Both were really good junior players who I was seeing for the first time– the objective of each session was to assess current skill level so we could begin to map a path towards improvement.  Student A had received little previous short game instruction, but self-reported relatively good results around the green.  As I assessed his motion, it was clear that there were some serious technical deficiencies.  His motion was far from the idealized model of short game performance that I can’t help but have in my mind as I assess a player for the first time.  But as we went through a skills assessment, his proficiency shocked me.  He knew which types of shots to hit– when to bump it, when to use some loft, and  how to modify his ‘sub-optimal’ technique for various lies.  Not much in the style department, but skill in spades.

Student B was the complete opposite.  As I assessed his motion to an open space; the motion looked flawless, exhibiting nearly everything I like to see in a finesse wedge motion.  Honestly, had he not reported poor performance around the greens, I might have just checked the box and moved on to a different skill.  But as I had him perform the skill in context, the reasons for his struggles became very clear.  He hit the same shot for every situation that I gave him.  That one stock shot was really good, but the shots he encountered required adjustments that he was unable to make them, or worse, oblivious to the need to make them.

To us, this experience is yet another reminder of the multi-dimensional nature of skill development.  It’s a complicated process with a lot of moving parts that require more than just technique.  And in this case, it prompted us to explore the importance of including decision-making training in our coaching sessions.

High performers understand the subtle nuances of the game – they posses an innate ability to process a given situation and make decisions that improve their odds of a lower score while reducing their odds of a higher one.  In other words, they have greater tactical intelligence.

Fortunately for us, there are plenty of resources to help us improve this aspect of our coaching.  From a ‘what to develop’ standpoint, the information available from various sources regarding the statistical analysis of golf are a huge asset in creating understanding regarding some key strategic fundamentals.  We can also turn to pedagogical systems, such as Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) and Decision Training to help us provide an environment that not only develops technical skill, but also cognitive processing skills and decision-making capacities that lead to improved on-course performance.

Our next few posts will be dedicated to the idea of ‘Coaching Tactics’.  This week, we will highlight a number of benefits of decision-making training and in our next post we will provide some practical applications– a number of specific tasks that we use in our coaching to develop higher tactical intelligence.  But for now, lets continue to look at a few more of the compelling reasons to sharpen this often neglected tool in our coaching toolbox.

ALL HAT, NO CATTLE

Sorry for the Texas aphorism, but Student B from my story is a great example of a player who is, at least around the greens, all hat and no cattle.  He certainly looks the part and would have appeared to be a solid scrambler based on the technical proficiency of his finesse wedge stroke– but in actuality, it was all style and not enough substance.  We see this a lot– players (and coaches) who are so taken by the technical aspects of skill that they ignore the aspects that allow them to transfer that skill to the dynamic environment of the course.

To fully develop his ability, tactical development will be imperative.  Golf demands that a player be able to perceive their environment and react appropriately.  Without a better understanding of a the nuances of short game performance, his scores would most certainly stagnate.  So the next step would be to diversify that skill set and identify the various environmental cues that trigger more appropriate solutions.

A RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL BOATS

While our physical skills are often subject to frequent lapses in performance, solid decision-making is one of the few skills largely within the player’s control.  So when we integrate tactical training in our coaching, it represents this low-hanging fruit that is not only easier to develop, but a reliable tool to elevate performance, even when the physical skills may be ‘off’.  Especially for newer players, building these cognitive abilities early on can yield lower scores sooner and accelerate their performance and enjoyment in golf.  We see this often on Tour as players perform at a high level despite reporting that they were operating without their A-game.  So even as a player struggles with developing more functional technique, the boat can remain afloat by utilizing exceptional decisions making processes.

TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE

When we are working on decision-making, we are required to do so in an environment that integrates skills in context.  So in the case of our example with Player B, I need to present him with course-like situations that will require modifications to his already solid base motion.  That way he can begin to gain a better understanding for what to pay attention to in the environment and how to make more optimal decisions.  As a natural by-product of these exercises, he will start to develop slight modifications to that already effective base motion.  Sometimes without ever really consciously noticing it, as he starts to self-source more effective solutions to the variety of obstacles presented within a more dynamic learning environment, a more versatile technique can emerge.  So we shoot two birds with one stone– improved decision-making along with a more flexible technique.

SEPARATE FROM THE PACK

In a contest of otherwise technical equals, adaptability and innovation will prevail. – Dr. Ray Brown

For competitive players, this is likely the most compelling argument for developing greater tactical intelligence.  To reach a certain level of performance in golf, a requisite level of technique exists– and one of the few aspects  that can separate a player at this level is their ability to make better strategic decisions and adapt their skills to the ever-changing conditions that they encounter in competition.  Likewise, this is where an otherwise technically deficient player can make up ground on the pack.  These ‘over-achievers’ are often praised for their hard work and grit, but without superior tactical intelligence, they would too often be overmatched by their technical superiors.

This is an area of coaching that we looking forward to digging more into in the coming weeks.  In the next post, we will provide more practical insights for how to include tactical training in the coaching process.  Along with a decision-making model, we will share a number of tasks that integrate decision-making to improve this aspect of our player’s performance.

– COREY LUNDBERG & MATT WILSON

Illustration by Tamer Koseli for Golf Digest

This topic came up as we were recently discussing the results of some of our competitive clients.  It seemed we kept coming back to this commonality in describing our students who were experiencing the most success.  Obviously, they perform well because they are all highly skilled, but the players that seem to have an unwavering belief in their abilities– keep achieving— sometimes even beyond the level that their current skills would predict.

We love the queued up clip below of the current World Number 1 communicating an amazing sense of belief in himself and his abilities.

“They had no chance.”

“Who’s playing for second place?”

This steadfast outlook on his ability to perform manifests itself in a few key characteristics:

• a willingness to take on meaningful challenges
• a propensity to exert maximum effort in training
• a persistence in the face of setbacks

These traits allow the self believers to navigate the ups and downs of golf and better manage the stress inherent within competitive golf.  Psychologist and motivation expert, Albert Bandura, referred to this belief as Self Efficacy. Here is how he describes performers with high self efficacy:

Alternatively, we sometimes encounter highly skilled and technically proficient players who lack this Self Efficacy. They approach competition with anxiety rather than the exhilaration.  These are the players who, despite having robust skills, aren’t able to parlay them into maximum output. How often do you see a player approach their performance with trepidation and expectations that are not in alignment with what they are capable of? Why is that?

It may seem obvious, but so much effort is spent on refining skill and technique that it’s easy to omit this essential component to performance from our lesson plans.  And sometimes it’s worse than merely omitting— sometimes we prepare for an event in a way that inhibits self-efficacy and belief.  Spending too much time on technique in our interactions leading up to an event rarely fuels a belief in their skills ‘as-is’.  Instead, this approach may allow for a bit of doubt to creep in as the performer wonders what iteration of their mechanics will show up when it counts.  This is a really difficult roadblock to avoid, especially if performance wanes in the lead up to an event.

So how can we build belief?

One of the most difficult things to do, as coaches, is to persuade a performer to believe more in their abilities. And that’s because players need something more tangible– to see it, not just hear it. They need proof. While we certainly try to build it and protect it through how we communicate— ultimately that belief has to be earned.

In our experience, the best source of Self Belief is the memory of previous accomplishments. To that end, we work closely with players to build a success inventory – a storage box of instances that demonstrate to the player, that they are capable to excelling in a variety of situations.

Think of an athlete who struggles to perform.  If we know the person well, and know what they need to be successful, we can get pretty creative in creating situations where these accomplishments can be earned – and their memory bank can get filled.

