Communication in a Golf Lesson

As a golf coach, it is my job to assess your golf game and, in conjunction with you, suggest changes that will help improve your skills. The challenge is to communicate this is a manner that you, the student, can understand and apply when you play golf. I feel that communication skills, understanding a students learning style and the like are skills that are undervalued in a golf coach. I have always thought that a good coach is a coach who can explain the golf swing in a simple and easy to understand manner while a great coach is a coach who can explain the golf swing in a simple and easy to understand manner, ten different ways. By having ten different ways of teaching the same thing you have a better chance of being understood by your student. As a coach, I have had lessons where the student just doesn't seem to be able to apply what I am telling them. This is where having another way to explain the correction/change is invaluable to both me as the coach and my student.

Obviously, as humans, we are all different. One person likes chocolate ice cream while another only likes strawberry. As learners we are also all different. Some players may like to see their swing on video, another player may like to hit lots of balls with feedback from the coach so they can feel a change while another player may like to hear their coach explain the change verbally so they can understand what needs to be done. One player may like to have a sense of the whole swing while another may like to break it down into smaller segments. The challenge as a coach is to determine which method to use with each individual student.

There are a few different tools around that you can use to determine a players (or your own) preferred method of learning. One that I use a lot is the LSA-Golf which is produced by a company called the Creative Learning Company. You can find an example of this profile on my website and it offers a detailed evaluation of a persons preferences as well as a number of suggestions for best dealing with your preferences.

A great book that I use to give me a basic understanding of a student is called The Dominance Factor written by Dr Carla Hannaford. This book suggests that our brain, ear, eye, hand and foot dominance's can influence how we process information. For example, a person who is right brain and right eye dominant may have trouble processing visual information in stressful situations (golf lesson?) due to the fact that their dominant eye is controlled by the less dominant side of their brain (right side of your brain controls the left side of your body and vice versa). Another example is a left brain dominant and left ear dominant person may struggle to process auditory instructions in stressful situations. The book sets out a series of profiles and lists "helps" that may assist a student understand presented information better.

There are also some general traits you can identify in students or yourself to help determine their or your preferences. Visual learners tend to be good at spelling, bad at names, like colours, need time to think things over and need quiet study time. Auditory learners tend to read out loud to themselves, like to speak in class, slower reader, good at languages, like music, has trouble staying quiet and like to work in groups. Kinesthetic learners tend to be good at sport, have trouble staying still, messy writers, needs breaks when studying and is fidgety.

Right and left brain dominant people also show different characteristics. Right brain dominant people tend to be more intuitive and simultaneous in how they process information. They are generally free with their feelings, respond well to demonstrated instructions, they are fluid and spontaneous respond well to open ended questions. Left brain dominant people are much more rational and sequential in processing information. They prefer verbal instruction that is planned and structured. They generally prefer talking and writing and tend to control their feelings more so than a right brain dominant person. They also tend to focus on differences rather than similarities in things so you should be careful when comparing them to a better player on video.

Obviously I could go into a lot of detail regarding learning styles and how information should be presented to suit the different styles but the point of this blog post is to open your eyes to the fact that everyone is different and you should be aware of these differences. If you are a coach, make sure you have a number of strategies to explain each of your key fundamentals and if you are a student, make sure you tell your coach if you don't understand what they are teaching you so they have a chance to repackage it to suit your learning style better.

Until Next Time,

Brent

Good Golf Habits

The Australian Amateur Championships were held recently on the sandbelt in Melbourne. The men's and women's event was held at the same time and the competitors played on some great courses. The women's event was played at Huntingdale Golf Club and Victoria Golf Club while the men played their event on Woodlands Golf Club and Victoria Golf Club. Great golf courses that were in great condition for the Australian Championships.

The best part of the event being held in Melbourne was the fact that I could get out on the course and have a look at the players and see how they played. Six of my students (4 boys & 2 girls) from Taiwan travelled to Melbourne to play in the event and it was great to catch up with them and see how they are progressing. I spent some time watching them prepare and play the event and I tried to help them out with some of the quirks that you find on the sandbelt in Melbourne. They played good in the stroke play section, especially the girls, but struggled in the matchplay and were all knocked out by the end of the first round.

As I watched the Taiwan players compete it struck me that a lot of the preparation, practice and competition strategies I worked on with them while I was coaching them were not as evident as they could have been. It seemed to me like they had fallen back into old habits very easily. This got me thinking about what I think are common bad golf habits that people tend to have and that I see on an everyday basis on the coaching tee. I have listed below what I think are the most common problems and I have also suggested some simple strategies to help overcome these problems. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section if you have any others.

