The Real Make or Break Golf Skill That Will Determine Your Level of Success As a Tour Golfer12/9/2015
When you watch tour golfers playing exceptionally well in a tournament on TV and they are way under par for the tournament, you could so easily be fooled into believing that these highly skilled golfers play like this all the time, but nothing could be further from the truth. Yes they can play like this occasionally, but the real skill of tour golfers is that they have developed a special ability that gives them a scoring advantage on tough days on the golf course. This scoring advantage allows them to keep their score producing ability in balance so they can maximize their scoring potential on the tough day on the golf course. Successful tour golfers have acquired and developed a special type of knowledge and ability to skilfully assess and successfully execute shots from the most challenging situations. They couldn’t possibly play on a major professional golf tour such as the PGA, LPGA or European Tour if they couldn’t score well, that goes without saying, however their real make or break ability is scoring well in tough conditions and situations, which is what they face many times over 72 holes. That’s right, most days are tough days on the golf course for tour players, contrary to popular opinion. It's Not About the Ball Striking A tour golfer with a competitive score average of 71.5 for the season who is standing at 18 under par on the eighteenth tee in the fourth round is playing a lot better than his or her seasonal average. No tour golfer plays like that every week like I said, in fact not even close to that, but the illusion that many golfers are being influenced to believe (based on the way TV networks telecast golf tournaments) is that you have to be an exceptional ball striker to play at this level. The reason I say this is that you see a lot of amazing approach shots in tournaments going near the hole from all sorts of places. But what you are not seeing is their exceptional scrambling ability when they get into trouble that allows them to keep making pars when they miss greens in regulation. Yes it’s true that to compete successfully on a professional golf tour today you will have to be able to average around 12 greens per round in regulation over a season, and you will need to hit around 55 percent of fairways. But what do these successful tour golfers do on the holes where they miss the green and have landed themselves in a tough lie? They scramble their way out of it. Scrambling Ability is the Master Skill You have to master scrambling skills to help you produce low golf scores on the tough days in tournaments. Now the scrambling skills I’m talking about are what we call at Pro Tour Golf College “high pay off skills” and these are the skills that are not nearly practiced enough. And they are not practiced enough because elite amateur and a lot of professional golfers in our experience are spending too much time working on perfecting their full swing technique and ball striking ability. They are falling into the trap that the 80--20 rule describes where they work on the 80 percent of the golf skills that bring in 20 percent of the results they seek. Now it's not exactly an 80 to 20 ratio but you get the idea. They work on the most popular skills, and spend little to no time on the skills that keep the score moving in the right direction. Think about it for a moment, when you are not playing your best, when the conditions are tough, what skills let your scoring down the most? In other words, what skills if you developed and mastered them would help you produce a lower score on the tough days more often? Now you might say that it changes from time to time, but in our experience this is simply not the case. The scrambling skills that help you produce lower scores in tough conditions are the same ones that frustrate you the most because they never come off the way you want--when you want! Scrambling Improves Score Flow You need to score around par most of the time to be a successful tour golfer. However, your scoring can fluctuate considerably from day to day, so it is likely that in any tournament week 3 rounds out of 4 are going to be tough going. So the real question you need to ask yourself is “what stops me scoring lower on these tough days?” Strangely what’s often difficult for us to understand is that elite golfers usually know what these scrambling skills are for them. The real ability you need to constantly work on, develop and master is scrambling to manage score flow. Score Flow is the term we use at Pro Tour Golf College to describe the ability of a golfer to keep their score momentum flowing by turning bogeys into pars and double bogeys or worse into bogeys when greens are missed in regulation. Our students know that being skillful with their scrambling ability would significantly improve their scores on the tough days, so we can help them to focus on these skills at the Pro Tour Golf College. Our best advice for you is that you will have more chance of becoming a successful tour golfer by not following the herd and trying to perfect your golf swing and ball striking but work much harder on your scrambling ability before it’s too late. When the Going Gets Tough, Scramble Your Way Out of It The tour golfers who can score well in tough conditions are the product of a highly specific type of focus where they practice to develop an ability to skilfully play the types of shots encountered when “the going gets tough.” When you struggle your way to a higher score than you wanted, what made that score you had higher? I bet in most cases you didn’t hit it close enough to convert it into a par or better from a challenging lie or situation. The real reason successful tour golfers score lower more often is not because they swing it better, or that they are better ball strikers; no it’s simply that they are exceptional at scoring from all types of places--other than the fairway on the tough days. This is where you should focus your attention most of the time when you practice. Study your last 10 rounds in tournaments and isolate the type of weaknesses in your scrambling ability on the days you have your C score or high score average days. Your scrambling skills are the ones that you rarely practice enough, but these skills will have the biggest impact on Score Flow, helping you to keep the score momentum going on the tough days. Be Proud to Be a Scrambler Be proud to score well on the tough days—especially when you are not having a great ball striking day. Make today the day you flip the perfect swing and better ball striking model over to the one where you have excellent scores in the toughest conditions by also becoming an exceptional scrambler. And when one of your playing partners cynically say’s that you wouldn’t have played nearly as well if you didn’t pitch and putt it so well from all the bad spots you were in you can just reply with a sheepish smile answering him “isn’t that the way the game is supposed to be played?” Lawrie Montague and David Milne - Pro Tour Golf College The Professional Golf Tour Training College for Serious Amateur Golfers SPECIAL LIMITED TIME PROMOTIONWe Will Teach You How to Master the Scrambling Game and So Much More So You Can Lower Your High Score Average and Become the Competitive Tournament Golfer You Dream of Becoming. We Have a Limited Time Special Promotion On Right Now... So Contact Us Today for More Information On How You Can Attend Pro Tour Golf College For a Fraction of the Normal Cost You Can Attend Pro Tour Golf College and We Will Include Accommodation, Meals, Tuition and Golf AND You Don't Have to Stay For the Whole Semester... ...........................Email Us Today DON'T DELAY at protourgolfcollege@gmail.com and Make Sure You Place "I Want The Special Promotion" in the Heading “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Nothing makes me happier than to see Tiger Woods reacquiring his competitive powers in the recent PGA Tour events in which he has played. And even if you are not a Tiger Woods fan you can’t help but admire his never-say-never attitude. Tiger has experienced his share of set-backs over recent years, like many golfers, but I don’t think anyone would argue that he is one of the most determined and resolute individuals in professional sport? His grit and determination is a model for all of us to understand and learn from—even though his circumstances are quite different from ours. Tiger has not only collected a cache of trophies and championships over his career, he has also amassed phenomenal wealth from his golfing prowess. So you have to wonder what kind of competitive drive he has, a drive that has him working as hard as ever, after nearly 20 years on tour, when he doesn’t have to. The Common Trait of Successful Individuals It is actually quite common to find high achieving individuals from the realms of professional sport and also business to have amassed immense financial wealth over their career, and yet they are still working as hard as ever, as if they didn’t have a cent to their name. Clearly financial freedom isn’t the only motivation that drives them. And it’s not about winning either, because when you talk to these individuals they will tell you that they lose many times more than they win. They are smart enough to know that they can’t ‘control’ much of anything in their life—especially winning. So why do they keep pushing themselves, and why do they try to keep getting better when they really don’t have to? I believe that their core driver is the consistent idea that they can remain competitive in an ever changing world over a long period of time. In other words, they love the challenge of continually adapting and improving their skills and abilities to be a constant and competitive force in whatever they do. Just look at the golfing greats such as Nicklaus, Palmer, Player and Norman who went into business with the same competitive drive they had on the golf course and have carved out a successful niche in other professional domains. Developing Your Competitive Nature There’s a lesson here for all of us about the importance of persisting in the face of adversity, and to believe that you have the ability to adapt, grow and continually find ways to improve your competitive nature. How would you answer the following questions about your current competitive drive and nature?
