#20 The Power of Environment and Community in Junior Golf Programs
The power of a positive environment and community can be huge for your success in anything and I have found so to be the same in junior golf. From my experience it is one of those things that may not be tangible, and often is over looked, blinded by the nice practice facility you may go to, or the technology used in lessons or even the quality of your coaches 1-1 lessons. The environment holds so much value towards child development and yet it gets lost and forgotten about.
I have seen the difference between junior golf programs first hand. I’ve been involved in the ones that flourish, where kids are continuously successful in their own ways, parents are happy to be involved and everyone appreciates calling that community home. I’ve seen the other side as well, the one where on the surface, it looks like the learning environment has it all, from the tech to the practice area, yet a lacked in environment, community, culture that keep junior golfers wanting to come back, stay, play and turn new friends into family.
The point of this discussion with Neil Plimmer is for us to help you see through all the noise, to see how important putting your junior in the right environment really is. I’ve been blinded by it all and had to do a lot of reflection to really see through it, and hope this helps you jump through it all faster than I did.
Discussion Timeline:
- Where this episode idea came from (1:54)
- The All Blacks (4:52)
- Communities and Practice (10:23)
- The environment we can’t physically see (14:49)
- Exposing your players to different coaches (19:28)
- What does a positive learning environment look like for junior golf? (22:45)
- Junior golf mentor program (25:55)
- Parents should get more involved (28:43)
- Who is responsible for creating this environment? (33:44)
- Self Determination Theory (35:46)
- Advice for listeners (44:25)
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