Through reflection, we found a very common pattern – the occasions in which the people we work with reported the most confidence and performed best in events, closely matched the time in which we presented them with tasks aligned most closely with the ‘Build Efficacy’ quadrant of our Task Design Matrix.

These tasks – ‘Moments of Mastery’ – allowed the athletes to train in similar-to-play conditions under  achievable outcome demands.

In looking closer at the anatomy of a Moment of Mastery, our end goal is to craft a task that creates assurance for the athlete– once complete, they know their skill is on-point and ready.  We want them to be able to recognize a situation and refer back to the training they have completed and know, with great certainty, that their skill set is more than capable of producing the outcomes that they want – and need – in that circumstance.  This performance state serves as a stark contrast to the uncommitted, uncertain performer who just isn’t sure if they can pull a certain shot off.  If that’s the perceived belief, they SHOULD be nervous and anxious!

Although it sounds simple, there is an art to it.  Knowing how hard the task needs to be to get them engaged and exerting effort while also keeping the difficulty at a level that is likely to produce a successful performance is quite difficult, as it is often a moving target and a very thin line to walk.  However, it is the means by which this ‘swagger’ is earned, and it is something that expert coaches are able to do with practice and careful planning.

This is obviously made more difficult when the player attempts to create a Moment of Mastery with a technique that isn’t producing the desired results.  That’s when, as coaches, we have to scale difficulty and possibly even put certain aspects of technique in isolation, so the performer can mentally ‘check the box’ and move on.  While this ‘isolation’ technique may not align with how a player best learns in the long-term– it’s worth doing at times if we know it will have a positive effect on their perceived competence.  For an example of successful players training his way, visit the putting green of any tour event Mon-Tue and witness players going through their technique checks with any number of training aids in a noticeably superficial environment.

On these occasions, we prefer a stable, unrepresentative setting despite the stigma that often comes with these ‘blocked practice’ activities.  If, in that moment, it will help an athlete believe in themselves more, we won’t hesitate to go there.  Even if it’s a bit manufactured and unrepresentative– skill acquisition science be damned!

CREATING MOMENTS OF MASTERY

There are two things that we need to be aware of when designing Moments of Mastery.

• The goal is to boost a player’s perception of their ability to be successful under the gun.
• The boost comes from them being able witness their success in the first person, repeatedly.

With those action items in mind, we need to provide a task that has three distinct characteristics:

• Low to moderate relative difficulty.
• A like-golf environment.
• Repetition.

These three aspects of the training task – difficulty, instability, and time on task – work together to create an environment that has the potential to inspire motivation and perception of one’s abilities as it offers the possibility for the performer to be successful, in similar-to-play situations, often. Provided the outcome standard that governs success is in alignment with their skill set, these tasks serve as a catalyst to the creation of confidence.  Here is an example:

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE

In this instance, the athlete received certainty that what he is training, he is able to recall when he needs it and that the outcomes are very good.  Again, it sounds very simple, but the more we can create these moments, the more moments of success they have in the memory bank to reference during competition.

In addition to providing opportunities to see success, we can further promote their sense of ‘I-Can-Do-It-ness’ by keeping track of their performance.  Logging skills assessments or statistics, can show tangible proof of progress against early versions of themselves.  What will happen to the athlete in the screencast after we point out a drill that at one time seemed very difficult, but now they complete with ease?  This is another great source for self-belief— it’s a great way to promote their sense of ‘I-Can-Do-It-ness.’

While we don’t claim to be sports psychologists– we realize that our interactions need to impact performance state in equal measure to skill.  Exploring the motivational and psychological underpinnings of how we coach and train should be a priority for all coaches.  Luckily there are experts in golf like Pia Nilsson, Lynn Marriott, Dr. Bhrett McCabe, and Dr. Rick Jensen who share their insights generously.

If you feel researching this topic could improve your coaching– our friend Cordie Walker is putting on the Unlocking Performance Virtual Summit.  Some of the brightest minds in golf, including the ones listed above, will be sharing their thoughts.  We would highly recommend checking it out!

Another great source is James Sieckmann’s new book, Your Putting Solution.  Not only does he cover the technical components of putting in comprehensive detail, but the second half of the book is essentially a master class in how to coach, build belief, and train more effectively.

And after you check out those great resources, we hope you’ll engage us in further investigating this topic in the comment section.  What activities do you use to create similar ‘Moments of Mastery’?  Describe a task that you use that seems to evoke a strong sense of ‘I can do it’ from your students.  We would love to compile a database that we can all learn from and use in our coaching.

 – COREY LUNDBERG & MATT WILSON

It has never been easier to embark on a journey of self-education in our field.  We have countless books, seminars, certifications, social media groups, and blogs dedicated to sharing and disseminating new ideas in golf instruction.  And for those focused on learning more about ‘what to coach’, these sources are immensely valuable in furthering our knowledge.  But for those looking for information on ‘how to coach’, and more specifically, ‘how people learn’, sources seem to be much more scarce.  Ultimately, if we are in the business of human development, it stands to reason that understanding how humans come to attain mastery would be of utmost importance to becoming more effective.

There ARE great sources for learning about learning, they are just a heck of a lot harder to find.  Outside of a few textbooks available on Amazon, many of our favorite texts have been circulated amongst peers who are engaged in similar knowledge pursuits.  So it inspired us to compile a few seminal pieces on the topic of motor learning and performance to help you continue your path to better understanding of how mastery develops and skills are refined.  And because we were hoping to discover a few new gems for ourselves, we reached out to a few leaders in the field for help.  We assembled a list of the experts in learning who have focused some of their work on golf, and posed a simple question:

“What is the most important piece of motor learning research that all coaches should read?”

Thankfully, these generous leaders obliged and provided what has become our curated list on Learning about Learning.  Click on the book icons for each of the articles provided by our esteemed list of experts.  We hope you’ll take the time to dig in.  Enjoy.

ATTENTIONAL FOCUS AND MOTOR LEARNING: A REVIEW OF 15 YEARS

RECOMMENDED BY DR. GABRIELE WULF

Our first recommendation comes from Dr. Gabrielle Wulf, a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences at UNLV.  Not only is Dr. Wulf the go-to expert on attentional focus and it’s affect on learning and performance, she is also the author of one of our favorite books (which happened to be a suggestion by one the experts we surveyed  for our list).

Wulf suggested this piece, telling us, “This review of about 80 studies shows the importance of adopting an external focus of attention for optimal performance and learning of motor skills. Helping athletes adopt and maintain an external focus by giving the right instructions or feedback is critical for enhancing performance of complex skills– such as golf skills– particularly in challenging situations.”

PAR (PLAN-ACT-REVIEW) GOLF: MOTOR LEARNING RESEARCH AND IMPROVING GOLF SKILLS

RECOMMENDED BY DR TIM LEE

Motor Control and Learning is the book that introduced us to many new coaching concepts and ignited an interest in motor learning that continues to burn.  In addition to Motor Learning and Control, Dr. Lee has authored Motor Control in Everyday Actions and over 80 papers on the topics of motor control and motor skill acquisition in peer-reviewed journals.

While many motor learning texts are devoted to a broader pursuit of skill development, Dr. Lee sent us over a paper specifically dealing with the learning of golf skills.  He mentioned that this would be a great starting point for many practitioners and we couldn’t agree more.  The paper hits on several big learning topics: phases of learning, effective practice conditions, focus of attention, and delivery of feedback.  Along with a thorough exploration of these major themes, it also includes specific implications for golf skill acquisition.

CHALLENGE POINT: A FRAMEWORK FOR CONCEPTUALIZING THE EFFECTS OF VARIOUS PRACTICE CONDITIONS IN MOTOR LEARNING

RECOMMENDED BY DR. CHRIS BERTRAM

Not only is Chris a former PacWest Golf Coach of the Year several times over, for the past 11 years he has served as Director of the Human Performance Centre and as an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at UFV.  Dr. Bertram recommended another paper dealing explicitly with golf.  This is a paper that we have referenced in previous posts and it’s had a huge influence on our approach to coaching.

