If your son or daughter is eager to improve at this challenging game we all love, try emphasizing the importance of range work. Hitting ball after ball on the driving range isn’t exactly glamorous, but it’s a proven way for kids to get better. Even top-notch pros spend hours at a time on the range, working out tiny kinks in their game that would be undetectable to a novice.

Kids can learn a lot by getting their youth golf sets a bit dirty. Specifically, they can determine how to hit a golf ball correctly by studying their own divots. Head out to the range and hit a few balls, then look down at the results. Assuming the child is right-handed, a divot trailing off to the right suggests a swing that’s susceptible to slicing, so be careful. Likewise, a divot that points left suggests an outside-in swing that could prove susceptible to hooking the ball.