How to Learn Golf: What Makes a Good Golf Learner?
By Dr. T. J. Tomasi, Keiser University College of Golf Senior Faculty and Director of Research
To be the best player you can be you have to be a good golf learner, and the good learners I’ve been exposed to use a model similar to that outlined below.
How to Learn Golf
(1) First, they break what they are trying to learn into manageable parts or chunks.
Let’s use the takeaway as an example. The three characteristics of a good takeaway are: (a) The hands and the clubhead are the same height when the hands are just past the back foot. (b) The shaft is on the toe line, and (c) The clubface has the same angle as the spine.
(2) Then, they match the model.
Now the task is to match the correct position – in our example, you must focus on these three elements checking to make sure that they are all present in every takeaway repetition. If they leave one out or fail to set the shaft in the correct position, they use the next attempt to correct this, focusing on the mistake. This stage is called conscious competence – you think about it while you do it.
(3) Repeat the Model.
Once they can match the model with no mistakes, it’s time to repeat the task perfectly until they can do it without thinking about it – at this point ball flight is not important, but ingraining the task is. Once completed, the learner has reached the stage of unconscious competence where they don’t have to think about how to do the task while they perform it.
(4) Graduate.
When the learner can do it correctly over a number of trials, it’s time to graduate; they’re ready for the next task or chunk of their blueprint. The role of graduation is essential to efficient learning. Consciously telling yourself you are through with the task, graduates move (in both intention and attention) to the next task. If you fail to graduate after each task completion, you will soon have so many tasks in your mind that you’ll become confused – not a good condition for learning golf. You can talk on the cell phone, drive the car, and look for the correct exit, but the studies show that your driving skill and reaction time drop significantly when you multi-task. And we all know how much harder driving a golf ball is vs. driving a car. So, the golf learner’s mantra is “one task at a time to completion – graduate – then next task.”
If you’d like to study with Dr. Tomasi and other PGA Master Professionals, contact The College of Golf today.