We have worked with many elite golfers over the years and what we have learned from our experience is the guys and gals that stay in the game and continually get better are the most competitive golfers. They are the golfers who keep adapting and adjusting their game to the constant challenges they face. The top professional golfers are able to adjust and adapt constantly and keep improving. You see, as your score average gets lower you cannot keep doing the same things that got you to that place. What got you there won’t keep you there, or get you where you wish to go. You need different information sources constantly, and you need to keep improving your skills to keep lowering your golf scores. When you practice to improve your game there is a vast difference between just practicing and hoping to get better, verses practicing with a highly evolved sense of purpose. Practicing to Practice Many golfers just go through the motions with their practice sessions with little drive to improve, and this lack of focused commitment usually means that they don't see the bigger picture of what's possible as a result of disciplined practice. Practicing to practice is a recipe for disaster, and if you often feel like you are doing this then get yourself out of this bad habit today. This habit is unproductive and will not help you to achieve the break through's you desire. Practicing to Compete On the other hand golfers who commit themselves to practicing as if they are always competing are doing just what Tiger and other exceptional individuals know and do. They take every practice session seriously, not ever wanting to waste one golf shot, or for that matter one minute of their time. Last Thoughts... The United States Olympic committee's motto can be seen all over the Olympic Training Center campuses in Colorado Springs, Colorado. These small signs can be seen from the gym, to the dining room, and also on doors to different training venues, and the signs simply read... Athletes, coaches, sports scientists and administrators are reminded constantly that the goal is the process of being your best every day, with the knowledge that you can and will find a way to be a better version of yourself tomorrow. You can develop and improve your competitive nature by understanding the difference between Practicing to Practice and Practicing to Compete. Never waste a minute of your time practicing without a definite and defined purpose. Seek out the specialist service providers that can guide you towards your goals and keep you right on the edge of your capability. Create your own sign that reads 'It's Not Every Four Rounds, It's Every Shot" which you can place in locations you frequent that constantly reminds you of your need to stay competitive. Tiger Woods is an exceptional golfer, but he's no more special than you or I. But Tiger is smart in that he works very hard on improving his competitive powers, because he worked out long ago that the secret to success in anything you do lies in your ability to keep finding ways to sharpen your competitive edge. So get to work on sharpening yours; but remember that it's not so much a question of how, but more a question of now. Lawrie Montague and David Milne - Pro Tour Golf College The Professional Golf Tour Training College for Serious Amateur Golfers Golfers who are trying to perform a mechanical motion are often fragmenting learning to swing the club and play golf. This is similar to students who are taking in information to give back on a test, without gaining any personal meaning for using the information beyond a classroom. Two questions that the brain will ask before new learning is stored are: 1) Does this information make any sense? 2) And does it have any meaning? Sense and meaning are independent of each other. A playful approach to learning can provide insights for making sense and gaining meaning. Our past experiences give meaning to new learning, and meaning is more significant than sense. Often information can make sense, but has little meaning for future use, in the present environment. For example, knowing a word is not the same as understanding its meaning, and also having the ability to use it in several contexts with knowledge of meaning. In play-to-learn environments, givers of information are influencing the learning process and are not just dispensing facts. In teaching fixing to get it right environments this often is not the case. One of the brain’s most important skills is making predictions. If this, then that! Efficient approaches to learning enhances the brains power of prediction and also the skill of self-reliance for responding to future events in ever changing environments. Playful approaches to learning unconsciously evaluate what individuals need to make themselves aware of. Information that the brain can use to make predictions and decisions with is more useful than technical information that cannot be used for these acts. Therefore...
