Sunday, December 5, 2010
Understanding Learning: How To Be Coached
Understanding Learning: How To Be Coached: "In this post I will stay within the subject of learning, but look at the subject in a different perspective. Until now all the posts have be..."
How To Be Coached
In this post I will stay within the subject of learning, but look at the subject in a different perspective. Until now all the posts have been targeted toward the golf coach, this one will point to the student. The student, as does the coach, has responsibilities that are key to the development process. For purposes of this blog the golf game is our point of emphasis.
The first point of emphasis for the student is to choose a compatible golf coach. For help on how to do this I will refer the readers to an article by Andy Morrison called "Choosing a Golf Coach? Its As Easy As ABC". Andy can be found on twitter at twitter.com/amgolfmindcoach. This is a great read on how a player should pursue a golf coach.
That ends the student's part in the whole process after choosing a coach, right? Now it is the coach's obligation to improve the student, right? Not exactly. The cultivation of a better game will not happen without the student fullfilling their role. There are four components to the charge of the player. The 4 parts are: 1. to be open and honest, 2. be engaging, 3. provide feedback, and 4. follow through. Let us look at each one of these in more detail.
1. Be Open and Honest
As a student you should be honest with yourself and your coach. Honest about the problems in your golf game. Take a good look at your skills and explain to the coach where you feel your problems lie. When answering questions about your game do not allow your ego to be in the way of your answers. In addition, it is imperative that you are honest about the amount of time you can set aside for your golf game. Your newly chosen golf coach will ask you for goals that you want to reach. The duty of the golf coach is then to help build a plan to reach these goals. Without your openess on your available time, this schedule will not be productive. Finally, when choosing your goals be open and honest with yourself on whether those goals are reachable or not.
2. Be Engaging
As a student you should ask questions and answer questions. This improves communication barriers. Being engaging also helps build a relationship. The lack of engagement keeps things hidden. Without open communication the coach cannot find the proper path for the student to follow. Finally, engagement allows you to build trust in your coach so that the guiding process can begin.
3. Provide Feedback
As I have said in earlier posts, the duty of the coach is to guide the student through the learning process. This cannot happen without proper feedback. Feedback provides an insight to the student's, your, thought process and feelings. In addition, feedback is vital for the coach to provide the proper map of actions and experimentation.
4. Follow Through
You as the student should follow thorugh with the practice/expereimental time that you committed to in the first step. Following through the other three parts as laid out above will help make the learning process much more successful.
The student, if improvement is a priority, has several obligations that are imperative in the learning process. The duty of the coach is to provide the proper foundation on which the student can learn. Without the student knowing, understanding, and learning their role in the process improvement will not happen. If you choose your coaches wisely and meet your responsiblities, your golf game will reach new heights.
Rob McGill, PGA
www.rm4golf.com
twitter.com/golfprorob
Facebook: Rob McGill
The first point of emphasis for the student is to choose a compatible golf coach. For help on how to do this I will refer the readers to an article by Andy Morrison called "Choosing a Golf Coach? Its As Easy As ABC". Andy can be found on twitter at twitter.com/amgolfmindcoach. This is a great read on how a player should pursue a golf coach.
That ends the student's part in the whole process after choosing a coach, right? Now it is the coach's obligation to improve the student, right? Not exactly. The cultivation of a better game will not happen without the student fullfilling their role. There are four components to the charge of the player. The 4 parts are: 1. to be open and honest, 2. be engaging, 3. provide feedback, and 4. follow through. Let us look at each one of these in more detail.
1. Be Open and Honest
As a student you should be honest with yourself and your coach. Honest about the problems in your golf game. Take a good look at your skills and explain to the coach where you feel your problems lie. When answering questions about your game do not allow your ego to be in the way of your answers. In addition, it is imperative that you are honest about the amount of time you can set aside for your golf game. Your newly chosen golf coach will ask you for goals that you want to reach. The duty of the golf coach is then to help build a plan to reach these goals. Without your openess on your available time, this schedule will not be productive. Finally, when choosing your goals be open and honest with yourself on whether those goals are reachable or not.