1. Rake and Hit: This is probably the most common thing I see when players are practicing. The golfer races from work/school to the driving range, buys some golf balls and then proceeds to see how fast they can finish the bucket of balls! An old quote about this type of training is that it is exercise rather than practice! Golfers who do this type of practice tend to be reaching for another ball before the last one has landed (especially if it was a bad shot) and they also seem to be constantly berating themselves. An easy way to correct this problem is to have two, quality, practice swings between each ball. Use these practice swings to complete any drills your coach has given you and really focus on making a quality practice swing. You won't hit as many balls during your practice session but the balls you do hit will be good quality practice which will help you improve your golf.

2. Too Much Block Practice: Another training problem that I see, and it is related to the first problem, is too much block practice. I discussed block practice in a previous post and you can refresh your memory here. When I see golfers hitting 30, 4o or even 50 golf balls with the same club I know that their practice time is being wasted. Block practice is an important part of developing quality swing mechanics but most golfers spend too much time doing this type of practice. I don't care how bad your swing may be, by the time you have hit 50 balls with the same club you are going to be getting some decent results. These results are not a true reflection of where your golf game is at as, on the course, you only get one chance to hit the shot. You need to mix block practice with drill work and random practice as this will make it easier for you to perform well on the course.

3. Only Practice Favourite Clubs/Shots: The third training fault I see a lot of is players only practicing their favourite shots or shots that they are already good at. Practicing your strengths is a nice way to build a false sense of confidence, however, if you are serious about improving your game you need to target your practice towards the weak areas of your game. Use your statistics to identify the weakest areas of your golf game and structure your practice time to spend enough time on these specific areas. If you hit 80% of fairways but only get up and down out of a bunker 15% of the time you need to be in the practice bunker, not on the range smashing driver!

4. No Target on the Range: A lot of golfers will get on the range and hit a bucket of balls with no clearly defined target to aim for. They will walk away from the session without any idea if there shots where going in the right direction or not. Whenever you are practicing you need to have a clearly defined target that identifies both accuracy and distance. This is important as your shots not only need to be straight, they also need to be hit the correct distance.

5. No Plan on the Course: This bad habit is an on course problem rather than a driving range problem. The amount of players I play with that can't tell me what their plan is to attack a golf hole astounds me! Most players play most of their golf on the same few courses so there is no excuse not to have a plan for each hole on those courses. You need to identify what holes you can attack and which holes you should play safe. You should have a clearly defined target for each tee shot and you should know which pin positions you can attack and which ones you can't. It doesn't take long to design a simple plan for each hole you play and it will be time well spent. All you need to do is write down the holes strengths and weaknesses and identify how they stack up against your own strengths and weaknesses as a golfer. If your strengths match up against the holes weakness you can attack and vice versa if your weaknesses match the holes strengths. Your course plan is also a great anchor to use to refocus yourself after a bad shot or hole. As soon as you hit a bad shot you can focus hard on your plan which will help you forget about the loose shot and get back on track.

These are a few of the common bad golf habits I see on the range and course and the strategies I have outlined are a good start to getting rid of these habits. If you have any others you can think of, or you want to discuss anything with me, feel free to post a comment or email me via the link in my profile.

Until Next Time,

Brent

Players I Coach

I was speaking recently with a fellow golf coach and he was talking about the perception golfers have of you as a coach. He is an extremely talented coach who has worked in high performance programs in Australia for a number of years and has an amazing amount of success with his students. He was relating a story about a friend of his, a club golfer, who was talking to him about her game and the trouble she was having. She then asked him if he knew a golf coach he could recommend to help her with her game. When he suggested himself as a potential coach (as you would!) she was surprised that he would coach a golfer such as herself. She had a perception of him as a coach that would only coach low handicap players. Personally, I found a little of that perception when I was overseas. Some of the younger players in Taiwan were scared to approach me and ask for advice as they saw me as the National Coach and not a coach that would help younger players.

As a golf coach, I look at a lot more than the player's handicap before deciding if they are a good student or not. The ideal student for me to work with and coach is someone who is prepared to put in some work and practice time, be open to new ideas and not afraid to try new things. This is the kind of player, regardless of handicap or ability, who I can work with and get results.

