Lesson 1: What is a Force?
Before we can understand why a golf ball flies through the air, we need to understand something called a force.
A force is a push or a pull. When you hit a golf ball with a club, you are pushing it. When you pull a cart across the course, you are pulling it. Forces make things move, slow down, speed up, or change direction.
Forces are everywhere. Pushing open a door. Pulling a chair toward a table. Throwing a ball. Every single one of these is a force in action.
In golf, the most important forces are: the force of your swing, gravity that pulls the ball back down, and friction that slows the ball when it rolls.
Force = a push or a pull. Forces make things start moving, stop moving, speed up, slow down, or change direction.
Pick up a golf ball and drop it. What force pulled it down? Now roll it across the floor. What force made it slow down and stop? You just observed two different forces at work.
Can you think of a place on a golf course where you can see three different forces happening at the same time?
Force hunt! Walk around your home or the golf facility and find 10 examples of forces in action. For each one, write in your science journal: what is being pushed or pulled, what is doing the pushing or pulling, and what happens because of the force. Draw your two favorites.
The force hunt works best outdoors on the course. A flag blowing in the wind, a ball rolling into a slope, water flowing are all forces your child can observe and name. The more physical the examples, the stronger the conceptual foundation.