Fred observes that hospital patients judge their experience not only by the way they are treated for the disease but also, and more importantly, by the way, that they are treated as a person…

If Fred is right, and incidentally I think that he is, and if this concept transfers across into golf, which I think it does, then the ‘how’ is perhaps more important than the ‘what’? This is an essential point for all, coaches, managers, and leaders to recognise. By the way, the great ones do; that is one reason that they are great.

Content, or perhaps we should call it knowledge, can be learned. In fact, content can be learned by almost anyone on almost any subject. Certainly, there is always content to learn or be updated on, that is the nature of progress. Often people have a fascination for content, and yet they have a hard time sharing that knowledge in a way that can make a difference in the life of someone else. I believe that it is possible to learn enough content for whatever role you have in a short period of time to become good at almost any subject. Learning to share that knowledge however is altogether different.

Back to Fred Lee and his five behaviours. Fred conveniently created the acronym S.H.A.R.E. Essentially these behaviours boiled down to the following values: using initiative, being part of a team, understanding the customer’s feelings, treating them with courtesy and making sure that communication is open and honest.

• S – Sense people’s needs before they ask (initiative)
• H – Help each other out (teamwork)
• A – Acknowledge people’s feelings (empathy)
• R – Respect the dignity and privacy of everyone (courtesy)
• E – Explain what is happening (communication)

So if the ‘how’ is so important then how can golf focus more on how to share experience and knowledge so that it is relevant, timely and useful? There are many answers to this question, and I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

I recently read the latest edition of International Golf Pro News, which featured some excellent articles on club fitting and other such contributions on how a personalised solution often saves money, time, frustration and so on.

Surely fitting cannot be confined to just products can it? What about services, can they also be fitted to meet the needs of the consumer? Of course, they can, airlines have changed to offer choice in the level of services that we want.

We can book a specific seat, choose the number of bags to take, have insurance or not. Hotels offer a choice of breakfast with the room, newspapers and late check out. Gymnasiums offer access at certain times of certain days. Internet and mobile phone providers offer different download speeds and call tariffs. The list is endless.

The goal, is for the consumer to participate to the level that meets their needs, satisfies their desire and is a comfortable fit with their priorities, lifestyle, and other commitments.

There is nothing much wrong with the sport. A simple definition could be that you take a stick and hit a ball to a target that is in, on or above the ground. People have been doing it for years and it has a fair level of challenge if we play from the most suitable distance.

In recent times golf has started to change, but for so long effectively it has said, “this is our sport, this is how you will consume it and these are the rules of that engagement.” This attitude has shaped public opinion.

It is the same as going to a shop and being told that we must adapt to size 44 shoes or a 52 jacket, “just spread your toes or puff out your chest if the size is too big, or vice versa if the size is too small”. Sure someone with size 44 feet and a 52 chest thinks that everything is perfect, you can hear them say “why doesn’t everyone shop here”? I am sure that everyone else will be less than fulfilled and may well go elsewhere to have their needs satisfied.

Could we offer consumers more choice in how they engage with the game? Certainly we have asked many non-golfers why they want to play, but have we listened to their answers and acted upon their perspectives?

A very good friend of mine, when asked what is the most important language for doing business, says without hesitation, “my customer’s language.” She is not referring to any one of the more than 6,000 mother tongues that a quick search on the internet reveals, but instead to the narrative that her customers use.

What is important to them, resonates and builds rapport? Sometimes we can know our product or service so well that we really do have something to sell, but if we do not become relatable to others, then we will likely have no-one to buy.

Golf will thrive because of the open air environment in which the game is consumed. Golf supports moderate physical activity, satisfying social interaction, distraction from the never ending roller coaster of life’s ups and downs, and not least the game offers a personal challenge.

The game is fundamentally one in which, you take a stick, to hit an object to a target, that is in, on, or above the ground.

Golf is not only a game but also an industry. An industry that ‘services the game‘. Be mindful of those three words – ‘services the game‘.

