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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