I had a chance to hit some balls this morning before work, and I witnessed something very disturbing at the range. From the parking lot, I saw a young father teaching his son- who couldn't have been more than 5- how to swing a golf club. From a distance it was a great sight: the kid looked happy when he made contact, the dad seemed to be having a great time showing off how far he could hit it, and the kid's youthful innocence precluded him from realizing that his old man has a terrible golf swing.

But as I got closer and set my bucket about two slots down from them, I was able to overhear the tuteladge. Within the first two minutes, I heard the father give his son all of the following commands: keep your eye on the ball, don't look at me; don't swing the club back so far; don't lean forward; don't lift your foot (to which the kid responded "Tiger lifts his foot);bend your knees; and finally, you're not about to go out on the golf course with me until you learn how to practice.

Harvey Penick once said, Golf tips are like aspirin. One may do you good, but if you swallow the whole bottle you will be lucky to survive." This poor kid had been force-fed enough golf aspirin to put Tony Montana in a coma, and he's still at an age where he can't even count to par.

There were several times I had to stop myself from saying something to the father. It still blows my mind that an adult can look at a little kid who clearly isn't strong enough to control a golf club and say with a straight face, "Don't take the club back so far."

On my drive home I was having a bit of an internal conflict about the situation: on one hand, this guy clearly had no idea what he was doing and was going about introducing his son to golf in entirely the wrong way; on the other hand, at least he was spending time with his son, which is more than I can say for a lot of sorry fathers.

In the end, there is a conclusion I can make with absolute certainty. If this family's future father/son golf outings continue to reflect what I witnessed today, that kid will not be playing golf anymore by the time he gets to high school. Certainly there are several ways to share the game of golf with someone, but if that person is under the age of 6 (with one exception in the history of the world) the only way to share the game is to give him a club and say "go have fun." Listening to the reform school-style clinic on the range made me want to quit golf, so I can't imagine how the kid felt.

Tim McDonald recently asked, "Is Tiger Woods bad for golf?"

He absolutely is, if idiotic parents continue to misunderstand the way he was raised.

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