Comments on: Tiger Woods’ successor is just 11 years-old

By: Beau

Beau — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:39:19 +0000

When the Martin boys lived in Wilson, NC, my son witnessed Bowie’s mother (the boy’s Grandmother) spanking the boys when she found them goofing around instead of practicing. Once the boys get away from Dad and start to experience things other than golf, LOOK OUT.
I hope this doesn’t end badly.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:50:12 +0000

I am a professional golfer and I am glad I took the high road of having a ‘normal’ upbringing whereby I went to school, partied , traveled and then did a PGA traineeship.
the kids must have a normal lifestyle and let them choose what to do for fun. Imagine somebody choosing you to do the same thing for “fun’ day in day out, as a growing kid.
Naturly the kids will want to expand there horizons as with school friends do
Goodluck with that

By: Kristjan Sigurjonsson

Kristjan Sigurjonsson — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:12:33 +0000

As a golf fan I look forward to see how these brothers are going to process in the future.

By: Roman

Roman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:44:58 +0000

I hope for the kids’ sake that they absolutely positively love playing golf.. if otherwise then it would be a miserable existence for them should they grow up achieving their fathers goals instead of their own…

By: Phil Coorey

Phil Coorey — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:34:51 +0000

Dad sounds like a real great guy – those boys are blessed

By: Greg Russell

Greg Russell — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:29:24 +0000

Spiro writes “There are few other cases in golf where this sort of success has followed a single-minded determination by a parent to force a child into sporting stardom.”

The phenomenon under discussion here – that of relentless training as a child – is not a golf-specific issue but a sporting one in general. I am not sure that Spiro is correct.

Personally I find the stories about the the Martin boys and the young Tiger remarkably similar to those of Bradman the boy, spending hour after hour hitting a golf ball with a cricket stump against a tank. The only difference here would seem to be that Bradman was self-motivated even as a boy. I don’t know when it started, but one of Tiger’s distinguishing features as an adult is his incredible level of self-motivation and focus (again, both recall Bradman to an uncanny extent). It is not unreasonable to liken the record of Tiger to that of Bradman.

Apparently there are videos of Andre Agassi playing tennis rallies as a three-year old, something that can only have been the result of relentless parental training as well as massive natural talent (as the father of a 4 year old who has just started tennis lessons, I can say this with great confidence about the young Agassi).

And I think most of us are aware that Maradona could juggle a football for hours on end as a boy.

Or we have read about the number of hours of training that gymnasts and divers did to get to the pinnacle of their sport.

By: Brett McKay

Brett McKay — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:52:34 +0000

Interesting Spiro that the once-common temptation to force Zach to play right-handed rather than left has been ignored. Refreshing even, given the context of child prodigies and their (parents) pursuit of excellence.

Still want to knee-cap the little so-and-so’s though!! I’d be happy to hit 69 ONCE, let alone average it, at whatever age..