Never Walk Away
The Front Nine Tips for Parents Raising Junior Golfers, Hole 1 :
My simple office is a sanctuary for athletes and my goal is to merely listen. I listen to their fears, worries, communication problems with parents, coaches and more. One of the meetings that will be mapped in my brain for life was watching a 6’4, broad shouldered, college golfer slumped over my table.
As tears welled up in his eyes, I asked him how things were going with his new swing change, assuming some reason for his posture and sadness; He shared that his father had traveled to a tournament, and after watching a few holes, walked off the course because it was unbearable to watch his son struggling in his performance.
“So how did you feel when you saw him walk away?” He replied, “I felt like a failure in golf and life.”
“It’s easy to watch our kids in wonderful moments, but are you equally supportive in the tough times?”
Betty Baird Kregor is an LPGA Master Teaching Professional and owner of StraightShot Inc., specializing in the DISC personality system to mentor and advise athletes of all ages and abilities.
In 2014, Kregor retired from over 27 years of teaching golf to consult athletes in the mental aspects of sport an serve as a "performance coach" for goals, scheduling, practice programs, college advising and more.
Her LPGA education in DISC profiling allows an athlete to maximize their performance with "self awareness" of their strengths and weaknesses. It is also an important tool in finding the right college fit. College athletic consulting is a service that benefits 9-12th graders in learning how to market their talents, schedule college visits and value the importance of academics.