I saw something a couple of months ago on a driving range that I can’t unsee. In fact, everytime I think about it, I get more and more riled up. I even doubt myself and go over the scenario in my head and wondered if I should have intervened.

There was this kid, she was maybe 12 or so. Her swing was absolutely flawless. And was hitting the ball, shot after shot to perfection. I was hitting the rest of my bucket so, I wasn’t paying that much of attention other than being in awe of her talent and the beauty of her swing.

I also couldn’t ignore her dad who was standing behind her watching her every move with his arms crossed. I don’t love that, but whatever…I see that a lot of that on this course. And in some way, I see it as a positive…parents supporting their kids love for the game, how can you go wrong?

Few minutes into it, I noticed a bit of a commotion. The dad was standing in front of her and was very angry at something. His voice kept on getting louder and louder, and I thought maybe she got in trouble for something non-golf related. But, as i was paying attention to the hand motions and his physical gestures, he was mad at something she wasn’t doing right with her swing. In fact, he was so angry about it that she started to cry. She had her head down, and kept wiping her tears that was streaming down her face. The dad was relentless. I couldn’t understand what he was saying but, all I knew from this scene was that something wasn’t right.

It got to a point where it seemed almost abusive. So, I argued in the back of my mind if I should walk over and say “is everything okay?”. But I didn’t. Eventually, he walked away and she started hitting the ball again. But this time, she’s just going through the motions, the life and joy had left her and I felt her sadness. I said to myself, bro, what are you doing? What is the matter with you? Why…why would you do such a thing, in front of all these people, to your own child?