I had a good player in the studio this afternoon. We started our time together for a fitting of new Titleist irons, but after some "off" shots we shifted a bit towards his technique. Being a good player (hcp 5), I know that do not have to give much feedback. My rule of thumb is "The Better the technique, the less the feedback," ...meaning... I shouldn't stand there and give "HOW-TO" directions for striking the ball. Instead, I noticed that his ball position was quite a bit forward. His misses were definitely thin / fat shots, so we started the discussion, "If you mis-hit behind the ball, what might be some causes?" We arrived to ball position and I suggested that he put a club on the ground between his legs to check different positions. He noticed that the ball was way forward and understood that it would be difficult to hit downward with this position. I did not tell him "Your ball position is WRONG," but because he made the connection to what it SHOULD BE versus where it WAS, it was easy for him to make the adjustment.
Another aspect of the fitting showed us that he consistently hit the ball on the toe end of the face. His set up with the iron clubs were already favoring the toe pointing upward, so I wasn't interested in making his club longer. We put a headcover on the inside of the target line, and I suggested that he miss the headcover when striking the ball. He did so but was still on the "toe-side" of the middle of the face. After a couple of shots to gain the feeling and understanding, I suggested that he TRY and hit the hosel of the club. He made some great swings...striking closer to the middle of the face than the previous shots during the lesson. Again, we stopped between shots so that he could make the connection / understanding of what was happening. As a teacher, I could clearly see that his ball position and face impact was off, but to help the student actually learn something, my questions needed to lead him to his own discovery.
As a coach, do you TELL your students directly what the problem is, and if so, do they learn?
As a student, do you learn best from lessons where the coach gives you "HOW-TO" instructions or lessons where you come upon the answers through your own guided process?
Leave a comment if you like. Thanks!
Steven
I definitely would prefer my coach to help me figure things out by myself, the coach should just guide in the right direction.
ReplyDelete//Tom
Thanks Tom for your comment!
ReplyDeleteI (like many coaches I'm sure) are guilty by giving too much info. We want things to happen so fast so the lessons end up being "do this, do that, do this, etc..." The answer shouldn't be the answer, the PROCESS to get to the answer is really the answer.
One of my favorite quotes is "Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day. TEACH a man HOW to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime."
We need to be teaching and guiding people to come to the correct answers themselves.
Regards, Steven
Hi Steven! Thanks for a great blog. I feel that it's made for me! I'm an Englishman who's been living in sweden and just preparing to start a new season at a new club working over the weekends. The junior kick off starts it off and I wondered if there were any particular games, drills, ideas that could get the kids into the right frame of mind and excited about golf. Thanks in advance / James Nelson
ReplyDeleteHello James, glad to hear that your kids are wanting to play golf. One rule of thumb that I always keep in mind: Treat kids like kids (not adults) when learning to play golf. See things through the eyes of a child. A couple of game:
ReplyDelete(1) "Green Bowling" - Set up 3 water bottles near a hole and with a tennis ball, roll the ball and try and knock over the water bottles. This teaches both "Touch" and "Green Reading"
(2) "Loft" Try and pitch a tennis ball over a golf bag around the green. You can tee it up if you want, but the goal is to get the ball up into the air.
(3) Put two golf bags about 10 meters in front of the tee and see if the child can hit through the "gate". This teaches aim.
(4) Set up a putt-putt course on the putting green. Start with three holes and set tees to show the boundaries. This is fun.
(5) Try other sports on the golf course like frisbee, baseball, hockey, etc..Keep it to a 5-7 minutes per activity and make it fun!
Good Luck! Steven
Thanks Steven for some great ideas! Of course, larger and more colorful training equipment is going to keep them In the fun zone. Golf bowling will work for sure, using tennis balls will mean there'll be less misses! Great visually, have you incorporated music, sound and rhythm into your junior training before i.e background music, metronome? What are your views on this? Thanks /James
ReplyDeleteSteven;
ReplyDeleteGreat post here - one very relevant to all teachers. I consider myself as a very young coach (2.5 years), but one thing I learned very early on, especially working with Juniors, was to lead people to answers through questions, rather than telling them point blank. This gives them ownership of the learning process and creates a great learning environment. When I relfect on sessions that didn't go as I wanted, its because I always gave 'the solution' rather than working with the student to find it.
Thanks for sharing!
Matt
@James, I have definitely used a metronome to teach "Back and Through" auditory feedback. I think auditory feedback is very important!
ReplyDelete@Matt, you got it. The more I research on "How We Learn" as human beings, the more the process is how you have described.
Regards,
Steven