2. Be Engaging
As a student you should ask questions and answer questions. This improves communication barriers. Being engaging also helps build a relationship. The lack of engagement keeps things hidden. Without open communication the coach cannot find the proper path for the student to follow. Finally, engagement allows you to build trust in your coach so that the guiding process can begin.
3. Provide Feedback
As I have said in earlier posts, the duty of the coach is to guide the student through the learning process. This cannot happen without proper feedback. Feedback provides an insight to the student's, your, thought process and feelings. In addition, feedback is vital for the coach to provide the proper map of actions and experimentation.
4. Follow Through
You as the student should follow thorugh with the practice/expereimental time that you committed to in the first step. Following through the other three parts as laid out above will help make the learning process much more successful.
The student, if improvement is a priority, has several obligations that are imperative in the learning process. The duty of the coach is to provide the proper foundation on which the student can learn. Without the student knowing, understanding, and learning their role in the process improvement will not happen. If you choose your coaches wisely and meet your responsiblities, your golf game will reach new heights.
Rob McGill, PGA
www.rm4golf.com
twitter.com/golfprorob
Facebook: Rob McGill
Sunday, November 21, 2010
How To Create Creative Learning
My last two posts have suggested, as golf professionals, we should change from teaching to guiding. Great idea huh, but how is this accomplished? The primary key to address when making this change is to refer back to the three stages of learning, cognitive, associative, and autonomic. Then ensure we understand these stages. The first two stages will be our emphasis here, cognitive and associative.
The cognitive stage is for the beginners who do not possess any cues, feelings, or experiences. Teaching is critical in this stage. The golf professional should be focused on the teaching of the fundamentals in short but direct parts. Now is the time that the student is thirsting for new found knowledge. Without knowing which road to travel the student is searching for someone to give them a map and write out the directions to their destination. The cognitive stage takes patience, correction, and several lessons. The information should be thorough but not overbearing. Once the student is repeating these fundamentals without constant correction they are now moving into the associative stage.
This is the point in the process where the creative learning begins. The teaching should lessen and the guiding should increase. According to Mike Hebron individuals learn through creative self discovery and environmental awareness. Golf professionals should strive to create this type of learning environment. Show the student ways to experiment instead prescribing drill after drill. Ask the student to play the ball in different positions in their stance. Have the student provide feedback on the feeling and the resulting ball flight. Have them provide why and how the ball did what it did. Have the student hit it high or low, left or right and learn why on their own cognisance. You have already provided them a map and written out the directions, now are we saying that it is ok to take another route. When the student finds the most efficient route to take they will come back to it, remember it, and repeat it. When the student obtains information through your guidance and their self discovery, repeatability is high and self judgement is low. This provides the firm foundation for ingrained motor skills.
Now the student has moved fully into associative stage and is transitioning into autonomic stage. Remember constructive feedback is still good but should be short and precise. The golf professional is now weaning himself from full blown teaching. Now that the route is mapped out, we are trying to make the route more efficient. Encourage them to tweak the route to avoid traffic lights and school zones.
If you guide them properly and allow their creativity in the process, the student is now ready to move to the autonomic stage. This is the point where they can drive the car on the same route efficiently, over and over without getting lost. Through this method the golf professional is providing a golf swing that the student understands. Why? Because the student discovered it.
Thank you for taking the time out to read my thoughts on how we should improve our coaching of our students. I am humbled by the notion you would take the time out of your day just to see what I had to say. Please provide any and all feedback. It is through good constructive criticism that one can improve.
You may follow me on twitter @golfprorob, on facebook, or visit my website at www.rm4golf.com.
