Truth #3
You Can't Skip Steps or You'll Trip and Fall

Have you ever read a golf tip in a magazine and tried to take it to the course the next day only to find yourself "tripping and falling?" The article may have been a really great idea, addressing your specific problem, but your attempt on the course was a failure. Why?  Because there are four steps to mastering a a skill, and you can't skip any of them or you will not succeed. As Dr. Rick Jensen points out in Easier Said than Done, no matter how many tips you read, there simply is no magic pill that will make your slice or three-putt tendency disappear when the weekend arrives...you have to walk any skill up the Four Steps To Mastery or you will trip and fall. We use those four steps to help our students "Master the Game."

Step One

First, determine which skill is costing you the most strokes, seek an understanding of what's causing the problem, and identify what you need to do to fix it. For example, you've always hated your weak slice and it is the thing costing you many strokes per round. It may seem simple - your club face is open to the path at impact. But, why? Is it your grip, grip pressure, takeaway, transition, wrist conditions at impact...??? And once you figure out the why, you need to know how to solve the problem.
 

Step Two

Next comes supervised practice - lots of repetition with feedback. Golf involves motor skills and therefore requires repetition of motion for the motor cortex of your brain to store a new skill as a habit. Just because you choose the right problem to improve (your weak slice,) you know what the cause is (face open to path at impact,) and you know why (poor grip and wrist conditions at impact,) your slice will not just disappear. It is the result of a habit. You have a habit of returning to that grip and to those wrist conditions. So, you need a lot of practice if you intend to change it. And when you practice, you better be sure you are practicing correctly because only perfect practice makes perfect - thus the need for feedback. At our school we use many forms of feedback including training aids, high speed video, biofeedback, and 3D technology. Click here to learn about some of our technology and our favorite training aids.

Step Three

Now you must transfer train - expose the new skill to conditions that simulate those found on the course or in competition. Say you are finally consistently hitting your 7 iron on the range with a soft draw. What happens when you encounter a hill, or some wind, or a bet on the 18th hole? Will your practice with the 7 iron hold up? Not yet...you WILL revert...unless you have transfer trained. Transfer training may include a number of techniques including playing a round of golf with your new skills on the range and/or switching clubs and targets on the range after every ball.
 

Step Four

Finally, you are ready to play using your skill, while keeping score on the course. It will not really become your new habit until you call upon it and trust it when it really counts. In this final step, trust is the key. You have really done the work, without skipping any steps. Now it's time to bring that new skill with you without second guessing your efforts.
 

So, What Now?

Give us a call to meet with your coach and choose at least one skill on which you need to make permanent progress this season to lower your scores. From there, we'll develop a plan to help you walk that skill up the four steps to mastery and take charge of it once and for all. As Rick says, "Learning golf is a process, not an epiphany." Are you ready to treat it that way?