When I say I want a player to put in some work and practice time I understand that each person has a different amount of practice time available to them and not all players can spend five hours a day hitting practice balls. What I need from a student is a commitment to use what practice time they have effectively and efficiently. The use of a player's practice time links to two previous blog posts of mine about evaluating your game and effective practice.

As a coach, I love to work with a student who is keen to make changes and improve their game. This kind of golfer is not looking for a "quick fix" and is seeking long term improvement. We can use the evaluations in my earlier blog post to determine their starting point and can then design a program that allows them to get to their destination of improved golf. Along the way we use their statistics records and other monitoring tools to target their practice and keep them on track for success.

A perfect situation for me as a coach would be a lesson book full of students who wanted to have fun, work hard and get the most out of their golf game. I would be challenged as a coach to keep them improving and the players would get the reward of better golf for their hard work. If you are a golfer and that sounds like you, please feel free to get in touch with me and we can have some fun together improving your golf game!

Until next time,

Brent

Short Putting Challenge

When I was out playing tournaments as an amateur and a professional I always had the theory that if my short putting was good, my longer putting would be good as well. My theory was that I could be more aggressive with my mid and long putts when I was confident I could hole the short putt coming back. This meant that I spent a lot of time working on my short putting and I thought up a few different games/challenges to make my putting practice time more enjoyable. One of the games I used was called Putting Tee Ball and this is one I want to set as a challenge for you today.

To start you need six golf balls and six extra long tees. It is important that you use extra long tees as we want to make this game as challenging as possible. You need to set five of the golf balls on five of the tees as is shown in the picture above and to the left. It is important that you tee the balls up nice and high for the challenge to work. Then I want you to measure two feet from the tees and place the sixth tee as your marker to begin the challenge. Place the sixth ball next to the marker tee and take aim at one of the tees with a ball on top. The goal of this putt is to hit the tee so that the ball falls from it. This is why it is important to tee the balls high so that the ball you putt only strikes the tee and not the ball on top of the tee. Once you have knocked one ball from a tee you need to attempt to do this for the second tee and ball. If you succeed with your first attempt you can move onto the next tee and ball. The aim of the challenge is to knock all five balls from their tees with five consecutive putts. Once you have completed this from two feet, you can move the marker tee back to three feet and start again.

This is a tough drill and it may take you some time to move away from the two feet station. Make sure you keep trying and working on your short putting. I want everyone to record their scores either in the comments section of my blog or via my twitter account which you can find here. If you get to the three feet station and you knock four balls from their tees before missing one you would record your score as 3ft 4balls.

Enjoy the challenge that this drill is and I am looking forward to reading your best scores and seeing your improvement over time.

Until next time,

Brent

Happy New Year/Taiwan Girls Update

I want to wish all of my students, both past and present, as well as all of my blog readers a happy new year for 2011! It is a new year and most people are thinking of ways to improve themselves and their lives by setting new year resolutions. The new year is a great time to evaluate yourself and decide what you want to do for the next year. It is also a great time to evaluate your golf game and decide what you want to achieve during the next year.

Use some of my earlier blog posts to evaluate your game with skills tests and statistics and determine the weakest areas of your golf game. Then you can sit down and write some goals that will give you something to aim for. You then need to have a plan for your training and what you will do to achieve your goals for the year. This plan is important as it gives you something to focus on each week instead of the long term goals. This will make it easier to keep motivated during the tough times and you are focusing on training each day/week rather than the long term goal at the end of the year. Please contact me via my website or blog if you would like more information on how I can help you with your training plans for 2011.

On a different note I also wanted to update you on three of the Taiwan girls I coached when I was in Taiwan. The three girls, Tsai Pei Ying, Lin Tzu Chi and Hsieh Yu Ling, were the three top ranked female players in Taiwan when I was coach and we travelled a lot together and had some great results in different tournaments.

Well, now they have moved on from Amateur golf in Taiwan and have all turned professional. They have all been practicing hard and all three of them attended tour qualifying tournaments at the end of 2010. Through these events all three players qualified to play on professional golf tours for 2011. Tsai Pei Ying qualified for the Japan LPGA Tour and will testing her skills against some of Asia's best players in 2011 while Hsieh Yu Ling and Lin Tsu Chi qualified for the Futures Tour in America for 2011.

All of these players are young and it is a great effort for them to qualify for these tours for 2011. I am very proud of them and they all should be proud of themselves as well. I will keep you updated with their progress this year through this blog and hopefully report on some good results.

Until next time,

Brent