Rob McGill
The cognitive stage is for the beginners who do not possess any cues, feelings, or experiences. Teaching is critical in this stage. The golf professional should be focused on the teaching of the fundamentals in short but direct parts. Now is the time that the student is thirsting for new found knowledge. Without knowing which road to travel the student is searching for someone to give them a map and write out the directions to their destination. The cognitive stage takes patience, correction, and several lessons. The information should be thorough but not overbearing. Once the student is repeating these fundamentals without constant correction they are now moving into the associative stage.
This is the point in the process where the creative learning begins. The teaching should lessen and the guiding should increase. According to Mike Hebron individuals learn through creative self discovery and environmental awareness. Golf professionals should strive to create this type of learning environment. Show the student ways to experiment instead prescribing drill after drill. Ask the student to play the ball in different positions in their stance. Have the student provide feedback on the feeling and the resulting ball flight. Have them provide why and how the ball did what it did. Have the student hit it high or low, left or right and learn why on their own cognisance. You have already provided them a map and written out the directions, now are we saying that it is ok to take another route. When the student finds the most efficient route to take they will come back to it, remember it, and repeat it. When the student obtains information through your guidance and their self discovery, repeatability is high and self judgement is low. This provides the firm foundation for ingrained motor skills.
Now the student has moved fully into associative stage and is transitioning into autonomic stage. Remember constructive feedback is still good but should be short and precise. The golf professional is now weaning himself from full blown teaching. Now that the route is mapped out, we are trying to make the route more efficient. Encourage them to tweak the route to avoid traffic lights and school zones.
If you guide them properly and allow their creativity in the process, the student is now ready to move to the autonomic stage. This is the point where they can drive the car on the same route efficiently, over and over without getting lost. Through this method the golf professional is providing a golf swing that the student understands. Why? Because the student discovered it.
Thank you for taking the time out to read my thoughts on how we should improve our coaching of our students. I am humbled by the notion you would take the time out of your day just to see what I had to say. Please provide any and all feedback. It is through good constructive criticism that one can improve.
You may follow me on twitter @golfprorob, on facebook, or visit my website at www.rm4golf.com.
Rob McGill
Sunday, November 14, 2010
More on Learning
Are you teaching or are your students learning? If you answer teaching or both then I would invite you to open your mind and allow this entry to lead you forward into a simple introduction of how a person learns. I have obtained knowledge on the subject from an article on the internet by Brian McCormick titled "Learning Sports Skills and Motor Development". In addition I stumbled and bumbled through several case studies of the motor skill development process. First and foremost let me say that I am not and do not claim to be an expert. I am simply passing along information to start interested instructors down a path of further discovery.
Motor skill and cognitive learning have different processes and protocol. But the best motor skill development includes cognitive learning which allows for longer retention. In the traditional teaching method teachers lecture, describe, show, and tell how an action is to be performed but what is said can not convey the action. When an instructor informs a student of the action the student may remember the action but this in no way ensures that they have retained the action itself or the feel of this action. In the article Mr. McCormick quotes a passage from the Inner Game of Golf by Gallwey, in summary the passage states there are two paths that instructors can take. One path being of formulas and the other of feel. The instructor who only takes one path will never be able to experience the other path. But the one who travels both paths may share the best of both worlds to help his atheletes improve. The instructors that have the knowledge of how their students learn and develop will be the most successful.
I stated in the earlier post on this subject that Mark Evershed beleived that people learn through the aquistion of smaller steps and in a progression. Like mathematics we learn best when we are fed knowledge in a progression that builds on each step. According to the article the skill acquistion order is: Basic nonlocomotor (stationary like bending and stretching), locomoter (traveling, walking or hopping), and manipulative (object control, like bouncing and catching a ball). When these motor skills are developed and married together then a person may perform a sport skill.
A person will travel through different stages or as Mr.McCormick stated "movement patterns". Each stage has its own behavioral hint. In the beginning stage these notions are limited to actions surrounding body and space. At the intermediate level the cues include space but now involve force (power to move the body). In the advanced stage we will continue with force but emphasise on relationships (adjustments on body, space, and force to change or refine the skill).