Without doubt, the game and the industry must be aligned to deliver an experience that men and women want to consume in the way that they want to consume it. Golf should entertain, challenge, and above all be an enjoyable experience. Even though the game and the industry must work together, the game should not become a service provider to the industry.

From this standpoint, there are many questions that continue to attract my attention, two of which are as follows:

Q1.

Imagine if we drop a handful of clubs and balls into a remote part of the Amazonian Rain Forest, where the villagers had never heard of Tiger Woods, and there were no TV or golf magazines. What game would they invent?

Would the villagers design a game where they take a stick, to hit an object to a target, that is in, on, or above the ground? Perhaps so. Would it be the same as we find in the some 200+ golf playing nations in the world? Would it have four par fives and four par threes on a 6,000m + course? Would it have miles of buggy paths and two starting points and finishing points, each near to a clubhouse?

Q2.

Imagine that the golf ball travelled just 30% of the distance of the current ball. What effect would that have on the game? I suspect very little. Golf would still entertain, challenge, and above all be an enjoyable experience. I do however think that such a change would change the industry.

Certainly, courses could be made that were just 30% of the current length. So 2,000 metres would offer the same challenge as we have now over a much longer course. Golf course developers would need less land, and so potentially less investment; the course would perhaps be easier to design, certainly easier and cheaper to construct and maintain. Smaller parcels of land could be more easily found near to areas of population, so making the game more accessible. Would golf take less time on this shorter course? Is it reasonable to expect that if the ball travelled just 30% of the ‘normal’ distance, then it would also only go 30% of the distance into trouble? Perhaps there would be less time spent looking for golf balls? Would this form of golf become both a quick way for established golfers to play a few holes and at the same time be a simple but effective way for newcomers to be introduced to the game?

Softball in the US, has legions of participants, soft tennis and soft cricket, all forms of the mainstream sport, have introduced a ball to make their game more accessible. Could this simple act give golf a much-needed boost to reach new communities? The commentators say that golf needs to be more accessible, less expensive, quicker and easier. Perhaps a ball that travels significantly less distance will help.

In any case, I advise continually questioning why we do what we do, and also how we do it. Perhaps the answers will be surprising.

There is nothing much wrong with Golf. The game that we play, which by my definition is a sport where we take a stick, hit an object to a target that is either in, on or above the ground, is old. In fact, Golf is very old. 600 years or more we are informed. Well if it’s old it must be good, otherwise, it would have died, or at least be on its death bed.

Solo Synchronised Swimming (Los Angeles Olympics 1984), yes I could not believe it either, is one such sport that is no longer practised, while Croquet, Tug-of-War and Rackets are little more than niche sports.

The demise of Golf is exaggerated, it is not dying as some people would have you believe. Perhaps, as is the case with an old car or house for that matter, Golf could have done with a little renovation and restoration towards the end of the last century, but when things were going well, why would it change?

Initiatives such as Sprint6Golf and Golf Educatif will at least, in my opinion, make a difference. Each keeps the fundamental principles of golf at their core and address the key issues of time, cost and difficulty. The PGA Junior Golf League is growing the number of kids engaged in the sport in the USA and soon in Europe, while Golf Europe’s GoGolf Europe project is now being trialled in five countries with the objective of keeping adolescents in the game for longer.

Golf development is about making sure that people have a chance to take part in the sport, ensuring that all sections of the community are aware of available activities, and letting them know where they can get involved. I have long been an advocate of the golf professional having the capability to transform into a Golf Developer, a bit like Clark Kent who works as a newspaper journalist for the Daily Planet, only to change into Superman at a moments notice. Golf Developers ooze a passion for the sport, organise golf related activities, distribute information, arrange taster sessions, coaching and put like-minded people together. The golf developer is a facilitator who makes things happen.

