Are You A Focused Learner?
I had an unusual lesson in Fiji recently and I think you can learn from it. First this extremely successful businessman, whom I’ll call “Mr. T.”, “really, really” wanted to learn to play golf well. He has kids who are now playing golf and he really wants to be able to play with them. He had other lessons from big name golf professionals and he was still an awful golfer. In a lesson with previous instructor he actually broke two clubs during the lesson and he didn’t break them out of anger! He’s a very successful business executive whose business pursuits keep him so busy he has very little time to spend actually learning golf. He’s normally busy with business from 7:30 AM until 10:00 PM or more in the evening. However, he wanted to learn so badly he actually flew me to Fiji and put me up at a 5 star resort for a week just so I’d be available when he had a couple of hours available.

He had gone to our SimpleGolf.com web site and he had liked what he had seen. He purchased our initial DVD’s and really liked the simplicity of what he saw. He actually tried out the instruction out for a few minutes and had more success in those couple of minutes than he ever had before. Now that’s not saying much, because he wasn’t every really successful at all before. More about Mr. T.’s lesson later.

The question is why isn’t everyone who tries more successful learning to play golf? Why is golf so hard to learn? One of the biggest reasons I see for his struggles is the way golf is taught. The “traditional golf swing” is also a problem but I’ll save that for a future article.

The Teaching Of Golf
The traditional way of teaching of golf is quite disorganized. A big part of the problem is most golf instructors can't seem to agree on what should be taught, never mind how the golf swing should be taught. Often the first thing a new golf instructor does is tell you that everything you've learned from your old golf instructor is completely wrong. Then they proceed to make you do it your way which often leaves you struggling again.

I have taught and coached a wide variety of sports and golf is the only sport where the students struggle so much with learning the basics of a sport. When students who are good athletes in many other sports perform terribly at golf then we know the problem is not the athletic ability of the students.

Few Golf Instructors Have Been Taught To Teach
One of the big problems is that very few golf instructors have ever been taught “how to teach”. Until the late 90’s the PGA didn’t even have any programs certifying golf instructors. Golf instructors just learned to teach the way they were taught from their mentors. That fine if you are dealing only with naturally gifted athletes but that doesn’t work too well with us “normal folks”.

Golf instructors have a difficult multifaceted job and all too often teaching is just a way to pick up a couple bucks on the side not their main focus. Almost all golf instruction is done outside in the verbal command mode. The instructor tells the student what to do and occasionally the instructor demonstrates. The problem is that only a relatively small number of students can actually learn effectively that way. Some students need to see things over and over for it to really sink in. These students do best when they can see instruction in the form of video, DVD’s, etc. and review it over and over again. Other students want the instructions in a format they can read and study at their leisure. Still other students need hands on instruction, plus video plus readable instructions for them to be successful. Very seldom in golf teaching are video and printed instructions offered in conjunction with hands-on lessons. Since there is no pre-learning by video or written materials often first lessons are comprised of just getting familiar with the vocabulary and the very basic parts of grip and stance. That method seldom gives the student a feeling of success during the first lesson.

At a recent PGA Forum on “The Business Of Golf” it was noted that two out of three students who go to golf professionals for lessons fail and drop out of golf within three years. That’s a tremendous failure rate especially when you consider the vast majority of the “successful” students who do become golfers can’t break 100.

Just Ask Why?
If you want to know if you’re working with a “good golf instructor” there is an easy way to find out. When the instructor is

teaching a new motion just ask one simple question. Ask the instructor, “WHY?” If the instructor can’t or is unwilling to tell you “Why” you need to make a certain motion you should probably find a new instructor. It seems most instructors would like you to “Just do what I say and don’t ask questions.” For example, your golf instructor may say keep your left arm straight (for a right handed golfer). You have a legitimate right to ask the instructor “Why do I need to keep my left arm straight?” If your instructor can’t or won’t answer your question you’re probably wasting your money and you should find a new instructor. Yep, there are some feel players who don’t want to know the why of anything. That’s okay if you are rich enough to have a personal pro on retainer so anytime something does go wrong (and it will) your personal pro can get you back on track. For the rest of us we’d better understand the why’s of what we’re doing because we’re the one’s who are going to have to make the corrections to our own swings.

Be An Organized Learner
I do admit that part of this problem is that most students aren’t organized learners. All too often students are golf butterflies flitting around trying one golf tip and then another (which may contradict the first). If you want to be a good golfer, working to be an organized learner will enable you to make much more progress much faster. To start being an organized learn you should communicate your goals to your golf instructor clearly at the beginning of any lessons. You should also keep notes about all your golf instruction. No matter how smart you are, it’s easy to forget many of the little details of a golf lesson.

Write It Down
If your instructor doesn’t give you written materials you should make your own notes about what you were taught as soon after the lesson as possible. When you go to the range have a written plan of what you’re going to practice. When things are going well it’s really important to write down what’s working. When things aren’t going well, make sure you write down not only what’s going badly but also the fixes that you try. Many tour players (or their caddies) now keep notebooks about every practice session. These notebooks have become invaluable aids getting the pros back on track whenever the “wheels fall off”.

Mr. T. Makes Big Progress
I only got to meet with Mr. T about 4 ½ hours that whole week in Fiji and most of that time was later in the evening. (Fortunately, we had an indoor golf simulator available.) However in that short time he accomplished an amazing amount. He had seen our Simple Golf System videos already (although he hadn’t practiced) so we didn’t have to waste too much time with the basics like vocabulary. Although Mr. T. is probably one of the busiest men in the world he was really focused during the lessons. He game me his complete attention. Whenever, one of his personal assistants ran in with a problem he just waved them away unless it was a life and death matter. He wasn’t afraid to ask “Why” and that helped him really understand the reasons for everything in the swing. He also wasn’t afraid to say, “I don’t understand.” Most of us are so afraid of looking stupid by saying, “I don’t understand” that we just stand feel dumb without saying anything.

The Step by Step Simple Golf System
We started building his swing step by step right from chipping. The first lesson concentrated on really showing him how the core (shoulders, chest & abdomen) really powers the swing. Almost all his shots were solid and straight and we gradually lengthened the chips right out to pitches focusing on accuracy and consistency. In the 2nd hour we actually had him pitch shots with an 8 iron all the way out to almost 150 yards with the balls landing tightly grouped. At that point, he felt like a golfer for the first time in his life. (He actually looked like a golfer swinging the club too!) He was delighted with the success and really happy about being able to control the club and hit the ball where he was aiming.

He learned to “Swing The Club” in those few hours rather that just trying to “Hit The Ball” as he had done before. I even gave him homework. He had videos to review and printed material to read to reinforce what we had covered.

The Test Of Good Teaching
The test of good teaching is if the student really retains what he’s learned. Fortunately, Mr. T has e-mailed to say that everything we did has stayed with him. One of the best things he said was if he does make a mistake he now knows what he did wrong and can immediately correctly it. That pleases me immensely because that what teaching is all about. He’s well on his way to becoming quite a good golfer. There’s a lot to learn in golf so he’ll need a couple of more hours of instruction but the foundation of his golf swing is done and now we just add additional knowledge and skills. Mr. T. was a very focused and organized learner, are you?

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