Chris suggested the Challenge Point paper because it “nicely summarize many of the important concepts relating to practice and feedback and provides a framework- based on optimally challenging a learner – for a coach or practitioner to apply in the real world.”

As a nice bonus, Chris also included a couple of papers that he credits with shaping his thinking about skill acquisition in golf:

1) Goode and Magill (1986) Contextual Interference Effects in Learning Three Badminton Serves, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Volume 57, 4

“An early and important study on the effects of blocked and random practice.  Were among the first to demonstrate that increasing contextual interference (i.e.., randomness) in the practice setting is a more efficient way to see gains in learning than blocked practice.”

2) Winstein, C. J. & Schmidt, R. A. (1990). Reduced frequency of knowledge of results enhances motor skill learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology:Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16

“Another important early study in motor learning, this time looking at the how the frequency of feedback, and its impact on learning.  In other words, in golf terms, how often should a coach be providing “information” to the student… what we see happening in practice is not always a trustworthy indicator of how much learning is going on.”

MOTOR SKILL ACQUISITION: AN ESSENTIAL GOAL OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

RECOMMENDED BY TRILLIUM SELLERS ROSE

In addition to reaching out to the academics specializing in learning research, we really wanted to include the recommendations of some coaches who promote the study of skill acquisition within our industry.  Trill certainly qualifies– she paused a very successful teaching gig to obtain a Master’s Degree in Motor Learning and Control from Columbia University.  Now, as the Director of Instruction at Woodmont Country Club, she is applying the lessons learned and can offer the perspective of a coach well versed in how golfers acquire and adapt skills.

Few are better equipped to bridge the gap between academic and real-world practitioner, so her recommendation carries a lot of weight with us.  She points us towards “Motor Skill Acquisition: An Essential Goal of Physical Education”.  The paper is especially relevant to those coaches developing young athletes and explores the importance of time on task, engagement, and corrective feedback.

NON-LINEAR PEDAGOGY UNDERPINS INTRINSIC MOTIVATION IN SPORTS COACHING

RECOMMENDED BY MATTHEW WILSON

We couldn’t finish our list without including a couple of our own recommendations.  During a bit of a research project that we conducted last year, we requested some recommended reading from Graeme McDowell, who has been a great resource for us.  Like Trill, we see Greame as a bit of a hybrid between a well-versed academic and an experienced coach with real-life interactions with the topics in question.  Graeme delivered us about 30 papers, focused mostly on the theme of Non Linear Pedagogy.  We went about reading the list and, through a shared Google Document, recorded our notes and takeaways/actionables from each paper.  Many of the papers by Ian Renshaw were among our favorites, and this one in particular tops Matt’s list.

The article tackles a key challenge for sports coaching– providing performers with learning environments that results in sustainable motivation.  It provides an excellent explanation of both non-linear pedagogy and self-determination theory, two topics that have made a big impact on our coaching styles.

INSIGHTS FROM ECOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS THEORY CAN UNDERPIN A PHILOSOPHY OF COACHING

RECOMMENDED BY COREY LUNDBERG

Our last suggestion was also uncovered from the abundant source of Non-Linear Pedagogy papers provided by Graeme McDowell.  It’s another one from Ian Renshaw and Corey includes it because of how comprehensive it is in organizing so many important learning concepts within one paper.

It provides a clear description of nonlinear pedagogy while giving insights on perception-action coupling, self-organization, variable practice, and implicit learning .

BONUS TOP 10 BOOKS ON LEARNING

RECOMMENDED BY MICHAEL HEBRON

In addition to the papers above, we were excited to get some recommendations from Michael Hebron.  Michael is a member of the PGA Hall of Fame and world renowned coach that has dedicated much of his career to educating coaches.  His books, The Art and Zen of Learning Golf and Play Golf To Learn Golf, have made a huge impact on how we approach golf instruction.  As he has devoted so much effort to better understanding how golfers learn, we knew that our list would be incomplete without his contributions.  Below is a list of 10 books that Michael has recommended.  Once you have read the previously mentioned papers, we think this represents a great way to continue your path to better coaching.

Happy reading!

–Corey Lundberg & Matt Wilson

Mull it over for a second.  Think about the best junior golf coach that you know and test my theory.  I’m pretty confident it holds up.

Is it a requisite or just a coincidence that those seemingly naturally happy coaches gravitate towards junior golf?  Or perhaps it’s a result, a natural by-product of the positive work they do making a meaningful impact on the lives of young people.  These coaches do work that matters.

Everyday they connect with an impressionable student at a critical time of their development as people and golfers.  Subsequently, it seems that these expert junior coaches adopt an approach far different than what is common from their adult instructing counterparts.

Because the typical adult student seeks instruction with very specific directives concerning a fix or a flaw, the attention and efforts are focused there– say, fixing a slice.  But a junior golf coach is tasked with much more than fixing.

Their curriculum extends beyond ‘How to Golf’ and encompasses a far richer set of topics:

• How to learn
• How to deal with adversity
• How to win
• How to fail and it’s impact on the learning process
• How to interact with others and it’s impact on performance, enjoyment, and learning
• How to practice
• How to play by the rules and value sportsmanship
• How to play, not just on the course, but to deepen learning and increase enjoyment

The list goes on, an expert junior coach could expand upon that list for days.  And that’s not to say that some coaches don’t implement similar curriculum in all their lessons, its just that these types of lessons are especially expected in developing young golfers.

About half of my coaching time is spent with young athletes.  While I love coaching all golfers, my time with the juniors is certainly the most gratifying.  I feel like I’m making a difference and living up to every coach’s most paramount mission: enriching lives. So as I’ve pondered the fundamental differences in coaching these two groups, I have begun to ask myself a question — ‘If it’s so gratifying, why have I not been approaching EVERY golf lesson with the same mindset?!’

As soon as I leave the juniors and begin a lesson with an adult golfer, my mindset shifts drastically.  Instead of striving to serve as LIFE ENRICH-ER, I too often become ‘INFORMATION TRANSFERRER’.  Not quite the same ring to it.

Can a lesson in which the teacher acts exclusively as a transferrer of information ever really matter? The slice or the hook might disappear, but the precious opportunity to make an impact on another human may be lost.  If all we do is spout our vast knowledge of the golf swing and its various subtopics, is it possible to really make an impact?  Does your time spent coaching really matter?

Maybe the shift in mindset occurs because expectations from our adult students are so different.  Both coach and student have many years of indoctrination of what a lesson should look like.  But while the pupils may come with different life experience and expectations, what would a typical lesson look like if the ‘Junior Golf Mindset’ was applied?

What if the goal was always to enrich a life, not just fix a slice?

Here are a few concepts that allow a great junior coach to make a lasting impact on students.  To me, they represent cornerstones of what I see as an effective Junior Golf Mindset.  As you read through the various elements, ask yourself if you approach things the same way in every lesson or if it changes depending on the age of your student.

Connection. 

If you visit your favorite junior golf coach on the lesson tee, you might have to lower your eye level.  They know that getting down on the same level as the junior golfer is an effective way to connect and communicate.  While the adult golfer may not require the same kneel down manoeuvre, too many coaches fail to make an authentic connection.  Connection can be sacrificed for credibility.  With kids, your authority is assumed, it comes with the title.  So for some, with an adult it’s more important to be seen as the authority than to make the authentic connection that creates trust and acceptance within the learning environment.

Discovery and Empowerment.