If you want some things to change, then you have to change some things. Often it starts with ourselves. Perhaps you can consider the five questions that always get me thinking about the realisation of the things that I want to achieve.

To achieve my objective:

1. What type of person do I need to become?
2. What attitude do I need to have?
3. What do I need to learn?
4. Who can help me to develop the attitudes, skills and knowledge that I need?
5. What barriers do I need to overcome?

See you in Budapest.

For more information and to register visit http://eur.pe/ASKWorkshops-Hungary

For more information about the 2016 A.S.K. Workshops visit http://eur.pe/ASKWorkshops-Hungary, follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search #ASKWorkshops, or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

Background check.

Do your homework when preparing to work abroad. Get a good understanding of the market that you are intending to enter. Research the internet, ask questions of people who have already made the move to find out what pitfalls are waiting for the unsuspecting and above all make sure that you, and those closest to you, know exactly what you hope to achieve by making the move. Get a feel for what that market really wants and then check that you are able to satisfy that demand.

Emerse yourself.

Visit the area to get a feel for the culture. Many people make the mistake of thinking that living in a new country is all great. Be assured that if you visit and stay in anything from a B&B to a five star hotel, it is nothing like living there. Of course it is great when your breakfast is served and you can go about your day like a tourist. No cooking or dishes to do, no beds to make, no forms to complete, (in another language) no tax, immigration or financial offices to visit and best of all a new exciting place to explore every day.

Avoid getting sucked into purely expat communities. Sure it is good to have people who have had a similar experience and have some inside knowledge of your newly adopted country. But guess what? Locals who were born and bred in the area know their way around even better. Enjoy the process of making friends with people who are not like you. After years of travel, I have friends of many nationalities and I have adopted some customs and traditions which are now my own.

A few words of the local language can really help. We all like to meet people who have made the effort to at least learn a few phrases in our native tongue. You don’t need to be grammatically correct in those first few months. Keep trying and you will be able to pick up enough of the language to make yourself understood.

Don’t compare.

Don’t compare or try to change people or processes. Comparing is just about the least productive thing that you can do with your time. The number of times I hear people say, “this is the way that we do it in…..”. Well guess what, if you notice that people here don’t do it the same as you did in your home county, there is probably a perfectly good reason. Find out, ask questions, seek answers as to how this method of doing things evolved. It will help you to understand the culture and to identify any part of the process that you might have an opportunity to tweak.

Make it your home.

Home is where your heart is. It is where the important things to you are. From the first day of arriving in a new country, try to make it your home. Create your own lifestyle, enjoy your new surroundings, make friends, follow a new football team, eat like the locals and emerge yourself in this new culture.

Whatever your baggage you will bring.

If you are not good at getting lessons in your home country, then there is no reason to think that you will all of a sudden become good at it in another. There are loads of things that we are not good at and so use the change of country as an opportunity to work on yourself to get good at the things you feel that you would like to improve.

In swimming and track & field, the satisfaction of achieving a PB is clear as we watch an athlete see their time or distance. For most of the field, the final position in which they finish is to a large extent of secondary importance, as this is dependent on how others perform, whereas their own performance is certainly one of the factors that is within their control.

We have just completed the 2014 Coaches Circle meeting, where we heard from Olympian Michael Maier that times between first and second in downhill skiing are getting closer together, meaning that split seconds can have a dramatic effect. Seniors Tour regular, Paul Eales talked about helping young elite players, to understand that an improvement of a half shot per year on stroke average over a ten years period will see them move upwards through the rankings.

As we sit here and read this it seems obvious, but in our daily lives we need to do more than achieve some marginal gain, right? Wrong, if we can gain a few improvements then we gain momentum, which in turn helps motivates and encourages us.

With the theme of this issue of IGPN being that of “development / improvement” it is quite easy to list a string of numbers, which may or may not have any relevance to the reader.

