How to be a Great Student
Why do you play golf? Why do you love to play this game? Golf is an inconsistent game and when you are being challenged by the game a golfer must remember why they play.
- Is the reason you play health and wellness specific?
- Unplug from your daily routine and technology
- Decompress and reduce mental stress
- Be in nature and breathe fresh air
- Social: be in the company of others (friends, family, etc.)
- Exercise
Is the reason you play performance-based?
- Challenge of the game
- Develop skills
- Improve scoring
- Competition
- Play for a living
When you answer the question of why you play golf, it may be a combination of performance-based factors and health/wellness factors. Just make sure you never forget why you play. Never lose the enjoyment of the game!
If you have performance goals, you must understand three things. There are three main reasons why brilliant, hard working golfers don’t achieve their goals:
- They do not understand and believe in a method, concept, or adjustment and therefore lack continuity over time. Understand WHY you are working on a certain skill, HOW it improves performance, and HOW you are evaluating improvement.
- They do not practice in a way that develops efficient learning, skill development, or retention. An efficient program includes Block Practice (3% transference to the golf course), Random Practice (90% transference to the golf course), and Competition/Games (90% transference to the golf course).
- They do not own the mental performance skills that would allow them to either perform at or close to, their maximum potential. I know most golfers believe that great golf is mostly mental. Yet given this belief, they still have no concept of how to get their mind or body ready to perform, let alone own a mental strategy for the long term. Do you practice your mental skills on a regular basis? Do you have a Fixed or Growth Mind-set?
(Information paraphrased from 2013 personal coaching notes from James Sieckmann)
Some other key points to remember:
- Golf is an individual game. There is no “ONE PERFECT SWING” for everyone
- Adopting a growth mindset is a huge advantage when playing and learning how to play golf
- Skill sets are introduced by instructors/coaches, skill set mastery happens during practice/training
- Understand your tendencies, what triggers them, and create workable solutions
- Change the concept of “I’m failing” and change it to “I’m learning” at every level of golf
- Average golfers take playing seriously. Good golfers take practice and playing seriously. Great golfers take learning, coaching, nutrition, health, wellness, fitness, recovery, practice, and playing seriously.
- Failure is not the opposite of success, it is part of success
- Be teachable, you are not always right
- Mistakes are part of the game, it’s how well you recover from them that defines a great golfer
- Change is challenging at first, chaotic in the middle, and awesome at the end
- “The secret to change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.” Socrates
- The driver, wedges, and putter are ALL scoring clubs. Whichever of those three is costing you the most stokes IS your weakest link…..get to work!
- Don’t be upset about the result you don’t get from the work you didn’t do
- Struggle: most golfers hate it, good golfers handle it, great golfers use it to grow
Feel free to contact Brandon anytime if you would like to learn more about becoming a great student and how he can get you playing better golf today!