Golf IQ Golf Dad Part 3: Kevin Van Valkenburg on raising a kid who's better than you
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Feb 23, 2026 Kevin Van Valkenburg, Director of Content at Fried Egg Golf and longtime golf writer, talks about raising a daughter who outplays him. They cover her start in junior golf, the shift from fun to tournaments, and teaching independence through pressure and mistakes. They also discuss balancing practice, managing expectations around posting successes, and keeping golf a lifelong bond.
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PGA Junior League Sparked Her Love Of Competition
- Kevin Van Valkenburg describes how PGA Junior League hooked his daughter Keegan by pairing her with a bubbly teammate named Meredith.
- Meredith's positive attitude balanced Keegan's competitiveness and made tournament golf feel achievable, nudging her toward stroke play.
The Scorecard Moment That Taught Rules And Toughness
- Kevin recounts caddying his daughter in her first tournaments and learning the emotional difficulty of being a parent-caddie.
- He intervened once to correct a miscounted score to prevent a DQ, which upset Keegan but taught a rule-important lesson.
Use No-Contact Events To Build Competence
- Do create opportunities where parents step back so kids must solve problems themselves, like events with no caddies or silent sidelines.
- Kevin recounts a tournament where rules forced Keegan to play alone and she improved emotionally and strategically.