Yes we have more trainees going through our Initial Professional Education programme. Yes we are making significant gains in many of the countries we are supporting in the Golf Development work that we deliver on behalf of The Ryder Cup European Development Trust and also The R&A. We can even point to new countries who working towards educational recognition. But in reality there are some professionals who are having a tough time and feel that the changes in our profession are leaving them behind.

It is common to see people stuck and unable to move. The magnitude of the perceived problem frequently results in inactivity and this can become demotivating. A process of reflection can allow us to get the issue into perspective and so move on. By critically looking at the issue we are able to break the whole into manageable chunks and then make a decision as to what should be done next. It is this decision that is critical to the pursuit of your “Personal Best”. One more practice session nearer to getting the swing on track, one more happy customer, one less junk food dinner, one less kilo on the scales and so it goes.

A friend of mine is facing a difficult time at work due to the recent departure of his boss. Uncertainty is natural at this time. Questions such as, ‘what will the new boss want?’, ‘Will they want to keep my contract or will they let me go?’ It would be very common for my friend to feel stress because of the changing landscape, but instead he has gained a sense of purpose, has a new spring in his step and seems to be energised. He is looking forward and taking steps to improve his current skill set. He is making marginal gains everyday and so it is only a matter of time before he hits a new Personal Best.

For those of you old enough, can you remember when most people said that the earth was flat? ‘Flat-Earthers’ believed that the World was nothing like a spherical body and had varying theories about a wheel like shape surrounded by water.  These theories were once believed to be iron-clad, but were then disproven over time.

In the same vein I am sure that many PGA Professionals can cast their mind back to the turn of the millennium and think about the ball flight laws at that time.  If you were coaching in the year 2000, what was your coaching philosophy just those 15 years ago?

If you are developing as a coach, then I guarantee that you will think about some parts of coaching, technique, preparation or the use of technology very differently than you did even five years ago.

To think that nothing changes and everything is the same is naive.  Equipment changes, the playing conditions change and even the players’ mind-sets are very different than they were even just five years ago.

Based on that, making predictions for how coaching will change and the influence of technology anything further than five years in the future is pure crystal ball-gazing.  That said, I offer the following observations that could come into play:

• The relationship between the coach and student will become more reliant on facilitating learning rather than teaching.
• It will not be possible to quarantine a student from information or influence from other sources. The coach of the future will become a trusted advisor, a sounding board to validate or correct the student’s current thinking.
• Progress of the student is not linear.  Successful coaches will recognise that on the road to the student’s goals there will be detours, roadblocks and potholes to be negotiated.
• There is not a starting and finishing line.  Students will engage with the game on their own terms.  Some will start with the long game, some with short game and others with putting.  Many people will resist being fed into one end of a system and asked to progress through a series of pre-defined lessons.
• Coaches will return to teaching people rather than teaching golf swings.
• There is a huge disconnect between where a new student learns to swing the club and where they play the game.  The range cannot replicate the course and as such it is imperative that the new student gets to the course as soon as is practically possible.
• There is an over-reliance on data capture devices, such as, video, force plates, ball launch monitors, 3D analysis systems.  That is not to say that technology is not good because when used properly it really is.  Many of these technological aids are tremendous, but it is only the operators that tend to love them.  Such equipment should be used more as a way to capture data, make a thorough diagnosis, prepare an intervention and assess progress, not used as a gimmick in untrained hands.
• Finally, coaches will start to realise that the market for coaches to elite players is very small and that the big and more lucrative markets are with new and average players.  In most golf playing countries less than 10% of the population, and sometimes even significantly less, play so the untapped 90%+ offer a great opportunity.

To conclude I have no desire to be educated, no inclination to be taught and yet I have an insatiable appetite to learn.  Ask me if I want to be educated or taught how to play the saxophone and my answer is no.  Ask me if I want to learn how to play the saxophone and my response is a resounding yes.  For that, I will need an expert coach.

This article originally featured in International Golf Pro News. Visit the IGPN Page to find out more and subscribe for free.