This video, on the surface, is awesome. A little kid that's got all the mechanics and interest for golf...and he's good to boot!
I'd love to have a video of his Dad taking the video of his son...I'm sure he's super-proud, chest puffed-out, ready to tell anyone that his son is the next big thing in golf.
Hey, it's his party...I don't want to rain on it....
But there is a danger lurking...not just for this Dad, but for all Dad's. It's called great expectations. And it has the ability to destroy relationships. It's what happened to Michelle Wie...Ty Tryon...Josh Hamilton, and every young person overachieving in sport for the sake of Dad's vanity. Sports Illustrated has dossiers on kids like these...file cabinets full.
We're all guilty of it...hey, I'm psyched coaching T-ball...and my kid's four! Heck...I didn't know a baseball from popcorn until I was 7. Yet here I am...oiling my sons made-in-China glove...telling him to "keep your elbow up to hit down on the ball."....Good grief. Is what I'm teaching him now going to stick? It's doubtful...is it worthy of trying? Absolutely.
Let's not get our own vanity get in the way of our kids. God has a humorous way of humbling us. For instance, let's take this kid in the video...and let's flash-forward 12 years. What if he has a bolt in his tongue, matching studs in his ears, and a tattoo on his back that would make Paris Hilton blush, and likes playing in the virtual Second Life rather than in the real present one? Will his Dad love him just as much? Sure he would. But does he love him as much as if he were a PGA pro playing in his first Masters with Dad on the bag? Doubt it.
Not every kid is going to be Tiger...not every kid will have tattoos over their body. Our job as Dads, is to expose them to as many positive experiences as possible...then step-back, cross the fingers, and hope we've succeeded.
And let's keep our great expectations at a distance.
Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,
JFB
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