Trying to be correct or be exact is often at the cost of playful application, playful usefulness and playful accessibility. A playful approach to progress is trying to accomplish the next thing, it’s not trying to fix what just happened! NOTE: Janet Rae Dupree (NY Times 5-4-08) “Don’t bother trying to kill off old habits, once those ruts of procedures are warn into the brains hippocampus they are there to stay, sustained. Any new habit we engrave into ourselves creates parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.” “The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder. But we are taught instead "to decide" (make a choice). To decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovator is always exploring the many other possibilities.” (Author of Open Mind) Some have called playful learning anti-intellectual, but it is true critical thinking or problem solving at its best. Getting caught up in details and a volume of information can cause one to lose sight of their relationship to past experiences, other ideas and patterns. “Too much information? Ignore it" was the title of a story in the NY Times (11-11-07) about how information overload is slowing down maximizing personal production. Golfers should also take note! One of the aims of play-to-learn environments is to prepare individuals for using adaptations of basic core information in ever changing real world conditions. Play to learn environments enhance an individual’s ability to extend what has been learned in one context to many different environments. NOTE: Playful learning environments will broadly educate individuals; they are not training them to perform perfectly. “It would be a mistake to expose individuals to an expert model and assume that they will learn efficiently.” (P50 How People Learn) Play-to-learn environments are more about seeing options, and random probing, than performing perfectly. Attempts to explain details can limit progress with insensitivity to the power of a variety of conceivable random approaches. Minds in motion are at the core of learning that lasts. Often the villain is micro management of positions and parts, and moving away from the whole. Becoming an educated golfer (or educated in anything) is less about knowing the details of a peculiar skill or fact, than about being able to find your own way of creating workable outcomes by using just basic core information. Tiger Woods won the 2008 US Open by adjusting and creating workable, not perfect outcomes, with the playful self-skills he came to golf with as a young child. It seems that today’s approach to golf instruction is grounded in a culture of teaching “a swing,” and not a variety of ways to use a golf club. Two opposing questions could be asked;
Playing to learn environments equip golfers to be consistently creative with their golf club. By Michael Hebron PGA MP CI Decades ago Michael Hebron played a key role in orchestrating the first PGA Teaching and Coaching Seminar, bringing together instructors from across the country to share ideas on teaching methods. Following that event, Michael gained the nickname of "the teacher's teacher". Highly respected throughout the international golf community, Michael consults on golf instruction to PGA Switzerland, Italy, France, Finland, Canada, Japan and Sweden. He has given instruction clinics at 30 PGA of America sections. Through his dedication Michael earned the honored status of becoming the 24th PGA of America Master Professional. His book, See and Feel the Inside Move the Outside, was the first golf instruction book accepted as a PGA Master’s thesis. Since then, he has written hundreds of articles for leading golf magazines and authored 4 other books and 3 DVDs. Michael has appeared on The Charley Rose Show, Today Show, The Golf Channel and numerous local cable shows. Golf Magazine and Golf Digest have consistently named Hebron as a member (since their first listings) of America’s Top 50 Instructors. Over the years, Hebron has worked with many successful golfers from the PGA and LPGA tours and several national champions in America and abroad including three time men's major winners. He has also worked with many successful high school and college golfers—but Michael’s pride is working with club golfers. You can contact Michael through his newly updated website at http://www.michaelhebron.com/ or through his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/neurolearninggolf.live Is there anything more frustrating than hitting the ball great on the practice range but not being able to do it to anywhere near to the same standard on the golf course? Maybe you are someone who holes a lot more putts on the practice green than you hole on the golf course; or possibly you chip and pitch your ball closer to the hole on the practice green, but you find that you hit it a lot further away from the hole on the golf course. I’m sure you are familiar with this problem, it’s very common for all standards of golfers, and it often appears to be the biggest obstacle to get in the way of lowering handicaps and golf scores. David and I are very familiar with this problem and we see golfers from average to pro level struggling to get their practice game standard to the golf course within a reasonable amount of time. We describe this as "transference ability," which is the ability of golfers to perform their golf skills equally as well on the practice ground and on the golf course. Train on the Practice Ground to Perform on the Golf Course Transference ability is most commonly observed with successful tour golfers who have developed this ability to practice skilfully and then perform on the golf course with virtually the same level of success. What’s interesting about the idea behind transference ability is that it is another way of describing your ability to learn a skill set thoroughly enough to trust it when you perform it on the golf course in tournaments. The key word here is "trust," and as we all know or have probably heard, "trust must be earned." However, it is how trust is earned that is the real key to successful transference of skills to the golf course, and in this article I'll show you how to do it easily and well. So What Exactly is Trust and Why is it Important? Well, the dictionary describes the word Trust as a firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something. Basically trust as it relates to golf performance describes your level of belief in the reliability of your golf techniques under any type of perceived pressure on the golf course in tournaments. Therefore trust is primarily developed as a consequence of the way your golf skills are practiced and developed on the practice ground. What we are really talking about is your golf practice methodology, your practice approach, or the specific way you practice your golf skills to bring about changes in the way you perform them on the golf course in tournaments. Basically from this point forward it will be helpful for you to start seeing your golf practice as a series of strokes or trials that grow or expand your learning potential. This takes place within a period of time on the practice ground, or even on the golf course. Like learning any motor skill, you are required to perform multiple repetitions to augment or boost learning potential. The key to successful transference of skills from the practice ground to the golf course will ultimately get down to your commitment and resolve to perform each-and-every-stroke with your full attention on each stroke, and your intention to perform each stroke to the best of your current ability. When you perform each stroke you are in fact generating a small experience over and over, and it’s the quality of each individual experience when repeated many times that ultimately leads to improvement, and eventual reliability in your technique. I’m sure you realize that it is not uncommon for some golfers to practice their golf stroke for many hours but not experience anywhere near the level of progress they desire. Why does this happen? The 2 main reasons we come across at Pro Tour Golf College are a poor attitude over less than stellar results, and unproductive practice habits. So how can we improve this situation to fast-track our golf skill development so we can achieve better results on the golf course? With 2 unique concepts I'm going to share with you. Aiming Your Attitude and Applied Golf Skills Practice... Aiming Your Attitude in the Right Direction Why do some elite golfers miss relatively easy putts when they have a great stroke and are good at reading greens? Well you can be competent at being incompetent. Huh! You can practice something with a poor attitude and when you produce less than desirable results, you get angry and frustrated. So in this scenario it doesn't matter how good your stroke is, or how well you read greens. An excellent putting stroke and exceptional green reading ability with poor attitude towards missing means that you will struggle to transfer your skills to the golf course