How Young is Too Young?

How young is too young to be on the driving range?  I’m not referring to prodigies that are “Tigeresque” or have perfect balance like a three year old Rory McIlroy.  Those are kids are physically gifted and   wise beyond their years and have a passion for the game.  I’m not even talking about the kids who whine or horse around the range. 

I’m talking about something I saw last night.  I wanted to take a picture of it, but I didn’t want to be viewed as some freak-pedophile (for those who are old school that would be a pervert or child molester). 

There were two moms, pushing their kids on these hybrid strollers, the ones that are bikes and little trucks that the kids sit, and they were having a mock Indy 500 race behind the golfers on the driving range.  Really?  Look, moms, I know you want your husband to be involved with your child’s lives and you want to be there to support you husband’s passion for golf.

Husbands, I understand you want to show your wife and child that you can make your time on the range quality family time as well.  I get it.  Here’s the bad news, research shows that multi-tasking actually hurts productivity.  Trying to multi-task your practice session with family time may work for you and it’s a noble concept, but it hurts the productivity of other golfers when there are toddlers being pushed on strollers pretending they are in the Daytona 500.

Then five minutes later they are running around with a plastic golf club hitting a ball that could go near a golfer who’s wound up with a driver attempting to hit the back fence of the driving range.  It’s a potential recipe for disaster. Plus the fact that it was 9:45 at night and they started crying because they were cranky from not getting their way with their moms.

Believe me, I have a daughter and at times I found it endearing, but when the kids are making noise and the parents are treating the range as their personal playground for their kids, it lacks courtesy and it’s not fair to the golfers who are making the effort to improve their game.  So Mom and Dad leave the big wheels home and only bring the kids if they want to participate in our great game.