It is important to understand these stages because a student cannot retain or master a skill if two or more are being relayed at once. Nor can the motor skill be developed if the student is asked to perform a movent in the intermediate or advanced level when the movements of the basic level have not been accomplished. Asking a student to hit down, swing out, and release without guiding them through basic balance and rotation would be conterproductive in ingraining a good golfswing.
There a three basic stages of learning cognitive (beginner), associative (intermediate), and autonomic (advanced). It is very important that the students are not hurried through each of the stages. Providing ample time to comprehend and ingrain each stage is critical in the development of a motor skill.
The cognitive stage is the beginning stage. This is the stage that requires the most instruction. The stage is blundering and full of errors. Repition is a big part of the cognitive stage. The cognitive stage is also the easiest stage to produce sensory overload. Be cautious of providing the athlete with an overabundance of information. In this stage the student is very self judging so it is important that the instructor convey the art of letting go. To comprehend the errors as what they are and not judge oneself as "not able to" or "terrible".
The Associative stage becomes smoother and progression invreases in speed. In this stage the basics of the skill have been learned and mastered to the extent that advancement is needed. The errors are fewer and far between but are recognizable by the student. This is where the skill becomes honed. For the instructor it is very important to understand that this is the level where the teaching begins to fade. The function now is to assist the athelete with their needs and provide specific yet constructive feedback. Allow the student to be aware of their environment so that they can make corrections on their own. The instructor then can interject with very narrow, focused objectives. In this stage instructors are improving the student not breaking down or changing.
The final stage is the Autonomic stage where the learning is almost complete. This stage could take the longest and in some cases never completely be fullfilled. The student now can make their own corrections. The student is also cognitive on the process to correct. In this final stage the instructor ask questions. The Autonomy Stage is lends itself to the indirect teaching style which is student centered. In indirect teaching the emphasis is on guided discovery and problem solving. Guided discovery includes motivation to creative thinking, problem solving, and self improvement. The student rather than the teacher is the focus.
In summary it is important that we as PGA Professionals understand the learning process so that we may guide our students into playing the game to their highest ability. Without an understanding of the process we are not providing our students with the highest probability to obtain and retain the motor skill of the golf swing. Old school teaching might improve the student today, but tomorrow will allow them decline back into an area of frustration. If our goal is to truly promote the game, then it is imperative that we learn to guide the student into obtaining the skill and not teach them a skill. Work to ensure your students are learning but your not teaching. By this I mean teaching as we know it in the traditional means.
I will reiterate that most of the information for this post came from Mr. Brian McCormicks article. This is a link to the article http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/12731/learning_sports_skills_and_motor_development.html?cat=4. Please refer back to the article for more detailed information.
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Motor skill and cognitive learning have different processes and protocol. But the best motor skill development includes cognitive learning which allows for longer retention. In the traditional teaching method teachers lecture, describe, show, and tell how an action is to be performed but what is said can not convey the action. When an instructor informs a student of the action the student may remember the action but this in no way ensures that they have retained the action itself or the feel of this action. In the article Mr. McCormick quotes a passage from the Inner Game of Golf by Gallwey, in summary the passage states there are two paths that instructors can take. One path being of formulas and the other of feel. The instructor who only takes one path will never be able to experience the other path. But the one who travels both paths may share the best of both worlds to help his atheletes improve. The instructors that have the knowledge of how their students learn and develop will be the most successful.
I stated in the earlier post on this subject that Mark Evershed beleived that people learn through the aquistion of smaller steps and in a progression. Like mathematics we learn best when we are fed knowledge in a progression that builds on each step. According to the article the skill acquistion order is: Basic nonlocomotor (stationary like bending and stretching), locomoter (traveling, walking or hopping), and manipulative (object control, like bouncing and catching a ball). When these motor skills are developed and married together then a person may perform a sport skill.
