Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia are three child prodigies of golf who have gone on to big things. Rory and Tiger appeared on TV shows in their respective home countries as kids and showed off their skills. When young children with these amazing skills come along they are inevitably labelled as highly gifted and full of natural talent. However, like child prodigies in all walks of life from Mozart to Messi, that’s not really what is going on here. These kids develop their skills as fast as anyone else, they just start before everyone else. In golf this can be difficult as equipment for young children tends to be poorly made with cheap materials. However, one company has recognised this issue and are out to change things by making clubs specifically designed for children and making them look more fun too. That company is Golphin and today’s Gear Friday article is going to have a look at their new GFK range in more detail and why this project is important for golf as a sport.
The Problem with Junior Clubs
Designed in the home of golf, Scotland, the team behind Golphin have completely redesigned children’s golf clubs by making them lighter and easier to hit by adding extra loft and increasing the size of the sweet-spot by 35%. Many clubs on the market for children are basically just miniature versions of adult clubs and that’s just not going to help at all. This ground-up approach, along with a cool paint jobs that kids will love, gives young golfers the correct tools to develop their games and begin their journey into golf.
A Complete Redesign
Calum McPherson, the man who started it all, realised that golf clubs for kids were somewhat of an afterthought and that there was a large gap in the golf market when it came to clubs for young golfers. He then set about improving this situation and even spent time at the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Materials Research Lab to really carefully design and test the clubs. Clubs are sold in sets of four with a driver (which comes with a cool dolphin headcover), a mid-iron, a ‘swedger’ which is a lofted wedge and a putter. These clubs can be bought for age groups 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 and 9-10. Graham Fox, PGA member and former European Tour player said “Golphin clubs provide an innovative solution for young kids aged 4 to10 years old. The light weight club head and other design features means young kids can be taught a proper swing technique from an early age, giving them confidence and self-belief.” He actually went on to suggest that a similar approach to ladies and beginner clubs for adults could have a huge benefit to these groups too.
Key Features
The key design features are that the clubs have deeper groves on a larger and longer face. They have extra-thin grips to suit the smaller hands of the younger golfer as well as shafts designed to suit the swing speeds of kids. This allows the young golfer to maintain and learn proper balance as well as learn to strike the ball well. Matheson and his team have really paid great attention to detail and come up with a product that golf needs right now. We are all aware that participation in the sport is dropping and products like Golphin help us gain a new generation of athletes to take the sport forward. When asked about Golphin, Duncan Weir, Executive Director of the R&A, said “The high quality and versatility of the Golphin kit is very impressive. It is certainly well geared for getting youngsters into golf and helping to address the undoubted participation issues the sport is currently facing here in Great Britain and Ireland.”
If you have a child that is getting to the age where they’re becoming a good excuse to go to golf, sorry interested in taking up the sport, then Golphin is a great way to help build their passion for golf.
