Parents ask me this question all the time: At what age can I sign up my superstar to take lessons with you? For me, I like to start kids at age 3 but I recommend parents to read One, Two, Follow Through Starring Polly Pivot to inspire kids at an early age to keep it simple and have fun. Then, buy a plastic club and plastic balls to hit in the backyard and talk to them about the sequence of One, Two, Follow Through. Since it comes from Polly Pivot, and not Mom or Dad (!), they will know the simple framework right away and how it worked for Polly Pivot AND Meanie Greenie…in the end.
Set up:
At age 3, I put two tees in the ground about hip length apart and use ‘1-2’ as their bases for their feet. We talk about how important it is to keep their feet still while One, Two’ing! The bases are like MAGIC! If you don’t have tees, or you find yourself hitting off a mat, you can use leaves or little pieces of paper as your bases. Kids love it, because kids do really well with structure! “stand here and count 1-2!” Then have them grip the club any way they want (for now). It’s important that they hit the ball their way for the first few times. After that, show them ‘thumbs on top.’ I use ‘1-2’ as well for thumb ‘one’ and thumb ‘two!’ They love it! Remember, One, Two, Follow Through is a framework that comes from their super star role model…Polly Pivot.
Swing:
Small one, big two! Show them how the backswing is one, and impact is TWO. BIG TWO! This inspires them to hit the ball ‘hard,’ which gets them to swing fast. And you can see how naturally their little computer brains and super human bodies magically follow through without thinking about it. Make sure their back foot stays on the back base for a 3 second count. And give them a big high five when they do! And then repeat. Have them say it out loud: Small One, BIG TWOOOO! You will soon notice that small one gets to medium one with more speed and then naturally gets to large one which becomes a full swing, all while using One, Two, Follow Through as the simple framework!
Have questions? Reach out anytime! maryjacobs@onetwofollowthrough.com