successfully. So all the good stroke and green reading work you have done up to this point is nullified or cancelled out by your poor attitude to the missed putts. We see golfers all the time make things that are bad, worse. They take one experience which they find offensive, and they emphasize their displeasure in a way that encourages more of it. This is more common than you would think and the way out of it is to apply a simple yet profound principles of Zen that we teach at Pro Tour Golf College to all our students that can turn around this attitude in a heartbeat. Mind Without Mind Mushin means No Mind, or Mind Without Mind, and simply describes the ability to not judge yourself or add emotion to a situation. When golfers miss putts or hit bad shots and get upset they are judging themselves and applying emotion to the situation which intensifies it. This is what we mean by Aiming Your Attitude. Aim your attitude away from judgement and emotion to a place of complete acceptance. Keep an open mind and realize that with growth there is always resistance. You must continually adjust your attitude to the up's and down's of performance. Transferring your golf skills to the golf course gets down to a lot more than just making perfect looking golf swings and putting strokes. Your attitude to the way you develop yourself in practice plays a huge part in whether you can develop your transference ability. It's also going to get down to a very specific way of practicing your golf skills so that you give yourself the best chance possible of transferring them to the golf course sooner. Applied Golf Skills Practice, The Secret to Transferring Your Golf Skills to the Golf Course Faster The students at Pro Tour Golf College are just like you. They want to improve their skills and transfer them to the golf course sooner rather than later, and we have a very specific way we go about doing this. I'm sure that you would agree that it would be helpful if you could practice your skills with a specific practice process that manages your skills as it guides you towards effective skill transfer? Every student in our Tour Golfer Bridging Program goes through our E.G.I.S Assessment at least 3 times over a 10 week period to basically find out how good they are with their short-game and long game skills. For example, during the assessment the students will hit sets of 10 shots to various targets located between 10 yards/metres and 25 yards/metres from the edge of the green covering chip, pitch, bunker, lob, rough and buried bunker shots that are defined by target zones of differing sizes. After the assessment has been completed they add up their results and their results place them in a specific colour category based on the score they had. For example, in a recent Greenside Wedge Skills Assessment at our Jakarta Indonesia location, one of our students William (Name changed for privacy) had the following results in the 6 sub categories of the Greenside Wedge Skills Assessment. E.G.I.S GREENSIDE WEDGE ASSESSMENT - SUB CATEGORY RESULTS 1. Chip Shots.........................30% = Yellow Target Zone Golfer 2. Pitch Shots........................52.5% = Orange Target Zone Golfer 3. Bunker Shots.....................27.5% = Yellow Target Zone Golfer 4. Lob Shots..........................32.5% = Yellow Target Zone Golfer 5. Rough Shots......................47.5% = Orange Target Zone Golfer 6. Buried Bunker Shots..........25% = Yellow Target Zone Golfer Now if you study our Greenside Wedge Skills Target Zone Practice Matrix (below) you can see that we can guide and manage William's learning by adjusting the size of his target zones when he practices these particular skill sets, and also give him a reasonable benchmark to aim at achieving to bring about skill transference on the golf course in tournaments. Basically William's score of 30 percent in his chipping assessment places him in the Yellow Target Zone category, and the matrix suggests that he needs to achieve results of 50 percent or higher (70 percent of the time) in this colour zone when he practices his chipping skills before he can graduate to the Orange Target Zone level. You can see that the Orange Target Zone has a smaller target radius for chipping, and a 10 percent higher benchmark to achieve for William to graduate to the Red Target Zone. In other words, as William improves his skills the challenge becomes slightly more difficult, and the benchmark is higher to achieve as well. Applied golf practice gets down to your attitude to improvement and how you go about learning and developing your skills. A quality investment in your golf practice will grow the reliability of the different strokes you need to compete successfully on the golf course. You must develop an ideal performance attitude (Mushin) for every single stroke you make and then combine it with a method of practice that challenges you as it manages your improvement. Successful skill transference really boils down to your ability to perform your skills reliably, so it just makes good sense to build the best attitude possible with every shot you practice, with the best practice method available. Lawrie Montague and David Milne - Pro Tour Golf College The Professional Golf Tour Training College for Serious Amateurs and Professionals ALL THIS FOR LESS THAN THE COST OF 2 GOLF LESSONS
1. YOU GET 24 HD INSTRUCTION VIDEOS (Over 4 Hours of Viewing time) 2. YOU GET AN 88 PAGE MANUAL TAKING YOU STEP-BY-STEP THROUGH THE COMPLETE E.G.I.S GOLF IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM 3. YOU GET 10 TEMPLATES TO RECORD AND TRACK YOUR RESULTS IN YOUR ASSESSMENTS AND PRACTICE SESSIONS 4. YOU GET LIFETIME ACCESS TO THE E.G.I.S PROGRAM IN THE MEMBERS AREA FOR A VERY LOW INVESTMENT The Elite Golfer Improvement System E.G.I.S is Currently Being Used By Golfers in More Than 15 Countries and is an Online (Downloadable) Program That Will Take You Step-By-Step to Lower Golf Scores and More Enjoyment. When I talk to golfers about their sources for building confidence in their game, amateur and elite players often tell me that successful performances are their number one determinant of confidence. This response raises some important questions to think about:
You’re then left with HOPE as a strategy, feeling anxious, over-whelmed, and never in control of your performance. When players’ focus solely on results as their confidence building blocks learning is compromised and the ability to develop reliable recipes for winning doesn't happen. Many athletes talk about ‘performance’ and they actually mean ‘results.’ There is a distinction. Performance is the input or your recipe you create to maximize your chances of achieving the outputs (result). Performance is not results. Results are results. Put another way, performance is the HOW and the result is the WHAT. To play golf at the level you want more consistently and feel confident in what you are doing, you have to focus on your performance building blocks as much as you do the results. A results-only focus will set you up to believe that ‘you are only as good as your last result’ and that can be scary when you are in a rut and haven’t strung a few solid rounds together for a while. When you focus solely on results as your foundation for confidence in your game you will respond poorly to performance slumps, and fall into the all too common pattern of worry, doubt, and dramatic meetings with your coach about a swing over-haul to find form. Think about how gritty players get the job done when they aren’t feeling at their best? It always comes down to having the right performance focus, on your key ingredients that you have control over no matter how poorly you are striking the ball. Top players not only achieve great results consistently but also love to compete. This is because they understand their recipe for winning, and don’t go into events hoping things will go their way. They go in confident in a game plan they have tested, and they focus on quality preparation that is NOT based around tweaking their swing or hitting it well. Here are 5 ways for shaping your performance focus and building a reliable recipe for true confidence:
