Kiddy Golfers Play in Park (VIDEO)

A dozen or so five- to eight-year-old children were imitating last Wednesday, Aug. 7, the women amateurs playing golf at Rhode Island Country Club this week. 

The kids were having varying degrees of success with the plastic golf clubs and tennis balls they were whacking around. But there was little doubt that they were having a lot of fun doing it.

“He loves it,” said Amy Gorman of Barrington, whose son, Adam, 5, was one of the young golfers at the Chianese Park soccer field. “The program looked interesting. So we signed up.”

Gorman was referring to a group of her friends sitting under a sun-blocking canopy who signed up their children with her.

“It also gets the kids back together before school starts in a couple of weeks,” she said.

The kids were part of a Recreation Department summer golf program offered by the U.S. Sports Institute in New Jersey, which offers single-sport or multi-sport summer camps for children across the East Coast.

Darren Henderson, a student from Ireland, and Matthew Hurst, a student from Great Britain, were the teachers.

“We have three sessions a day,” said Henderson. “Each runs for about 90 minutes.”

Hurst was wearing a helmet and a padded cloth suit with targets stitched on it for the kids to aim at with their swings. It was just one of many skill-teaching techniques shown the children by them.

"I'll wear it (the suit) tomorrow," Henderson said. 

Hurst did the best he could to help the kids hit the targets by diving and lunging for the balls sent skyward toward him by the kids. See the video above to watch the young golfers in action.