One of my students teaches me how to learn

Yesterday, I had an individual coaching session with one of my players. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of self discovery this player has incorporated into her practice. For instance, after we played our putting warm-up game, she mentioned that the ball felt like it was hitting the heel of the putter. This affects the speed, since she is obviously missing the middle of the club face. Rather than pointing out to her that she was addressing the ball with the heel of the putter, we took a few minutes and hit a few putts. I told her "As you are doing this, be aware of everything in your stance, tempo, impact, body movement." I also asked her, "What does proper impact feel and sound like?" She described it for me and then we tested different ball positions to find this feeling. Suddenly, she looked at me and said "THERE, THAT´S IT" (in Swedish of course). As soon as she said that, I asked her to write down in her journal what she felt and the details of the changed. Even though it was a simple ball position change, the act of self discovery and taking a moment to document this gave her brain some time to "learn" this feeling / change.

If you are looking to make a change in your game or technique, you got to figure some things out on your own. Then you have to make connections to what you already know, to remember this feeling/change. Lastly, take a moment to note what you are doing so that your brain can learn the new information / feeling.

Here is a fantastic 5 minute clip on how we learn. Even though this clip is about an after-school science program, you can surely apply the main points to your own learning process. Good Luck! Steven