Dr Jay-Lee Nair Visit Dr Jay-Lee to learn how to shape your performance process at the Singapore Sports Medicine Centre. Insights into the topics of learning and teaching can be enhanced by two questions: How does one actually go from not knowing to knowing? How do lessons provided become lessons learned?... The answers to these questions are found when there is a positive response to this question; "is the approach to learning compatible with the brains information processing system?" The gateway to learning is the brain and any information delivery system should be brain compatible if it expects to be efficient. “Meaningful learning involves acknowledging the brains rules for learning.” (Caine and Caine. page 14) Why should we care about the brain? Because it runs the show. It’s the brain that recognizes options, has problem solving skills, and stores memories. While meaningful insights into the nature of learning can be counter-intuitive they are invaluable.“ "Education makes for better minds, and knowledge of the mind makes better education.” - Daniel T. Willingham Educators, parents, coaches, employees, instructors, trainers, or any individual who wants to efficiently support acts of learning anything (even golf) hopefully are using a brain compatible student centered information delivery systems. Efficient approaches to learning are trying to change poor insight, not poor habits. Individuals learn the lesson to be learned more efficiently when the nature of learning is taken into consideration before acts of learning and teaching go into motion. Play with this question: how could any approach to sharing new information expect to be effective without taking into consideration the nature of learning first? The process of learning and retaining information and skills is often over looked in favor of the interesting content found in subject matter information, or “How to” directions from a perceived expert. Unfortunately, information can be intellectually interesting, but educationally vacant. A master of anything was first a master of Learning! Play with the idea that any school, coach, parent, or employer who is trying to change poor outcomes without first enhancing learning potential, will not be as efficient as they could be. It’s only after a student’s learning potential is enhanced that their performance potential and self-confidence can improve. Advancing a potential for learning requires insights into supporting the dignity of the individual student. Enhancing such dignity improves the influence individuals will have over their own life. America was to be the land of a free and independent will, where one could accomplish their own visions. When some organized formal approaches to education started to use controlling acts of teaching, this often birthed non-thinking students who no longer felt free to explore, discover, and invent. Freedom allows individuals to invest in themselves (constructing personal knowledge), as they gain an education for use in ever-changing real world environments. This kind of education cannot be given, but it can be gained in student centered environments through the free will of using self-skills including, self-discovery and self-assessment. Freedom in all its facets preserves the very foundation upon which curiosity, observations, and learning are set. Relevant learning, meaningful progress, and long term development support the dignity of a human beings self-image, growing their self-reliance skills. This is not a new reality, but only a return to what has always existed at the core of fully experiencing what it means to be a human being, and not a human follower. For approaches to education to become more meaningful, it seems we should begin using current findings from science about the nature of learning and change some of our traditional views about making progress. Workable learning environments are founded on student centered/teacher assisted approaches, not on “here’s my money tell me what’s wrong, then tell me what you want me to do,” approaches. Efficient approaches to education are normally caretakers of learning skill and not teachers of subjects. It’s by mobilizing and harnessing an individual’s natural resources for learning without consciously trying to learn that they can reach their potential in sports, business and all walks of life. The views given here are based on mankind’s natural gift for learning without consciously trying to learn. “Everyone is born a genius” R. Buckminster Fuller, (p. 15 The Birth of The Mind by Gary Marcus). Human beings are conceived and come into the world with the ability to instantaneously and simultaneously be a perfect self-learner and a perfect self-teacher. For example, thousands of years ago when our ancestors learned that some animals were dangerous, they learned to hide, or hunt, or stay out of harm’s way! Our brain is designed to first learn (become aware), and then teach (adjust), but many approaches to learning are trying to teach first with the hope students will then learn. This subtle difference is at the core of progress that does not last. Coaches, instructors and educators should consider learning about nature of learning, before they attempt to educate. Teacher centered, content centered, non-active environments often fragment learning potential. If the brain could talk we may hear, “help me learn on my own – Me do! Me do! Please do not give me directions, then stand there and watch to see if I am doing, or not doing what you want me to do.” The best ingredients on earth for learning are curiosity, imagination, and improvisation. Let’s go back in time, to the first exchange of advice or how to direction. Was this first offer of advice requested or given without being asked for? It is my assumption that the first exchange of advice that was offered up without a request. Because of what we are learning about long-term progress, we now know that well-meaning “how to” directions can fragment learning. Self-discovery and self-assessment were the advice givers that guided the human race through its journey of development for thousands of years. Approaches to learning should help people gain an advantage they did not have. Gaining a good education is more about acquiring tools and insights that can enhance one’s ability to construct and expand our personal “know how” knowledge, then about memorizing information or following “How to” directions. The joy that goes with doing things for one’s self arrives when nature’s plan for efficient learning and the natural need to be independent are not being damaged by “outsourcing” the job of gathering information about the environment to someone else’s impressions. Someone else’s insights are a poor substitute for an education earned through self-discovery. Don’t go out for dinner; stay home when it comes to learning. "Telling has never been teaching, and listening has never been learning” Bob Barkley PGA MP. Play with the idea that when students are not learning in schools, business training, or sports instruction programs, it’s the approach to learning that needs more education, not the students. When learning, individuals must be encouraged to be their own private investigators. (“How to” directions do not offer this opportunity). Information becomes knowledge after self-discovery turns into “know how” skills beyond the classroom. Our Intelligence In 1994, a group of fifty-two (52) respected scholars formulated a scientific consensus and defined intelligence. Their definition of intelligence is in the article “Mainstream Science On Intelligence” (published in the Wall Street Journal), is as follows: “the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience; the ability to ‘catch on’, make sense of things, and figure out what to do.” (No mention of following direction) Our brain is a malleable living organ, (not just a notebook to record information in) that can intuitively assemble proper connections, and this insight is often overlooked. Efficient approaches to learning draw individuals into acts of playful curiosity about their own questions. Efficient approaches to learning do not ask us to merely follow directions, which does not fully engage the high cortex of our brain where learning happens. Unfortunately, most of us have been ingrained with the Puritan work ethic: “If you don’t try hard, you will not succeed.” Hopefully you will come to understand that the very act of trying brings tension and rigidity. Once we understand how we learn through playing, we will stop trying. T.R.Y could stand for the mnemonic: Talking and Ridiculing Yourself when learning. Indirect Preparation “One of the most important discoveries from learning science research is that learning always takes place against a backdrop of existing knowledge.” (Past experiences are a form of indirect preparation for new learning.) The term a “transfer of learning” makes reference to how past experiences flow through new learning, allowing new information to be transferred more efficiently to different environments and long-term memory. When we are encoding new information, depending on one’s past experiences, it’s either useful or not – but it is always meaningful. Past experiences reveal our options, not the answer. By Michael Hebron, PGA MP CI Decades ago Michael Hebron played a key role in orchestrating the first PGA Teaching and Coaching Seminar, bringing together instructors from across the country to share ideas on teaching methods. Following that event, Michael gained the nickname of "the teacher's teacher". Highly respected throughout the international golf community, Michael consults on golf instruction to PGA Switzerland, Italy, France, Finland, Canada, Japan and Sweden. He has given instruction clinics at 30 PGA of America sections. Through his dedication Michael earned the honored status of becoming the 24th PGA of America Master Professional. His book, See and Feel the Inside Move the Outside, was the first golf instruction book accepted as a PGA Master’s thesis. Since then, he has written hundreds of articles for leading golf magazines and authored 4 other books and 3 DVDs. Michael has appeared on The Charley Rose Show, Today Show, The Golf Channel and numerous local cable shows. Golf Magazine and Golf Digest have consistently named Hebron as a member (since their first listings) of America’s Top 50 Instructors. Over the years, Hebron has worked with many successful golfers from the PGA and LPGA tours and several national champions in America and abroad including three time men's major winners. He has also worked with many successful high school and college golfers—but Michael’s pride is working with club golfers. You can contact Michael through his website at http://www.michaelhebron.com/ or through his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/neurolearninggolf.live Since the 1990’s (referred to as the decade of the brain) modern science has been committed to making a positive, significant, lasting difference in the way individuals learn. Let’s play with these insights:
Keeping these insights in mind, why are more individuals in schools, taking sport instruction and business training courses not reaching their potential then those that do? This unfortunate reality has caused some research into the nature of learning and some rethinking about how student’s best learn anything, even golf. Studies show that “teaching fixing to get it right” approaches to learning are not only different from “learning developing” approaches that take place in student centered environments, they give less return on the investment of time and resources involved. Efficient learning environments develop self-reliant individuals with lifelong problem solving skills for use in real world ever changing environments beyond classrooms, practice fields, and business training. In a Teaching-Fixing to get it right environment if a student said 2 + 2 = 5, they would hear wrong! And self-image is damaged. In a Learning-Developing environment they would be asked to review how they arrived at that answer. In Teaching-Fixing environment students often say you know what I learned today, “I can’t spell,” or “I am bad at math”, or “I can’t read”, or “I have a bad golf swing.” In teaching-environment individuals have concerns before the test, or before they perform, in a learning-environment individual’s self-asset after they act. The term Teach is not used in Webster’s definitions of education or learn. Approaches to education that see themselves as being in the information business are not as efficient as those who see themselves as being in the student business. Information does not produce good education any more than paint produces good art. Teaching environments are often evaluating, learning environments are caretakers of learning skills. Learning environments shine a light; they don’t try to get it right. Teaching environments are often trying to manage failure, learning environments are supporting growth. I have no firsthand knowledge of how most individuals would define the terms “learning” and “teaching.” But after gathering information for over 20 years from studies by leading educators and scientists, it is now my guess that what many people believe about learning and teaching can fragment long-term progress. Are we given a good education, or do we earn and gain a good education? There is a difference, and the latter is the point of view taken here. The information that follows is trying to reconcile, rather than to contrast previous points of view about acts of learning and teaching with what modern sciences has uncovered about the nature of learning and teaching with the brain in mind, (as Eric Jensen suggests in his book with that title). The Good News: Modern science has uncovered previously unknown insights into the nature of the learning process that allows individuals to have more influence over their own pace of progress when they are learning anything, even golf. These topics I’ve been invited to speak about at Yale, M.I.T., on the Charlie Rose TV show, in School Districts and business environments. The Bad News: Most individuals are unaware of this research into how they can enhance their ability to learn. The views and research presented here put a light on the nature of learning and brain compatible learning principles. Seeing the following as filled with answers will diminish its value. This should be seen as a compass, not as a map. The point of view here is, when learning receiving accurate information is only one side of the story; an efficient student centered brain compatible approach to learning and teaching is also required. That results are founded on approaches is an insight that is so often overlooked. Efficient approaches to learning minimize the extent to which students will perceive themselves as falling behind other students. By Michael Hebron, PGA MP CI Part 2 Next Week Decades ago Michael Hebron played a key role in orchestrating the first PGA Teaching and Coaching Seminar, bringing together instructors from across the country to share ideas on teaching methods. Following that event, Michael gained the nickname of "the teacher's teacher". Highly respected throughout the international golf community, Michael consults on golf instruction to PGA Switzerland, Italy, France, Finland, Canada, Japan and Sweden. He has given instruction clinics at 30 PGA of America sections. Through his dedication Michael earned the honored status of becoming the 24th PGA of America Master Professional. His book, See and Feel the Inside Move the Outside, was the first golf instruction book accepted as a PGA Master’s thesis. Since then, he has written hundreds of articles for leading golf magazines and authored 4 other books and 3 DVDs. Michael has appeared on The Charley Rose Show, Today Show, The Golf Channel and numerous local cable shows. Golf Magazine and Golf Digest have consistently named Hebron as a member (since their first listings) of America’s Top 50 Instructors. Over the years, Hebron has worked with many successful golfers from the PGA and LPGA tours and several national champions in America and abroad including three time men's major winners. He has also worked with many successful high school and college golfers—but Michael’s pride is working with club golfers. You can contact Michael through his website at http://www.michaelhebron.com/ or through his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/neurolearninggolf.live We live in a fast paced world where information is available in an instant, and the thought that we would have to wait for a result, an outcome, or even skill improvement is seen by many as completely unacceptable, especially by the younger generation brought up in the information age. In-fact many see waiting for improvement as part of a medieval belief system, an anachronism, a part of history that should remain locked away in the dark ages. So an intolerance for waiting for improvement to manifest itself is a common place mind-set for many golfers today. And since there is little to no tolerance for waiting for improvement to manifest itself, what we find is that many of the younger golfers we work with in our programs at Pro Tour Golf College don’t see the pleasure in persisting with skill development, especially when they perceive themselves to be stuck on a performance plateau. But the good news is that you can learn to gain immense pleasure from golf skill development—especially when you believe that you are stuck on a performance plateau. And the even better news is that even though you believe you are not making progress whilst on the plateau, in-fact you are. How Can You Be Stuck and Yet Still Make Progress? Now this will seem to many readers of this article as a paradox or contradiction in terms, because the very idea that you are “stuck” means that you are not progressing, that there's no growth or development of your skills... But this is simply not true, because you are always making progress even when you believe you are stuck on a plateau. And here's a very helpful way of thinking about this... Your Perceived Plateau is on a 3D Not a 2D Playing Field Learning and improvement is simply a case of perspective. So rather than thinking about learning as something that happens along a relatively straight 2 dimensional line, think of it more as different positions in space (Like chess pieces) just like the image above describes, imagine learning and growth and the required time and effort taking place in 3 dimensional space. You are at different places or locations in your learning and development on playing field and what you feel is a low point in your learning is simply a different place on the playing field to where you previously were. Now the real question you need to ask yourself is this; “how have you come to recognize or know that you aren’t making progress in your golf skill development?” What are the key indicators for you? Just