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Golf together for fun and fitness

July is Family Golf Month

Play Golf America says now is the time to bring your kids to the course or driving range to learn to play.
This month, families can gather on the vast greens of South Florida’s many golf courses for some structured — yet casual — game instruction. With three-, six- or nine-hole scrambles, official PGA family golf tees, family golf clinics and play days, and a family cookout to end the day, there’s no reason not to learn to play golf together at more than 53 South Florida courses.

The “spokesfamily” for the event, country-singing superstar couple Amy Grant and Vince Gill and their 6-year-old daughter Corrina, promotes bringing younger children who may not be ready for a full game to the hitting range where courses will provide two buckets of golf balls to youngsters and a one-year subscription to Golf Digest or Golf for Women to parents for just $20.

Diana Law, co-owner of the Don Law Golf Improvement Center in Boca Raton with her husband, stressed that playing golf as a family provides more quality time than going to a movie.
“When I took my daughter out to the course to play a practice round or to a tournament, things would come in conversation that normally maybe wouldn’t,” she said. “The two to four hours you get interacting with your son or daughter on the golf course is really good quality time.”
In that spirit, July 9 to 15 is the eighth annual and second PGA-sanctioned Take Your Daughter to the Course Week, which gives parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles the chance to introduce their young Annika Sorenstams to the game.
Participating golf courses in South Florida such as the Wellington Golf and Country Club, TBC at Eagle Trace in Coral Springs and the Diplomat Country Club in Hallandale Beach will offer free clinics for young lady golfers throughout the week and complimentary green fees if accompanied by a paying adult. So forget that urban legend that golf actually stands for “gentlemen only, ladies forbidden,” and let your daughter take a swing at a tee. Law also said the etiquette of golf makes it unlike other sports in the number of life lessons a child can take away from playing.
“Golf stresses integrity. If you break a rule, even if no one is around, you call it on yourself. Even on a bad day, you can’t bench yourself. The child learns they still have to finish and turn in their scorecard,” Law said, adding that young players at tournaments are always rooting each other on and showing good sportsmanship.
The center in the Boca Dunes Golf & Country Club is working with PGA to promote these July events and offering several tournaments for young people during the month, and parents can caddy for their Tiger Woods in training.
“It’s important for parents and children to stay connected when we’re all so busy,” Law said. “Golf gives you the time out together that is so important.”
A listing of all participating South Florida golf courses and information about the forthcoming Family Golf Sweepstakes can be found at Playgolfamerica.com.

By Gabrielle Dunn