A person will travel through different stages or as Mr.McCormick stated "movement patterns". Each stage has its own behavioral hint. In the beginning stage these notions are limited to actions surrounding body and space. At the intermediate level the cues include space but now involve force (power to move the body). In the advanced stage we will continue with force but emphasise on relationships (adjustments on body, space, and force to change or refine the skill).
It is important to understand these stages because a student cannot retain or master a skill if two or more are being relayed at once. Nor can the motor skill be developed if the student is asked to perform a movent in the intermediate or advanced level when the movements of the basic level have not been accomplished. Asking a student to hit down, swing out, and release without guiding them through basic balance and rotation would be conterproductive in ingraining a good golfswing.
There a three basic stages of learning cognitive (beginner), associative (intermediate), and autonomic (advanced). It is very important that the students are not hurried through each of the stages. Providing ample time to comprehend and ingrain each stage is critical in the development of a motor skill.
The cognitive stage is the beginning stage. This is the stage that requires the most instruction. The stage is blundering and full of errors. Repition is a big part of the cognitive stage. The cognitive stage is also the easiest stage to produce sensory overload. Be cautious of providing the athlete with an overabundance of information. In this stage the student is very self judging so it is important that the instructor convey the art of letting go. To comprehend the errors as what they are and not judge oneself as "not able to" or "terrible".
The Associative stage becomes smoother and progression invreases in speed. In this stage the basics of the skill have been learned and mastered to the extent that advancement is needed. The errors are fewer and far between but are recognizable by the student. This is where the skill becomes honed. For the instructor it is very important to understand that this is the level where the teaching begins to fade. The function now is to assist the athelete with their needs and provide specific yet constructive feedback. Allow the student to be aware of their environment so that they can make corrections on their own. The instructor then can interject with very narrow, focused objectives. In this stage instructors are improving the student not breaking down or changing.
The final stage is the Autonomic stage where the learning is almost complete. This stage could take the longest and in some cases never completely be fullfilled. The student now can make their own corrections. The student is also cognitive on the process to correct. In this final stage the instructor ask questions. The Autonomy Stage is lends itself to the indirect teaching style which is student centered. In indirect teaching the emphasis is on guided discovery and problem solving. Guided discovery includes motivation to creative thinking, problem solving, and self improvement. The student rather than the teacher is the focus.
In summary it is important that we as PGA Professionals understand the learning process so that we may guide our students into playing the game to their highest ability. Without an understanding of the process we are not providing our students with the highest probability to obtain and retain the motor skill of the golf swing. Old school teaching might improve the student today, but tomorrow will allow them decline back into an area of frustration. If our goal is to truly promote the game, then it is imperative that we learn to guide the student into obtaining the skill and not teach them a skill. Work to ensure your students are learning but your not teaching. By this I mean teaching as we know it in the traditional means.
I will reiterate that most of the information for this post came from Mr. Brian McCormicks article. This is a link to the article http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/12731/learning_sports_skills_and_motor_development.html?cat=4. Please refer back to the article for more detailed information.
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Friday, November 12, 2010
Is the "How to of Learning" Important
I have recently stumbled upon many articles on how a person learns a new subject. This to me is a very intriguing subject for golf professionals. One that we, golf professionals, should take the time to comprehend. For the majority of golf professionals the knowledge of learning comes form the PGA in the form of types of learners, kinesthetic, auditory, and visual. We are taught to obtain what type of learner the student is through a series of questions. But does this really inform us of the proper way a person learns?
Early on in my career I followed a teaching professional by the name of Mark Evershed. Mark was graced with a child born down syndrome, which he now refers to as "Up Syndrome". Because of this Mark decided to return to school to learn how a person learns. He carried his new found knowledge over into his golf teaching. He found that the human brain learns by a series of small steps and therefore taught the golf swing in a series of learned positions. Only when each new position was ingrained and learned would he allow progression to the next step. His evidence to support this style was basically one did not learn long algebra before learning addition and subtraction.
