The 10 Year Rule

Many experts in the scientific community believe that it takes a minimum of 10 years and around 10,000 hours of training for an athlete to reach elite levels. In Tim gibbons and Tammie Forster’s landmark study for the US Olympic Center’s Athletic Development Program, “The Path to Excellence”, they provided an in-depth look at the development of US Olympians who competed between 1984-1998.
Here are the results…
1. US Olympians began their sport-specific participation at the average age of 12.0 for males and 11.5 for females.
2. Most Olympians reported 12 to 13 year period of talent development from their sport introduction to making an Olympic team.
3. Olympic medalists were younger- 1.3 to 3.6 years- during the first 5 stages of development than non-medalists, suggesting that medalists were receiving motor skill development and training at an earlier age. However, caution must be taken not to fall into the trap of early specialization in late specialization sports!

Golf is a late specialization sport! According to most data, golf is a 20 year developmental sport to get to elite levels!

So take your time, learn golf the best ways possible, with a golf fitness program as a foundation, great equipment and instruction, good course management and a strong mental game, and you will play long and well for a long time!