Because nothing will bore a group of 10 year-olds quite like an hour-long lecture on ball flight laws, we are forced to get creative with young athletes.  Instead of telling them, we show them.  We have them experiment and explore.  Their shorter attention span forces us to allow students to experience new concepts, not just be told about them.  This experience lends itself to a deeper understanding that empowers them to self-coach.

Failures and judgement.

When a fragile young ego is on the lesson tee, we approach failure far different than we do with adults.  We frame failure as a positive part of the learning process.  They’re young; we expect them to mess up as they go.  Yet for adults, failures can sometime seem unacceptable.  Our interactions lack the same compassion that seems so much easier to exhibit for our younger students.  We don’t deal with failures as delicately, yet adults are just as affected by the judgement and disappointment accompanied by a perceived failure.  Too much emphasis is placed on immediate results without respecting or embracing the role of failure in the developmental process.

Fun and Games.

I end every one of our junior sessions with a game.  For the juniors, it’s a light and fun way to apply the lessons of the day.  But it’s also an essential step in bridging the gap between understanding and performance.  The benefits of implementing challenges and an opportunity for ‘play’ in all lessons are abundant: maximize the enjoyment factor, increase the likelihood that students transfer new skills to the course, and introduce effective practice habits.

Long Term Learning.

Obviously we approach juniors with a more long-term approach.  After all, we have more time, right?  The sky is the limit and skill and ability seems so malleable at that early phase of growth.  We focus on establishing a solid foundation of fundamentals from which our juniors can develop skills.  Emphasis is placed on educating the golfer about an effective learning process, not on urgent solutions that are often unsustainable for golfers who seek a quick fix.  What if we approached every student with the same sense of possibility and hope?

Simplification.

With a 6 year old, you don’t have many options when it comes to demonstrating a new motor skill.  Every concept has to be distilled down the most fundamental idea.  Instructions have to be succinct  but vivid.  The possibility of overwhelming students with a litany complex instruction and information disappears simply because it’s no longer an option.

Think back to that happy-go-lucky junior golf coach.  Maybe they’re so happy because they approach each lesson with the fascination and creativity that is inherent in working with young people.

After examining these ideas, it’s easy to see that those coaches are on to something.  While they leave it to the rest of us to argue and trivially debate the finer technical points of the golf swing, they go out and make a difference everyday.  And the very same mindset that allows them to enrich lives, makes them more effective coaches!

If the same attitude is applied to coaching students of all ages, more effective lessons are inevitable.  And it’s more fun to boot!  Instead of just spewing information, each day is approached with creativity and passion.

Every lesson would matter.

Maybe the concepts above are unique to my own experience.  I’m anxious to hear thoughts from others on the subject, I have a feeling that I’m not alone.  Please feel free to leave comments describing your own experience.  I look forward to exploring the topic more.

– COREY LUNDBERG & MATT WILSON

‘Are you getting by, or are you getting better?’  This is a question that we have heard a mentor pose to clients on several occasions.

It’s a seemingly simple question that is inherently complex and thus very difficult to answer.  Why? You have to answer it yourself through reflection. While it’s often uncomfortable to look at oneself from the perspective of the third person (nobody wants to see what they don’t want to), or to question and think about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it– it’s an essential and enlightening process.  It brings us full circle and cuts to the essence of why we are all here: we don’t know what we don’t know– and we have a strong desire to change that.  We are infinitely curious.

Despite the fact that we haven’t been writing, we’ve still been learning – quite a bit, in fact.  How? Reflection.

Reflection is the primary means through which we grow and evolve. Our practice is informed by our experience, and we need to invest the time and energy to look at said experience with a critical eye.  A thorough examination of our choices and behaviors helps us identify and reinforce the actions that correlate to success, and therefore the things we should keep doing, as well as the actions or choices that led to the opposite result.  As coaches, it is our job to evolve.  Given that 2017 is upon us, we want to dig a little deeper into this topic, and provide you with an example of the result of some of our own reflection, so that the entire coaching community (ok, we digress–any readers that have endured the prolonged break) can hit the ground running in the new year.

Dr. Wade Gilbert, a professor of Kinesiology at Fresno State University (and regular guest lecturer in Matt’s Coaching Effectiveness class at UBC), is one of the world’s leading experts on coaching science.  Much of his research focuses on how coaches develop their expertise.  Through his years of research, he’s identified that informal learning is a primary means through which expert coaches grow and develop.  Much of that informal learning is triggered internally, by reflection.  All coaches think about their experience, but only the experts try to understand why and how they can improve on it.  In other words, experts are curious about their performance, and have a desire to do it better.

We know that having experience and learning from that experience are catalysts for growth.  So, what are the mechanics of the process? How do you process that experience and make adjustments to your behavior?  How do you integrate it into what you do? While, we’re still trying to answer those questions ourselves, we have been following these two practices to help us get improve: Reflective practice and critical reflection.  Yes, they sound similar (which they are), but they are inherently different.

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE V. CRITICAL REFLECTION

When we think about reflective practice and/or reflection, the image that comes to mind is a steady stream of thought on a car ride home.  These are the relatively short, internal conversations that we have with ourselves, daily, that don’t require significant effort.  They’re mental ‘notes’ that often focus on problems we encountered, or about things that went particularly well in a given instance.  Sometimes, these conversations lead us to discover a different way to go about addressing a situation.

Critical reflection, on the other hand, is much more significant.  These are the reflections that force you to take a step back and consider the beliefs that underpin your actions and behaviors. They often represent an internal inventory-taking of your coaching skills and beliefs, and facilitate a deeper dive into self-improvement, often involving interacting with third parties, and other members of your coaching network for answers.  These are critical, evolutionary moments that identify gaps and signal action towards closing them, ultimately leading to relatively permanent change in behavior.

The point we want to make is that over the last 6 months, we’ve been thrust into opportunities that have illuminated the shortcomings we have as coaches.  The fleeting thoughts about an occasion that didn’t go as planned are often more frustrating than productive.  Critical reflection elicits more intrigue than frustration, it actually moves the needle.  Through continued reflection – both in the daily and critical sense – we’ve given ourselves a chance to grow and improve.

ACTIONABLES

• Keep a journal. Logging your days and jotting down your thoughts helps you become aware of any patterns that exist.  The notes serve as an informational foundation for critical analysis and eventually, change.

• Budget time to be critical. Going deeper into your reflections to create understanding, and ultimately change, takes time and effort.  Ensure that you are setting aside time either monthly or quarterly, to be self-critical, such that you can get a plan in place to close any gaps that you perceive to be apparent.

• Be vulnerable. Seeing yourself in action is a great way to understand your behavior.  You’ll become aware of a number of great things, as identify a few areas to improve.  Also, it is OK to not know.  Seek the opinions of others, as it’ll help close your knowledge gaps and make you aware of new solutions.  Yes, it is an uncomfortable process, but very much worth it.

• Remain as objective as possible. It can be far too easy to grade your paper against unrealistic standards. This can be done with film (as you’ll see below), or through a trusted friend/advisor who is invested in your success.  360 degree reviews or anonymous surveys are also helpful tools that can inform you of blind sports in your practice.

AN EXAMPLE FROM MATT

One of my biggest challenges is staying sharp, mentally and physically, day in and day out.  I feel very strongly that my effectiveness, and behavior, is directly related to the amount of energy I have available.  Over the past few weeks, I felt ineffective, but couldn’t quite figure out why.  Physically, I felt fine. And mentally? I thought I was sharp.  Still, something was missing – I was getting by, not getting better.