because your scores or your handicap seem stagnant, or your golf skill development appears to be stuck, the simple fact is that you are almost certainly improving your skills, but your idea of how quickly you should assimilate and acquire the skill you are practicing is very different to Natures. "There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still." The Nature of Progress - You Are Growing a Skill That’s right, you are more than likely making progress, it’s just that the progress is so small as to not be recognized by you as progress. Nature plays by its own rules when it comes to learning skills, it isn't playing by yours. So what you perceive as failure to make progress, is still learning as far as Nature is concerned. Think of a newly planted tree for a moment and ask yourself what that tree needs to grow into a 50 foot tall tree. It needs certain elements to reach its potential and so do you. If you desire skill improvement and you are genuinely working on your improvement with your instructor, then understand and appreciate that you are literally growing a new version of a golf skill. You see you are in-fact acquiring a new learning experience on a physical plane. This is opposed to the way you acquire knowledge, such as having to remember an historical fact like remembering when the Magna Carta was signed (June 15th, 1215 in case you were wondering). This type of learning is vastly different to the way you learned how to brush your teeth. With skill learning, what started out as a disoriented and dysfunctional attempt at cleaning your teeth with toothpaste, became an efficient non-conscious physical movement that you can perform with your eyes closed almost the same way every time. A little bit of consistent, persistent and thoughtful effort goes a long way to developing skills that can last you a life time. Let me offer you one way of thinking about persisting with your progress along the plateau with a simple Zen story... The Four Horses - A Zen Story “There are four kinds of horses: excellent ones, good ones, poor ones, and bad ones. The best horse will run slow and fast, right and left, at the driver’s will, before it sees the shadow of the whip; the second best will run as well as the first one, just before the whip reaches its skin; the third one will run when it feels pain on its body; the fourth will run after the pain penetrates to the marrow of its bones.” “You can imagine how difficult it is for the fourth one to learn to run.” “When we hear this story, almost all of us want to be the best horse.” If it is impossible to be the best one, we want to be the second best.” “But this is a mistake, when you learn too easily, you’re tempted not to work hard, not to penetrate to the marrow of a practice.” From Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi Persist Don't Resist Your goal should be to truly enjoy your efforts to improve your golf skills by embracing your struggle to make progress. Remember there is growth, it might be almost imperceptible to you, but it is certainly happening. See your time on the plateau as the only way to learn the right way, and that all learning is happening on a plateau. Your high's and low's are really just different places in space. Enjoy the process of transforming yourself, don’t resist the learning—persist with the learning! Remember that you are transforming yourself to be a different version of the golfer you are currently are by persisting and enjoying your journey on the plateau. It is only through persistence and determination that you can learn your new way of doing something that is important to you. Also it is also helpful to understand that there is really no other way to learn a physical skill to the level of mastery. To completely trust your golf skills in any situation you face on the golf course is the highest level of learning, and this requires the paying of a price, and this price is the constant physical work of performing thousands of repetitions. However the benefits are many, if you will just keep working towards your goal, so embrace the resistance with lots of persistence, grit and determination. And remember to keep smiling and remain upbeat on your journey to mastery. Your new golf skill is just over the hill, so don't stop now when you are so close. Lawrie Montague and David Milne - Pro Tour Golf College The Professional Golf Tour Training College Jordan Spieth’s win in the recent US Open at Chambers Bay Golf Course reminded me of the old maxim that “the cream always rises to the top,” which seemed fitting given that a significant percentage of the world’s top ranked golfers played particularly well during US Open week. It doesn’t seem to matter whether the greens are bumpy, smooth, fast, slow, undulating or relatively flat, the best golfers will find a way to play the difficult golf courses just a little bit better than the rest. What is the Difference That Makes the Difference? Like many before me I’ve wondered why these exceptional golfers seem to play better--especially in major championships, and I’ve looked closely at this over a long period of time trying to understand what the difference is that makes the difference. Why is it that they just seem to play a little bit better when it matters? Maybe it’s their techniques? I think we can all agree that it’s not their techniques, because at this level they can all hit it and putt it exceptionally well, and let's face it, every golf swing on the tour is different both in terms of style and function. Maybe it’s experience? Nope, that won’t hold much water when you consider that young golfers like Jordan Spieth and many before him started winning pretty quickly, which is interesting because many other professional golfers who have played for years never win anything of significance. Maybe their stats are better? Yes, it’s a given that if you trawl their stats there’s no doubt that you will probably find one or more departments where these golfers are just a fraction better than everyone else over a season. And I mean a fraction better, so small in-fact that it may not be the real difference that makes the difference. Maybe they are fitter golfers? Yes, again it definitely helps to be fit for golf—especially at tour level when you compete over 4 days. But there are many in history who were not that fit who still performed at an exceptional levels. So let’s face it, we could go on and on and discuss (and even debate) the reasons until the end of days, and the above factors and plenty of others will have some impact on why these golfers play so well in the big tournaments. But when all is said and done, the fundamental difference that makes the difference is quite simply that they produce a slightly lower score average over 4 days of tournament play. Nothing too startling about that I know, it’s just the simple truth of it. But Why Do Great Golfers Score Lower in Big Tournaments? It doesn’t matter which successful golfer you look at over the past 100 years from Bobby Jones to Jack Nicklaus, or Lady Heathcote Armoury to Karrie Webb, the one common denominator is that every one of these great golfers rose to the top of golf because of a lower score average in big tournaments. They found their way to lower golf scores in big tournaments when it matters, and so can you. Take a look at the world rankings for the week of the US Open (Below) and compare the players World ranking (Left Column) to their finish at the US Open. Notice how many of the top 20 ranked golfers also finished inside the top 20 of the US Open field. Also you will notice that 7 of these golfers in the top 20 have previously won major championships. These great players were able to gear their game to the particular challenges of the Chambers Bay layout and finish high up the leader-board. So the million dollar question is what is the difference that makes the difference with these golfers? Yes we know they have lower scores in big tournaments but how? What can you learn from the way they play that will help you to play better in the big events you play in? Adapt-Ability the Key to Success in Big Tournaments The one common denominator that these great golfers all possess is a strong self-belief in their ability to contend consistently against the best in the world on any style of golf course, in any type of conditions, anywhere. These great golfers have developed their Adapt-Ability, the ability to manage them-self and their game in the crucible of competition on any golf course, and they do it with the help of the following;
Gear Your Game to Worst Case Scenarios NOT Best Case Great golfers know that golf is predictably unpredictable, that-is it requires the ability to make continual adjustments in your attitude and your skills because the conditions change all the time. The golfer with the most flexible attitude, with a golf bag full of skills, and a game that is completely adapt-able will be at their best when it matters most. Golf preparation comes in many forms but great golfers get the basics right every time.