More recently I came across the philosophy of Mike Hebron. From a very good interview on dirters.com Mike proclaimed that he realized that many year his teaching was incorrect. Like Mark, the teacher above, Mike went out to research how the human learns. What Mike discovered, in a very short summary, is that people learn (comprehend and retain) best through games (fun) that guide them into the proper movements rather than dictation of positions and movements. His philosophy states that we learn these movements in fun interacting games such as a child learning to dribble on his own. Most children learn to dribble a basketball in a basic fashion without a teacher standing over them saying hand over the ball flat, push ball down, allow ball to return, and repeat. They learn to dribble through hand-eye coordination that is necessary for them to play a game with the ball. Mr. Hebron feels that it is a necessity for teachers to guide students into being aware of the environment and to learn by reacting to that environment.
In a blog posted last year by John Graham titled Learning a Motor Skill, John makes the statement that " In retaining a motor skill, the duty falls solely on the student." John then explains that the student must be able to convert the feelings into their own meaning. He feels it imperative that the student not concentrate on ball flight results until the movement or position has been truly ingrained.
What is the main theme of these different, yet very related ideas on teaching the golf swing? The answer is simple and 2 fold. First, to be effective teachers of the golf swing we must enlighten ourselves more of how humans learn and retain information. Secondly, that our role as teachers is to guide the student into smaller movements through interactive games that make the students very aware of their environment. Your students will learn and retain more through this type of interaction.
Please understand that this entry is my simple interpretation of the information and in no way am I trying to recreate the above teachers' philosophy. If you would like more information on this subject and the teachers here please visit the following websites: http://www.mikehebron.com/, http://www.johngrahamgolf.com/, http://www.dirters.com/, http://www.evershedgolf.com/.
Finally you may visit me on my website, http://www.rm4golf.com/.
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Early on in my career I followed a teaching professional by the name of Mark Evershed. Mark was graced with a child born down syndrome, which he now refers to as "Up Syndrome". Because of this Mark decided to return to school to learn how a person learns. He carried his new found knowledge over into his golf teaching. He found that the human brain learns by a series of small steps and therefore taught the golf swing in a series of learned positions. Only when each new position was ingrained and learned would he allow progression to the next step. His evidence to support this style was basically one did not learn long algebra before learning addition and subtraction.
More recently I came across the philosophy of Mike Hebron. From a very good interview on dirters.com Mike proclaimed that he realized that many year his teaching was incorrect. Like Mark, the teacher above, Mike went out to research how the human learns. What Mike discovered, in a very short summary, is that people learn (comprehend and retain) best through games (fun) that guide them into the proper movements rather than dictation of positions and movements. His philosophy states that we learn these movements in fun interacting games such as a child learning to dribble on his own. Most children learn to dribble a basketball in a basic fashion without a teacher standing over them saying hand over the ball flat, push ball down, allow ball to return, and repeat. They learn to dribble through hand-eye coordination that is necessary for them to play a game with the ball. Mr. Hebron feels that it is a necessity for teachers to guide students into being aware of the environment and to learn by reacting to that environment.
In a blog posted last year by John Graham titled Learning a Motor Skill, John makes the statement that " In retaining a motor skill, the duty falls solely on the student." John then explains that the student must be able to convert the feelings into their own meaning. He feels it imperative that the student not concentrate on ball flight results until the movement or position has been truly ingrained.
What is the main theme of these different, yet very related ideas on teaching the golf swing? The answer is simple and 2 fold. First, to be effective teachers of the golf swing we must enlighten ourselves more of how humans learn and retain information. Secondly, that our role as teachers is to guide the student into smaller movements through interactive games that make the students very aware of their environment. Your students will learn and retain more through this type of interaction.
Please understand that this entry is my simple interpretation of the information and in no way am I trying to recreate the above teachers' philosophy. If you would like more information on this subject and the teachers here please visit the following websites: http://www.mikehebron.com/, http://www.johngrahamgolf.com/, http://www.dirters.com/, http://www.evershedgolf.com/.
Finally you may visit me on my website, http://www.rm4golf.com/.
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