In the offseason, we do a lot of instructing and a heavy emphasis is placed on refining techniques and building skills.  When doing a lot of ‘teaching’, I find it easy to get into a pattern that is very directive and very generous with the provision of feedback in an effort to guide the learner to the desired outcome as quickly as possible.  It is as if we work extra hard to reduce the amount of mental effort required on behalf of the learner such that we can make the learning process ‘easier’.  In attempting to accelerate and simplify the learning process by reducing the amount of cognitive energy invested by the learner, pre and post movement, we end up having the opposite effect; we severely limit their learning.  They end up relying on our guidance to make corrections rather than making adjustments based on their evaluation of both the intrinsic and extrinsic feedback they receive from the movement, relative to their kinesthetic concept of what they are trying to learn.

I felt ineffective because I had it backwards.  I became overly concerned with WHAT the athletes needed to do, and didn’t place enough energy into HOW those interventions were carried out.  As a result, what needed to happen (their learning), didn’t.

So, what did I do to make the corrections?

To start, I set different goals for the day.  The goals focused on the learning environment we created, as opposed to the specific content that was to be learned.  My aim was for the client to be more cognitively engaged than in sessions past.  My plan to achieve that goal was twofold.  First, I wanted to ensure that I was cultivating the athlete’s capacity to accurately detect error.  The goal was to provide them with the opportunity to contrast what they did vs. what they intended such that they could calibrate their sensory feedback accordingly.  Second, I aimed to optimize the provision of feedback, delaying it until after the athlete had the chance to evaluate their intrinsic feedback, as well as establishing a bandwidth, outside of which prescriptive feedback would be provided.

Next, I wore a GoPro and filmed the day to gauge how successful I was in executing my objectives.  I wanted to see what the environment was actually like.

Below is a video excerpt from a session where we worked with an athlete on developing their control over the speed of their putts.  As stated prior, my objective was to provide the client with a better learning environment; one that challenged them cognitively, technically, and physically.  I structured the activity with the end goal of expanding the capacity of the learner to accurately assess the result of their movement in the absence of feedback, and in improving their ability to detect, and correct, error.  I wanted to help them close the gap that existed between what they think happens, and what actually happens, when they act on a decision.  Check out a brief snippet of the video below to get a better idea for how I ended up delivering feedback in this session.

https://youtu.be/5VHR8Dl5BSg

Was it perfect? No.  But it doesn’t have to be.  I learned more through this critical reflection than I had an any number of traditional educational activities.

What will you do to generate a similar experience?

We’ll give you some time to reflect…

– COREY LUNDBERG & MATT WILSON

A recent tweet by a former Tour player insinuated that somehow this inanimate device was responsible for the decline of a certain iconic golfer.  This added fuel to the fire, stoking what’s become a rather redundant debate on the benefits of technology in golf instruction.  The apparently arithmaphobic detractors seem to point to ‘The Numbers’ as the most prominent wrong-doer in their indictment of Trackman.  Their central point being that measuring and then quantifying the intricate details of the swing will leave a golfer a confused, overly-technical mess.  All those numbers– robbing the game of ‘feel’ or artistry and replacing it with sterile, cold, hard measurements.

Yes– in the wrong hands or delivered carelessly, all those numbers can be bad.  But the same can be said for anything being administered by the inexperienced or misinformed!  This frequently cited reasoning is reductive and hardly a compelling reason to condemn the measurement device or its users.  It can actually be a massive aid in shifting the learning environment from command-based, prescriptive instruction to one that is performance-focused and more conducive to effective skill acquisition.

And that’s not to say that we’ve never been guilty of over reliance on ‘The Numbers’.  But we’ve also utilized them in a way that enriches the feel and artistry of players.  In fact, because our prime concern is usually to just enhance impact alignments instead of obsessing over positional ideals, we make less wholesale ‘swing changes’ than ever.

Ultimately, our job as coaches is to create confident and competent performers who thrive under difficult conditions.  All TrackMan does is provide information – our job is to take that information and use it to help people move from A to B.  More often than not, that information is incredibly useful in facilitating that process…if used appropriately.

We hope to help everyone see beyond the recent discussion and gain a better understanding of how it can be used to facilitate learning and improved performance.  Below are a few elements of the learning environment that coaches can enhance through thoughtful application of Trackman.

AUGMENTED FEEDBACK

The most important ingredient to the learning process is feedback– it’s largely responsible for bridging the gap between experience and understanding.

There are two primary types of feedback; intrinsic and augmented.  Intrinsic feedback are the sounds, feelings, etc. that the performer experiences as a result of hitting a golf ball.  Augmented feedback is anything related to their performance that they can’t directly experience.   Technology helps provide augmented feedback that helps players process the intrinsic feedback they receive during practice.  The golf swing is a unique motor program in that it’s often very difficult to detect movement errors from intrinsic feedback alone.  Trackman allows learners to more accurately evaluate results thus informing future trials.  It acts as an accelerant in bridging the gap between feel and real.  Yes, FEEL!  Trackman users can, in fact, become better FEEL players based on the feedback provided.

There is also an element of confidence and motivation to consider.  Research has shown that having accurate Knowledge of Results can motivate performers to persist longer at practice tasks.  They are able to see the tangible results of their efforts through the quantitative changes that can infuse learners with self-efficacy and the confidence to persevere.

The challenge for coaches and players is the amount and schedule of the feedback, not the feedback itself.  Numbers don’t hurt people – they’re inanimate concepts.  Rather, as our friend from Happy Gilmore in the accompanying image suggests, people hurt people.  Ensuring that athletes receive the right feedback at the right time keeps the learning process moving forward.  Too much feedback, too often– creates dependency, which often yields to the adage of ‘paralysis by analysis’.

When in a ‘Transfer Training’ mode with a student, we recommend that you no longer provide the quantitative feedback of Trackman, opting instead to withdraw Knowledge of Results and allowing the golfer to prepare within a more authentic performance context.

Providing different types of feedback, such as summary feedback, positive or negative bandwidth feedback, or athlete-led feedback can accelerate the learning process and reduce the likelihood that an athlete becomes dependent on ‘The Numbers’.

ACTIONABLE:

Rather than give feedback on every shot, try two different methods when giving feedback.  First, only give feedback when performance falls within a certain range.  The range could be negative (when performance falls outside of the range) or positive (when feedback falls within the range).  This helps decrease dependency and creates more of an independent learning process aided by feedback only when needed.  Secondly, when getting ready to give the feedback– engage the performer.  Ask them where they think their movement was in relation to the standards of performance that you both set.   This helps them calibrate internally and fosters a better sense of what they need to create the desired outcome.

IMPLICIT LEARNING

Implicit learning occurs when an athlete learns something in the absence of instruction.  Coaches should strive to help athletes learn as implicitly as possible, as skills learned in this fashion are proven to hold up better under pressure.  Often times, focusing on the effect of the desired movement or having an external focus of attention can help in this process.

Believe it or not, coaching with TrackMan can facilitate implicit learning.  One of the benefits of TrackMan is the ability to control what numbers are visible to the coach and player.  For example, one of the keys to playing great golf is managing curve, which, for argument’s sake, means controlling the face to path relationship and the impact point on the clubface.  To help people learn the old-fashioned way and ‘dig it out of the dirt’, simply spray the face with Dr. Scholl’s and put up only the launch direction and spin axis numbers.  Then ask them to accomplish the task of generating a positive launch direction and negative spin axis (draw), or negative launch direction and positive spin axis (fade).   This exercise creates many learning opportunities and provides a means by which a player can achieve repetition without repetition.  Providing a learning environment in this fashion helps the individual self-organize and begin to develop novel solutions to accomplish the task of curving the ball to the target and hitting it solid.

