Our series on “Children Get it Right” continues. This past weekend, my granddaughter, who is 25 months old, was on her daddy’s putting green when she did what her daddy loved to do 1st.

Don’t miss this because it encompasses a lot well beyond the allocated space for this column. It’s a critical principle in the game and something that every 1 of us needs to be aware of when it comes to thinking about and studying golf.

Hadley walked straight into the room where the putting green, a ball and putter were located. She picked up the ball 1st, then the club and walked up to the hole. She then set the ball so close to the cup, it kept falling in the hole.

As she set the ball down and then positioned the club into her hands, the ball would drop into the hole. She then would get the ball out, place it on the edge of the cup and attempt to use the putter to knock it in.

It was a struggle for her to get the club into position to achieve the desired objective. She struggled with getting the club into a position behind the ball and once she got the club in a place that seemed good, she then struggled with what to do with her body.

Her hands and body could not keep up with what her mind knew to do. Finally, she just used her hands to nudge the ball into the hole and she was happy. She knew what the objective was and she figured a way to achieve it.

Her mind stayed focused on the objective through her apparent struggles and she was fine trying to figure out what she needed to do to with the club and ball. In fact, Hadley seemed to enjoy the idea of trying to figure out how to use the club to influence the ball.

She also seemed to like us watching.

Guess what happened after a short time? Both dad and grandad are showing her what to do. Both Wesley and I are talking to her simultaneously making suggestions. It was hilarious.

She looked at us and could not say this, but it seemed to me her nonverbal communication screamed “I got this, let me do it!”

Of course we didn’t, for we had to show her how to stroke the ball into the cup. We were very excited about what we had to teach her. She wanted to simply position the ball beside the cup, then tap it in and we wanted to show her the putting stroke.

Who had the better idea? No question Hadley, now that I look back. In fact, when her daddy was that age, he was so strong-minded at 3 years old. I had to get him his own practice putting Matt.

He wanted no help, loved trying to figure out putting himself. While he enjoyed engaging with me, he also really got in my way. In 1993, I had to get 3 small putting greens, 1 for Wesley, 1 for his big brother George and 1 for myself because each of us were quite decided in how we wanted to putt.

Let me summarize the lesson. If you want to develop putting skill, watch how brand new players around golf, start close to the hole to develop skill.

The younger the player getting started, the easier golf can be so here is an idea open to the very young, and experienced. Each of the 3 local recreation commissions in the Midlands will each offer Family Junior Golf programming this spring.

There are several unique features about this program. There’s one where the entire family can engage in learning golf together. This means the entire family - mom, dad, siblings and grands. Ages 4-9 year olds are the target group and 10- 13 are also welcomed.

The “Learn through Play” curriculum includes both Swing Skill and On Course Play Strategy Skill. Family Fun, spending time together learning and playing golf is the programs theme.

Registration has opened with a start date in late March. Visit these websites to find out more:

http://richlandcountyrecreation.com/fall-golf-programs-at-linrick-golf-course/.

https://sports.bluesombrero.com/lcrac/.

The Winter Tour experienced a rare weather delay so there will be a pause on results. This is a family program designed for entire families to enjoy time together on the course. Parents caddy or walk with players and serve as the gallery and ball finders. There are 30 years of feedback from this program squeezed out the above mentioned Family Junior recreation program.