On Mothers Day, my wife pushed me out the door to go golfing. After confirming and reconfirming that it was OK that I could going out for a quick round. My daughter also wanted to go out but I thought she and I may benefit from going to the range instead. The facility we went to has a Driving range, a 18 hole putting course and a par 3 course. Driving in I noticed the par was not very busy and I asked her if she wanted to go to the range or play 9 holes. She has been to the range before but has never played a round on the golf course. So we decided to play 9 holes.

She was excited about the chance of playing her first round so I did not want give her what I call the golf myth golf lesson. “Keep you head down, your left arm straight, and keep your eye on the ball”. I wanted to show her proper etiquette. Showing her where to stand when teeing off, being quiet when others are playing, being aware of peoples line when putting, and where to place your golf bag while putting.

I did tell her to focus on one thing when swinging. Off the tee I asked her to only try to clip the top the the tee with the club and not worry about the ball. I want her to left the clubs loft get the ball in the air and not have her help the ball. Clipping the tee takes the focus away from the ball and if they the tee’s head is clipped the ball strike the club near the sweet spot.

There are a few hole where there is a pond to cross. So rather than have her tee off from the forward tees I let her tee it up about 30 yards from the green. Watching her putt once see got to the green reminded me of me when I first started to play. Zero feel for weight, each putt was too short a la Happy Gilmore (just tap it in, tap it in, tappy tap tapperoo) or way too long. But she did not care she out enjoying herself. As a bonus during the round we saw some geese, goslings, and a couple of deer.

I found out by the eighth hole that she has learned gamesmanship. As I was about to tee off she comments “are there any bunkers here daddy?”. “Yes darling, there is one to the right of the green and two to the left of the green”. So I reset myself, and just before I start my back swing I hear “I hope you don’t hit it into one of them daddy”. “Now you are going to jinx me honey”. “What does that mean”? I proceed to hit the ball within two inched, but not inside, one the bunkers on the left. On the next tee just as I am about to swing “Oh daddy there is another bunker on this hole and it is to the left of the green”. Sigh, “Honey what did daddy say about talking while some is playing a shot”. “I am sorry daddy”. Whether she was sorry or not is unclear because after my ball landed in the bunker she began to laugh. Maybe the apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree after all.