ACTIONABLE:

Get creative with what numbers you enable the student to see.  Spin axis and a bit of Dr. Scholl’s goes a very long way in helping an athlete understand their ball flight and how it is influenced by where they make contact on the face relative to the sweetspot.  Additionally, try attack angle and launch angle for someone who struggles with contact precision and trajectory control.  Ask them to keep the attack angle shallow while getting the ball to launch lower.  Attacking the problem externally paves the way towards the possibility of learning a movement implicitly or in the absence of directive instruction.

TRANSFER TRAINING

Golf is hard.  The sport demands that a player be able to excel under extremely stressful conditions, often. Players are continually challenged to vary the distance, shape, and trajectory of their shots on every hole they play.

One of the core challenges inherent in the player development process is creating an environment that engages the psychological processes and physiological stressors that the athlete experiences during the course of play. Being able to create conditions that require the performer to plan, execute, and review the shot, while making each shot significant and carry a consequence, is really helpful in facilitating transfer and closing the gap between practice and performance.

TrackMan makes bridging the gap between training and play easier.  Combine and Test Center enable coaches to develop games that test the athlete’s ability to use all their skills (technical, tactical, mental), to accomplish the task of moving the ball from A to as close to B as possible.  In the end, much like golf, they receive a score that let’s them know where they are and provides perceived significance to each ball.  As scores improve, players are also able to see how and when they are making progress.  This type of satisfying feedback motivates players by allowing them to see the direct impact of their efforts.

In essence, through games and transfer training applications, technology enables coaches to design tasks that are more representative – the added pressure, difficulty, and variability ensures that the task, environment, and first-person experience closer resembles that of the course.

ACTIONABLE:

Make your own skills tests and training protocols in test center.  These are great ways to start a session or to challenge a player that is demonstrating good performance from a more stable environment.  Test center allows you to leverage the task-design matrix by virtue of assigning meaning to each shot, as well as giving you the opportunity to randomize the order of the task (distance).  Ultimately, it helps you, the coach, strike a great balance between task difficulty and environmental stability – a must for helping people progress their skills and perform on the course!

———————————————–

There are many professional fields that have advanced as a result of technological development.  Golf is no different.  As long as people try to reach higher levels of performance, tools will be developed to support those goals.  The important thing for coaches will be to look at the technologies objectively and devote the time and energy necessary to master them.  Hopefully, our discussions and ideas on the use of TrackMan to support the skill acquisition process sheds some light on how to do that and can help you be more effective.

–Corey Lundberg & Matt Wilson

The topic of engagement and retention has never been more relevant in our sport.  As participation numbers decrease at an alarming rate, it’s time to take a closer look at how we can engage young athletes and prompt them towards a journey of development and sustained involvement.

Not only do our jobs depend on the generational influx of new players, but more importantly, the game that we have devoted much of our lives to is in danger without it.  As the generation of Baby Boomers that have sustained our sport for so long begin to pass the torch to a new wave of players and their children, devoting our efforts to engaging new players is of critical importance.

From a personal and more immediately rewarding perspective, a further examination of these motivational factors could result in more activity on our lesson tees and the opportunity to do more rewarding work– work that matters.

Improving our ability to motivate will obviously help us develop more skilled players, but it also helps us fulfill a more meaningful mission– it allows us to impact the personal and social development of young people.  We’ve all encountered a coach or teacher early in our lives that made that massive impact on us.  A person that makes us wonder ‘Where would I be if I hadn’t met this person?!’

So what ingredients make up a young athlete’s criteria for involvement?  What factors should we consider when introducing golf and how do we continue to foster that initial interest into a desire to improve and eventually excel?

Based on our experience and research, there are some key motivational milestones to consider. We believe motivation to participate starts with positive peer and coach CONNECTION, which leads to a fun environment that allows skills to develop through PLAY, which then builds CONFIDENCE, and ultimately provides enough motivation to ‘stick with it’ long enough to grow expertise and SKILL.

CONNECTION

Motivation to participate starts with a connection– it’s the most basic need of a young athlete.  If I don’t feel like I belong, I’ll never stick around long enough to find out how much fun the activity is or that I might actually be good at it.  So this is our first priority.  We have to facilitate positive connections with peers, connections with coaches, connections with parents, and ultimately a connection with the game.

Think back to your own childhood hobbies– in all probability your willing participation was heavily hinged on how many of your friends followed suit.

Or maybe you were drawn to an activity because of the warm and nurturing connection offered by the coach– a non-judgemental connection that made you feel safe to explore, experiment, and learn.

When connected, early childhood psychiatrist, Dr. Edward Hallowell, says, “children develop a feeling of security and safety, which, in turn, instills courage and the desire to take risks in the world.”  So to combat the initial nerves inherent in encountering a new activity, we have to earn their trust and show that the learning environment we’ve created is a safe one, free of judgment or criticism.

We were turned on to Dr. Hallowell’s work by one of the most brilliant minds in junior golf, Kate Tempesta.  Kate expanded on this concept when she told us, “It is paramount that we, as junior coaches, create an engaging and supportive learning environment. We must teach to the whole child and not just simply to their developing physical skills. This is the key to long- term success! Children are social, emotional, creative, spiritual and cognitive beings that need all of these domains nurtured and supported.”

Once a safe environment has been introduced, we have to facilitate the social bonds amongst peers that motivate participation.  These early social connections lead to the first tipping point in the development of a young golfer.  All of a sudden, the young person in front of us begins to identify themselves as a golfer, a key milestone to igniting a lifelong relationship with the game.

“Social identity has been defined as the part of an individual’s self concept which derives from his knowledge of membership in a social group with value and emotional significance attached to that membership.” (Tajfel, 1981)  When we encourage these friendships around golf, we are nurturing feelings of connection and a sense of belonging that comes from feeling similar to the others in the group.

ACTIONABLE:

To fulfill the basic motivational need of connection, we need to promote positive feelings of association with peers and coaches, along with a sense of belonging and the ‘fit-in’ factor.

• Remain ‘Connection Conscious’ throughout your group sessions.  Be vigilant about noticing how each individual is interacting with the group and how their motivation to stay involved could be affected.
• Develop skills through small-sided games.  Split groups into small teams and have them complete challenges or competitions.  Not only does this begin to fulfill the need for ‘Play’, but it fosters stronger social bonds among team members.
• Promote a Growth Mindset.  We often use the phrase ‘Not getting it is part of getting it’.  To open up in a way that allows for meaningful connections with peers and coaches, the kids need to know it’s safe to make mistakes.  Nothing can kill participation faster than a humiliating experience caused by a poor performance or perceived incompetence.  Reminding athletes that mistakes are acceptable and a natural step in the learning process reinforces a judgement-free environment where positive connections are more easily made.

PLAY

Fun is the single biggest factor for athlete retention and sport participation.  If an activity ceases to be fun, the likelihood of an individual sticking with it over the long term, diminishes greatly.  That being said, as easy as it is to say that ‘fun’ holds the key to everyone’s success in growing the game, fun remains somewhat of an elusive deliverable.  Here is Dr. Hallowell on the topic of play in sports,”Many parents, teachers, and coaches don’t realize that fun sets off a cascade of positive events.  If you make having fun the goal, and your child achieves that goal, then it is likely your child will also achieve all the rest: practice, discipline, mastery, and the other intangibles that sports can so wonderfully instill… Play that is fun leads to practice and practice leads to mastery.”

For a better idea of how we can deliver this level of fun, a perfect model of the play that leads to sustained participation can readily be found at recess and after school during a variety of ‘pick-up’ games.  Look for a group of screaming and laughing ten year olds playing outside.  These environments are void of technical instructions and instead rely on the kid’s creativity, autonomy, and social connections to deliver the ultimate form of play.  Kids have to be pulled away from this type of play.  School bells, dinner time or sunset are the only things that can suspend the action.

