Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2021 - 29

* BY JOSEPH OBERLE *
I
ntroducing your child to sports can be tricky-hover too
closely or passionately in support of their (or your) athletic
dreams, and you might be called a tiger mom, hockey dad
or helicopter parent. Kris Smith, assistant girls golf coach
at Detroit Lakes High School, runs several successful junior
golf clinics with his wife Margery at Lakeview Golf Course
each summer and has seen these kinds of parents in fl ight. He,
too, is a passionate sports parent, but took a different approach
to teaching golf to his two children-one of whom is a Top
30 amateur in the country and reigning Big Ten Individual
Champion Kate Smith.
" My wife and I have always wanted to make sure [Karter
and Kate] are good kids, " he says. " We don't want to be called
helicopter parents. When we teach junior golf, we see a lot of
that. The best thing about golf to me is self-discovery-when
a young man or young woman can go out there and play and
fi gure it out on their own. Improvement comes so quickly
when they have an open mind and don't clutter it with swing
technique. "
Early in his own golf
career, Kris witnessed
a sports-parent road
he didn't want to go
down,
even though
that road ended at the
pinnacle of the game.
An Atlanta native, Kris
took up golf after his
team sports competing
days ended with college
graduation. He eventually
became an assistant
pro at Long Beach
Navy Golf Course in
pionships and played twice in the Greater Hartford Open),
Kris brought his young family to Minnesota and bought (the
now defunct) Ironman Golf Course in Detroit Lakes. While
not everyone can buy their kids a golf course, they sure make
for a nice playground.
" I cannot emphasize enough how fortunate we all were that
they had a golf course in their backyard to play on, " Kris says.
" It wasn't Windsong, Hazeltine or Interlachen, it was Ironman.
It kept our perspective. We started them early with all the
chores that you would think of. They loved the golf course;
they loved participating. It was just a joy to raise my kids in
Detroit Lakes at Ironman. "
Karter, who is three years Kate's senior, made the fi rst foray
into playing the sport, and a reluctant Kate, who just wanted to
hang out with her brother, followed.
" My brother was so good at a young age, " Kate says. " I
tagged along because I liked my brother, I liked being outside.
It worked out in the end. But at a young age, golf was just an
activity for me. "
Even though her
folks had Kate playing
around age four (and
in her fi rst small tournament
at age fi ve) the
golf bug did not bite
her immediately. But
Ironman provided fertile
ground for a fl edgling
career.
" Ironman was
unique, "
Smith Clan: Karter, Margery, Kate and Kris
Southern California.
" Tiger Woods was 10 or 11 years old, and he played our
executive course, and his dad, Earl, came in and pounded
the counter about how Tiger should be able to play the big
course-but he wasn't of age yet, " says Kris, who acknowledges
other access obstacles Tiger faced early in his career.
" Tiger probably could've beaten everybody, but we had rules. I
respect Earl Woods; no doubt about it. But some of it was over
the top. For me, I just wanted to raise two great kids, and golf
was a vehicle for that. "
Kris and Margery employed an " immersion method " for getting
their children into the game. After spending time as a head
professional in Connecticut (where he won two section chamKris
says.
" At the time, it was an
18-hole par-3 course
with an 18-hole natural
turf putting course.
They would go out and be creative, hitting shots on the par-3
and chipping around the putting course. "
Kris (a PGA Quarter Century and Life Member who in 2008
was named a Master Kids Coach by U.S. Kids Golf) is an advocate
for learning the game backwards, starting with the short
game and working your way back to the tees. This method promoted
some early success for his kids and cultivated a deep
interest in the game. As Kate's success grew, so did her budding
passion.
" Probably when I was 9 or 10, " Kate says, refl ecting on when
the game started to take hold. " That whole 'let's try to break 90,
80, then 70,' I found that so fun, trying to post a score and see
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29
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Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2021

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