Great golfers build their game around the worst case scenario, NOT the best case. This means that there are no surprises in store for them when they play, that their meticulous preparation helps them to be in great mental, physical, strategic and technical shape going into major tournaments. The lesson you can learn from watching great golfers like Jordan Spieth is that they know that the real secret to playing your best golf on tough layouts starts with working on yourself and the insecurities that get in the way of you "just playing golf." These golfers play a little better than the rest of the field in the big tournaments because they develop Adapt-Able Skills into their game to give them the best opportunity possible to play their best in every type of situation imaginable. So take a good and hard look at your game right now and ask yourself this question. If I had played Chambers Bay the week of the US Open and I knew that the course was going to be the way it was for the event 6 months before I played it, what mental, physical, strategic and technical skills would I need to work on and improve to make me more Adapt-Able and competitive going into the event? Lawrie Montague and David Milne - Pro Tour Golf College The Professional Golf Tour Training College The Importance of the Romance Stage of Learning by Michael Hebron PGA Master Professional12/6/2015
Benjamin Bloom called The Stages of Learning early, middle, and late and these stages parallel what Alfred North Whitehead in 1929 referred to as the “Romance Stage,” the “Precision Stage,” and the “General Stage.” Studies about human learning and development point out that what happens during the early or romance stages of learning "influences " how long and how often individuals will stay involved with an activity. (Read that insight again) The early romance stage must be recognized for what it is.
Studies show that without interest and passion there will be no love for playing a game or learning a subject. Without interest and love, the basic needs of human behavior and development are not being met." "The brain only learns what it pays attention to" - Professor Terry Doyle...Should it pay attention to what to do, or what to fix? Golf Skill is a Bi-Product Skill-development is a by-product of free, self-motivated play. Pick-up games in parks and school yards, sports environments, and classrooms free of judgment and criticisms are all self-motivated play. This environment should exist in any other learning environment. NOTE: When the early or romance stage of learning is filled with required structured training, lots of instruction and competition, the freedom and enjoyment that can foster interest and passion for an activity are being suppressed. Over-managed, required, and structured instruction during the early / romance stage of learning can cause individuals, young and old, to become frustrated and intimidated, thereby missing an opportunity to develop interest and passion for a subject and love of a game, the love of a subject, or the process of learning anything can be suppressed. I have learned that it is important to recognize that without the sense of pure enjoyment during the early stages of learning, there will be a lack of persistent long term interest. Without enjoyment and self-confidence during free play, there will be little opportunity to gain a feeling of self-worth and love of a game or subject during a journey of development. Reduce Structure and Increase Play The nature of learning will find a place for a little structured training during the early or romance stage, as long as there is the opportunity to experience "much more free play" filled with personal exploration. Suggestion: When learning, playing for its own sake, students can develop a passion for and fall in love with that game or school subject, regardless of the score or subject to be learned. Studies show that people engage in playful experiences all the time, without anyone telling them to do so. All humans choose to be playful; it is our nature! When it comes to sports and subjects people of all ages stop playing, or play less frequently because:
It seems imperative that before individuals fall in love with and become frequent participants in learning anything, they must experience an introduction stage that Whitehead referred to as the Romance Stage. Learning becomes more difficult than it should be when information is delivered as a “subject- matter experience “and not as a playful “talent-management, developmental process.” Decades ago Michael Hebron played a key role in orchestrating the first PGA Teaching and Coaching Seminar, bringing together instructors from across the country to share ideas on teaching methods. Following that event, Michael gained the nickname of "the teacher's teacher". Highly respected throughout the international golf community, Michael consults on golf instruction to PGA Switzerland, Italy, France, Finland, Canada, Japan and Sweden. He has given instruction clinics at 30 PGA of America sections. Through his dedication Michael earned the honored status of becoming the 24th PGA of America Master Professional. His book, See and Feel the Inside Move the Outside, was the first golf instruction book accepted as a PGA Master’s thesis. Since then, he has written hundreds of articles for leading golf magazines and authored 4 other books and 3 DVDs. Michael has appeared on The Charley Rose Show, Today Show, The Golf Channel and numerous local cable shows. Golf Magazine and Golf Digest have consistently named Hebron as a member (since their first listings) of America’s Top 50 Instructors. Over the years, Hebron has worked with many successful golfers from the PGA and LPGA tours and several national champions in America and abroad including three time men's major winners. He has also worked with many successful high school and college golfers—but Michael’s pride is working with club golfers. You can contact Michael through his website at http://www.michaelhebron.com/ or through his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/neurolearninggolf.live |
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