The Titleist Performance Institute's Junior Golf Cyclone is the name of the program we use for kids between the ages of five and eight. The Cyclone is composed of 6 to 12 stations depending on the size of the facility. Stations focus on speed and athletic development.
Kids are paired up (two per station) and rotate every 5-7 minutes from station to station. There is a 5-15 minute group warm-up before the class begins and a golf swing theme of the day is introduced. Themes include grip, alignment, posture and weight shift. All stations will re-enforce the theme if appropriate.
After kids complete four stations in the Cyclone, a group activity or game is performed with some type of competition. Examples include tug-of-war, foam hockey matches, sack races, putting contests and relay races. These group competitions usually last about 10 minutes. After the group activity, kids will return to the next station and complete the Cyclone.
Once the Cyclone is completed, all kids finish with a group cool down. This includes light aerobic activity and a review of the golf theme for the day. There are also mandatory water breaks after every two stations.
This format does several interesting things:
1) It allows kids to stay focused. Most experts will tell you that kids this age get distracted or bored with any activity after five minutes. By changing stations every 5-7 minutes this problem is eliminated.
2) It is fun for the kids. Because each station is designed around speed or physical development, most kids think this is more like play time than hard work. It is important for kids to have fun at this age. They need to relate the sport to something that is fun, not hard work!
3) It allows skills to be introduced in a slow and repetitive format. Each skill must be mastered before adding more information. By keeping to one theme per week or month, kids have time to process the information and really master the skill. Plus, they see how the skill is used in multiple sports and why it is important for success.
4) Kids are turned into athletes first and golfers second. Too often, kids at this age are thrown into golf-skill development programs only. Kids are not physically developed to handle this type of program at this age and it usually leads to early burnout, over-use injuries, dislike of the game and aversion to future instruction.
The stations that we recommend in the Cyclone include the following:
1) Striking -- includes hitting golf balls, T-ball batting practice, tennis ground stroke, hockey slap shot and cricket batting.
2) Agility -- includes hurdles, ladders, tag related games and obstacle courses.
3) Throwing -- includes all over-hand throwing activities. These include throwing a ball, throwing a foam javelin, bean bag tossing and foam football throws.
4) Balance -- includes balance beams, balance obstacle courses, foam discs and Swiss balls.
5) Kicking -- includes soccer ball kicks, punting and kick ball.
6) Push-Pull -- includes monkey bars, pull-up bars and push sleds.
7) Catching -- includes koosh balls, fish tail balls Frisbees and footballs.
8) Jumping -- includes hurdles, plyo boxes, hop scotch, broad jump and bounding activities.
9) Locomotion -- includes skipping, hopping, sliding, sprinting, galloping, crawling and karaoke.
10) Visualization / Awareness -- includes green reading, green bowling, croquette and tumbling.
11) Core Strength -- includes Swiss ball, body weight only stability exercises, climbing activities and wrestling activities.
12) Rotation -- includes medicine balls, rebounder or plyo wall and 360 degree jumping.
As you can see, the stations are focused on speed and athletic development. Once kids can demonstrate these basic fundamental movements (object control and locomotion skills) and create good rotary speed then they will progress out of the Cyclone. Most kids will need at least three years to truly develop these skills.