.

Some of them, no doubt, will speak the language of golf the rest of their lives.

CAPTION(S):

Young golfers take their swings on the driving range at RiverRidge Golf Course during a lesson. Al Mundle, the head of RiverRidge's instruction program, gives some tips to Courtney Martin, 10. "We have games and get them on the course every day .... We feel that getting them on the course and starting to play eliminates some of the hesitation to keep it up." AL MUNDLE RIVERRIDGE DIRECTOR OF INSTRUCTION