This informal environment has to be inclusive so as to achieve active participation from a variety of competitors and they have to come up with rules that maximize fun given the available resources.  No one is concerned with the ‘right way’ to execute a skill, they just look to the top performers to serve as a model to follow.  While skilled performance can eventually come as a result of this play, the sole intention is fun– not improvement like so many of the activities that we design for them.

ACTIONABLE:

• Promote autonomy by allowing juniors to be active participants in the learning design.  I’ve haven’t seen anyone do this more effectively in golf than Kate Tempesta.  The video below is one of many in which she shares the practical application of this idea– this is one of my favorites.  A cardboard box and a coach who is willing and able to nurture creativity and autonomy as a means to develop skill and inspire participation.

CONFIDENCE

Moving past the primary igniters of interest – Connection and Play – expanding an athlete’s confidence becomes critically important to sustaining motivation and participation.  Moreover, as coaches, confidence represents an exciting possibility, as it’s a factor we have a significant influence on.  Specifically, the way in which we communicate and interact with young athletes has a significant impact on their self-efficacy, self-esteem, and experience (fun or not fun).

What we want to focus on is Self-Efficacy.  In its most basic form, self-efficacy is an individual’s perception about their ability or competence.  Although there are many different sources from which athletes can increase their self-efficacy, the most powerful are instances in which an individual has to overcome a mild form of adversity to achieve a goal.  Jane McGonigal calls them ‘epic wins’.

“The most effective way of creating a strong sense of efficacy is through mastery experiences. Successes build a robust belief in one’s personal efficacy… Some setbacks and difficulties in human pursuits serve a useful purpose in teaching that success usually requires sustained effort.  After people become convinced they have what it takes to succeed, they persevere in the face of adversity and quickly rebound from setbacks. By sticking it out through tough times, they emerge stronger from adversity.” (Bandura, 1994)

Coaches should leverage gamification and challenge point framework to help design appropriate activities – activities that require the learner to dig in (just enough) such that they have to extend themselves to accomplish the task.  What they get is a quick shot of ‘I can do this’ and consequently, their self-image and level of confidence, increase.  Additionally, the feedback you give to the athlete should focus on the effort they are making, and should provide enough encouragement to help them push past the challenge that the activity provides.  This one-two coaching punch paves the way for growth and accelerates ignition.

ACTIONABLE:

• Ensure that you scale the task demands and difficulty to the skill level of the learner.  Be very aware as to how much success or difficulty participants are having with a given activity and modify tasks accordingly.
• When giving feedback, praise effort, reinforce the positive aspects of what they are doing, and provide them with one thing that they can do differently.  This also helps to promote a growth mindset.
• Celebrate success! Allow young golfers to get excited when they experience success.  As much as you want to get them to persevere through the right amount of difficulty, ensuring that they get to enjoy their ‘mastery moment’ makes it more likely that they will continue such behaviors.  It also tends to lead to a little more fun for all!  Fist pumps should be HIGHLY encouraged.

SKILL

Rather than a final stage of motivation that we have to fulfill, SKILL represents the top of the motivational pyramid that represents a by-product of sustained participation.  As with Maslow’s Hierarchy, ‘one must satisfy lower level basic needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs. Once these needs have been reasonably satisfied, one may be able to reach the highest level called self-actualization.‘  Well, in the Junior Golf Hierarchy of Needs, self actualization is replaced with Skill.  Once we have met the young athlete’s requirements for connection, play, and confidence– in all likelihood they are inspired to participate long enough to develop some level of skill.  This could be enough skill to continue a lifelong recreational relationship with golf, or for some, those previous steps have motivated them to work hard enough to develop a skill level that leads to more competitive pursuits.

A junior will learn the skills when they are ready to.  By taking an interest in growing their motivation, we, as coaches, can set the stage for continued participation and eventually, skill development.   More importantly, however, are the effects of sport on the rest of their lives.  By making a point to help each child grow their self efficacy, establish positive social connections, and develop a sense of mastery, such characteristics transcend golf and filter into other areas of their lives, ultimately leading them to become better learners and people.  As such, this is work that matters– to ourselves, the golfers we encounter, and the game we love.

— Corey Lundberg & Matt Wilson

For us, the common tipping point in our poor sessions is the moment we take the reckless leap down the rabbit hole of technique.  We encounter a technical change that must be addressed, and as is easy to do, we mistake the amazingly evolved learning machine in front of us for a brainless cadaver fit for our technical experimentations.

It’s not just addressing the technical aspect of performance, that’s obviously an important and necessary part of coaching golfers.  But in the bad sessions, possibly due to an ineffective technical solution being applied or mistakenly prioritizing style over functional ball control, we lose our way and our student ends up internally focused on explicit cues.  Phrases like ‘maybe we could try this now’ can be overheard during these doomed lessons, which at best, yield short term results.

The research that we are drawn towards obviously has urged us to NOT do this.  We know that in the off chance that these lessons actually produce some kind of positive change, it’s not likely it will stick.  If we get lucky, some transient changes will occur and golfer and coach alike experience a short-lived illusion of mastery.

Some motor learning research suggests that the mechanical changes we seek of our players can often emerge as a result of effectively designed learning environments that allow the coach to act merely as a facilitator.  But sometimes they don’t.

Either we aren’t good enough at designing these environments yet or maybe the complex series of movements required in a functional golf swing don’t always appear so spontaneously.  This is where the experience of the practitioner may diverge from those of the researcher.  Sometimes we have to dig in.  We would love for every lesson to be play-based explorations of performance, but it’s not always the appropriate strategy.  If the changes that need to be made to enhance performance are not ‘emerging’, we have to improve the dysfunctional technique.

So how do we stay mindful of how golfers learn and still effect technique without letting a session devolve into an internally focused lesson that won’t transfer to the actual performance context?  To prepare us to deal with this conundrum in a proactive fashion, we wanted to develop a framework that allowed us to attack technical change in way that kept us organized, respectful of the learning process, while keeping us from the rabbit hole of explicit technique tinkering.  When we follow this framework, we have found that the player is best equipped to begin their journey down the pathway to permanence.

THE 4 C’s – THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR ADJUSTING TECHNIQUE

CONCEPTUAL CLARITY

It is paramount that anyone set on learning anything has a clearly defined concept to work with.  In golf, this is usually as simple as describing how the club has interacted with the ball to produce the resulting shot.  For our more coordinated athletes, this clear concept can solve much of the issue.  And for some, as a result of receiving some bad information, they may be trying to do the very thing that is the root of the dysfunctional technique.  In essence, the ‘what-to-be-learned’ serves as a compass, directly influencing how the learner perceives their results and orients their attention. So that’s our starting point– clarity for both coach and player for what changes will occur and their relevance to improved ball control.

CALIBRATION OF AWARENESS

Once we are clear on the concept, we need the player to become more aware of the critical variables at hand.  Calibrating the feel of the player through exercises that expose them to both ends of the movement spectrum are critical in facilitating the change and expanding awareness.  Experiential reference points enable the learning process to start (and continue) by providing something concrete that the learner can refer back to, that helps them gauge improvement.

In essence, we can tell someone to do something, but if they are unable to either execute it, and/or feel a difference between what we are asking them to do and what they do by habit, any change will be difficult to make.  Developing a solid base of kinesthetic awareness, that is rooted in an understanding of the difference between the habitual and desired movements, is critical to traveling towards the pathway towards permanent change.  This article from Cameron McCormick demonstrates a fantastic way to help people heighten their awareness of what they need to do.  A good rule of thumb; feel opposite to find optimal.

