Article on Wie - scary
- Thread starter bcoak
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Wow. I didn't realize that was still going on. As a parent I'm sure that the smothering is probably coming from a good place, but you have to leave her alone. She's a grown woman. As hard as it is for a parent, you have to let her find her own way. It wouldn't surprise me if she up and walked away from the game. Probably won't happen, but I'm sure she feels like it at times, just to get some breathing room.
drewyallop
New
Some lessons to be learned here for all golfers. Your parents don't have to be around to mess up your head. We can carry them with us in the form of the ever present internal monologue - I failed, bad shot, stupid, I can't putt, that guy is too good, I am embarrassing myself and so on.
Mike Thomas (sunmart)
New member
Somebody is gonna get real famous if they can turn Wie around.
94monarch
New
I feel bad for all the parties involved. As a parent, we all want the very best for our kids. Unfortunately there is no spark notes for managing an amazing talent. Look back at Tracy Austin, Todd Marinovich, Jennifer Capriati, Bobby Clampett and the scores of can't miss kids. Where are Phil Francis and Ty Tryon? Casey Wittenberg seems to have it going again, but that is rare. If you give it all to them they end up in a position like this, and if you do not you spend your life blaming yourself. Lydia Ko's parents have a tough situation right now. I would not trade places with her father for anything. Earl Woods got it right from the athletics perspective...the rest of his sons life is debateable. I grew up near and played quite a bit with Jim Furyk as a junior golfer and in college. I can say other than his last two years in college at Arizona he seemed to get better every year from his early teens until well into a wonderful professional career. That type of player/setup is a better one to strive for IMO.
Kevin Shields
Super Moderator
When she was being courted by 84 Lumber when I worked for Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, I saw it up close and it was repulsive. She offered me some gummy bears on the range and you could see she just needed to be a kid but the parents were killing her, even then.
I guess you are right. This kind or parenting seems to be common in Asia, they are called 'Tiger Mums (Dads)' (Nothing to do with TW). They are pushing their kids really hard to become what ever the parents want them to become.
In the west it would be more 'Helicopter Parents' because they are always hovering over their kids (but not necessarily pushing them to academic/sport/art heights) . Now I've seen the term 'lawn mower' parents because they get even closer.
A bit of Tiger Mum is probably not bad but you have to know when to step back and realise that other people might be able to help better.
Jared Willerson
Super Moderator
I read the article and it is truly sad, unhealthy and in the long run, not good for the sport. The lack of success by Michelle rests squarely on the shoulders of her parents and it is pathetic to read and hear about. I hope she can find some of the joy I saw on TV when she was 12 with that flowing beautiful swing. Also, Leadbetter should be the last resort for anyone who wants their kid to get better, what he has done to that swing is criminal.
You can go too far the other way too, not taking the proper steps to nurture talent and simply letting a child's talent fall by the wayside. There has to be balance in any healthy life. I agree with the poster that referenced Furyk and stated that incremental progress every year is a much better course of action.
Being a HS coach and teacher, I see both ends of the spectrum. I see parents that are delusional (in my area, this is especially true of baseball and softball) and rob their kids of participating in other activities and sports because they think their child is the next Chipper Jones/Olympic softball star. On the other end, I see kids that are talented whose parents do not have the interest to see them progress. Both cases are sad and a lot of the latter comes simply from how expensive it is to be competitive in any junior sport these days, parents parents of the former also have limited resources and often choose to put all their eggs in one basket, so to speak.
You can go too far the other way too, not taking the proper steps to nurture talent and simply letting a child's talent fall by the wayside. There has to be balance in any healthy life. I agree with the poster that referenced Furyk and stated that incremental progress every year is a much better course of action.
Being a HS coach and teacher, I see both ends of the spectrum. I see parents that are delusional (in my area, this is especially true of baseball and softball) and rob their kids of participating in other activities and sports because they think their child is the next Chipper Jones/Olympic softball star. On the other end, I see kids that are talented whose parents do not have the interest to see them progress. Both cases are sad and a lot of the latter comes simply from how expensive it is to be competitive in any junior sport these days, parents parents of the former also have limited resources and often choose to put all their eggs in one basket, so to speak.
Mike Thomas (sunmart)
New member
Leadbetter-poisoning is the story. Wie was the greatest 14 year old golfer ever, male or female with the same parents.Wie was given a sponsor's exemption to the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii, becoming the fourth, and youngest, female to play a PGA Tour event. Her second round score of 68 was the lowest ever by a woman in a PGA Tour event, though she went on to miss the cut in the tournament.[21] She again played in the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship, finishing fourth. As part of the victorious U.S. team, she became the youngest woman ever to play in the Curtis Cup tournament. Wie started her 2005 season by accepting another sponsor's invitation to play on the PGA Tour at the Sony Open in Hawaii, where she again missed the cut. She played five more LPGA Tour events that year as well as a PGA Tour event, the John Deere Classic. It was her third outing at a PGA Tour event; she missed the cut by two strokes.[22] She entered qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Public Links and became the first female golfer to qualify for a USGA national men's tournament, tying for first place in a 36-hole qualifier for the U.S. Amateur Public Links. Wie made the top 64 in the stroke play rounds to qualify for match play.[23] She lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Clay Ogden.
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Robbierob99
New
Regardless of the main culprit for why she has under-performed... it is tough to see anyone (in any arena) so locked up.
Like when Kevin Na couldn't pull the club back, or when sergio couldn't get his hands on the grip... or, in tennis, watching Sharapova double fault 3.2 millions times for what seemed like 5 years with a toss that was off the charts terrible (and thats the easiest aspect of a serve)... Shaq shooting a free-throw... Barkley trying to swing... etc etc... It can be super interesting but man is tough to watch.
p.s. Just saying it before anyone else does: Watching Sharapova do anything isn't that tough to watch, but you know what I mean.
Like when Kevin Na couldn't pull the club back, or when sergio couldn't get his hands on the grip... or, in tennis, watching Sharapova double fault 3.2 millions times for what seemed like 5 years with a toss that was off the charts terrible (and thats the easiest aspect of a serve)... Shaq shooting a free-throw... Barkley trying to swing... etc etc... It can be super interesting but man is tough to watch.
p.s. Just saying it before anyone else does: Watching Sharapova do anything isn't that tough to watch, but you know what I mean.
Billy McKinney
New
I'm professionally committed to making sure this happens less and less. Few things in golf piss me off more than this phenomenon.
KWBehrs
New
Have you been listening to MY MIND?
mgranato
New
Nothing anyone does at 14 years old is a lock for the future. She became financially secure as a teenager, and now has a degree from a top university. Big picture, for a 23 year old, I've heard of worse parenting jobs.
Golf wise, she's never shown a talent for putting, pitching, chipping. Nor is she the first great balls striker to see their bread and butter sour because of a poor ability to get the ball in the hole.
Golf wise, she's never shown a talent for putting, pitching, chipping. Nor is she the first great balls striker to see their bread and butter sour because of a poor ability to get the ball in the hole.
aaron_lohan
New
Ive always been under the impression that her parents looked at every thing Earl Woods did with Tiger then thought they would do the exact opposite to try and get the same results.
Kevin Shields
Super Moderator
Remember, she was doing great things with the same parenting at 13. What changed? Her technique.
magicmarker
New
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