CORRECTION CAPACITY

When a performer possesses the capacity to accurately detect whether or not their movements were successful, the variability between trials decreases, thereby leading to increases in skill and performance.  To develop that capacity, people need to be cognitively engaged during practice, actively assessing what they felt, relative to their kinesthetic awareness, conceptual understanding, and the outcome of the movement. The better foundation of ‘knowledge’ that the coach can help the athlete develop, the better this process goes.  How, can we as coaches, do a better job of this? Ask them what they think caused the effect.  This enables the learner to contrast their experience with the augmented and intrinsic feedback, thereby helping them close the gap between feel and real.

To enable the athlete to self-coach, we work diligently to develop the golfer’s problem-solving skills.  Specifically, during practice, we have quizzes.  Quizzes are 10 ball sets where the athlete will guess and/or quantify a key element of their performance after each ball.  At the start, the guesses are usually quite a bit off, but over time, the ability to detect where her club/body is moving and then make the necessary adjustments, increases tremendously.  By being asked to think critically about the preceding motion, given only the ball flight and internal feedback to work with at the start, helps golfers refine their movements to meet task demands once augmented feedback is provided.

CONTEXTUAL PRACTICE

It is very easy to get stuck at the first stages of the learning process, learning the ins and outs of the technical change.  However, at some point, the movement will need to be performed on the course.  To that end, it is of critical importance to the integrity of the process that the learner is exposed to situations similar to what they would experience during the course of play.  Varying, or mixing up the practice, forces the player to apply the new movements for the purpose of accomplishing a wide array of tasks and ensures that the technical changes are trained to withstand the demands of golf.

Ultimately, training the skill under game-like conditions tests the strength of the motion and  helps bridge the gap between practice and play.  In the poor lessons that we described in the beginning, this step is inevitably omitted.  This step is what differentiates instructors from coaches.

In closing, it is important to view our roles as coaches as facilitators of learning.  In the case of technical interventions, we need to empower players to self-coach by helping them develop their understanding, awareness, correction capacity, and ultimately, their ability to perform the new pattern in context and under pressure.  However, only through sustained diligence and effort can something become truly permanent.  By walking the learner through the pathway to permanence, we can facilitate positive change, and start the process of building skills, expanding confidence, and improving performance.  And as a side benefit, when we follow this general framework, we feel a lot better about our lessons.  We are hopeful it has the same effect for you.

While one apprentice may flourish under the guidance of a particular mentor, another– under the exact same influence and counsel– may never manage to thrive on their own, never making it out of the mentor’s shadow.  Therein lies the Disciple’s Dilemma.  How do you differentiate yourself from the message and methods of your greatest influencers?

A trusted mentor recently advised me to create my own ‘Coaching Manual’.  The purpose of this exercise would be two-fold- 1) produce a document that allows students to review my coaching concepts in greater detail. 2) Force me to clarify, in my mind, what it is that I teach and believe in.

As I began to create the document, I was hit with a scary realization.  Many of my teaching tenets was near identical to those of this particular mentor.  If I were to sit down and list all my technical preferences and most frequently prescribed drills, would they be a carbon copy of his?  Instead of listing my own creative and original golf instruction ideas, I was regurgitating a lot of what I learned from this mentor.  But that’s the predicament– I am a better coach for having gained this knowledge and I have enough experience with them to know they are effective!  Do you re-invent the wheel for the sake of originality?

The abundance of certifications and coaching workshops exacerbates the conundrum.  A lot of impressionable coaches will attend a certification that has a major impact on how they see golf instruction.  It’s easy to become so intoxicated by the admiration and excitement of a new perspective– that they lose their individuality in the process.  An army of newly indoctrinated disciples head back to their lesson tee to give identical golf lessons.

To avoid the potential pitfalls of mentorship, look no further than the person you are learning from.  Their success and stature in the industry should indicate that they were able to successfully navigate apprenticeship and avoid the hazards of falling in too deep.  Here are a few steps they most likely took to overcome the Disciple’s Dilemma.

Broaden your Scope.

Jim Rohn famously said, “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.”  Luckily, in our current ‘Connection Economy’, we aren’t limited to 5 people anymore.  Twitter and Facebook can expose teachers to a multitude of influences and new ideas.  I’d say, I’m the average of the 20 coaches I follow most online.  Not only do these vast resources allow me to dig deeper into the material that resonates with me, but it’s impossible to avoid the people who directly oppose some of those ideas.  This is great!  I am exposed to people that are attempting to ‘break’ some of the information that I swear by.  Hearing both sides of the argument will either deepen your convictions or plant enough doubt to propel you towards new answers.

Advance the Idea.

Once you’ve actively experimented and utilized the knowledge provided by your mentor– you have an obligation to advance the concepts.  You do your mentor a great disservice, if once you’ve gained confidence in your new skills, you never do anything to creatively evolve to the next step.  That’s how this whole cycle of information works.  Your mentor took old ideas and refined them, now it’s your turn.

Research your Influencer’s Influencers.

The realization that your mentors didn’t come up with all those great ideas on their own is liberating.  Writer Chuck Palahniuk confesses that, “Nothing of me is original.  I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known.”  Not only does this reinforce the notion to broaden your horizons, but it proves that no one has accomplished great things entirely on their own.  The coaches you admire weren’t born that way.  They worked hard, sought out a collection of influencers, and hand-picked elements that matched their particular style.  If you look back to the work of your mentor’s greatest influencers, you’ll undoubtedly see how some ideas have been altered and synthesized into their current state.  It not only offers some relief, but yet another model to follow from a valued teacher.

Steal and Synthesize.

In the impressionable early years of coaching development, I think it’s advisable to steal ideas.  Steal them from every source you can and find out what works for you and what doesn’t.  Forget the connotation of ‘stealing’ ideas and do it.  I promise your mentors did.  Golf Digest and Golf Magazine collectively have printed over 1000 tip filled editions of their magazine.  That’s a lot of tips.  To come up with a completely original idea in the world of golf instruction is not likely.  What’s more likely is that over time, through experimentation and synthesizing, layers are added to concepts and they are presented in a way that seems novel or fresh.  Often times, producing a more effective iteration of the original.  Make the idea better then when you found it by synthesizing it through your particular lens of experience, preference, and style.

Build your Coaching Tree.

If there is any action to come from reading this post– this is it.  Your challenge is to build a Coaching Tree.  Think of this as your coaching genealogy.  Start with the 5 coaches and instructors you hold in highest regard.  From there, create branches from each of them which contain their greatest influencers and mentors.  Once you have your Coaching Tree, begin to consider the ideas, methods, and techniques you value most from each coaching ‘ancestor’.

You can start to see yourself as a 5-headed monster, possessing the most effective traits, tricks, and skills of your greatest influencers.  Maybe more important than ‘WHAT’ they teach, take a hard look at ‘HOW’ they teach.  How do they deliver their information?  How do they organize their sessions?  What processes distinguish them from their peers?  Ironically, a list of these ingredients that you borrow from others is where the creativity and originality begins.  Actively engaging with all of these systems together is where you start to separate yourself from your mentors.  Keep adding layers, hand-picking items from each branch that fit your personality, specialties, and inclinations.

Ultimately, the ‘Coaching Manual’ exercise taught me that I’m not quite ready to develop it yet.  I need a closer examination of my Coaching Tree to determine exactly what my ‘Manual’ will look like.  But, like my own coaching style, it’s evolving as I adapt my mentors’ ideas to fit my unique circumstances.  With all of the available information and perspectives available to coaches, there is no excuse to be a cheap knock-off of one coach or style that you like the most.  This is the age of the mash-up.  We will distinguish ourselves be becoming the sum of our influences– our primary directive is to begin collecting all the good ideas with a critical eye.

Start with your Coaching Tree.

To inspire others to participate, pay homage to the mentors that have impacted you by mentioning them on twitter with the #coachingtree.

–Corey Lundberg