I recently discussed “deliberate practice” in a recent post. In the past few weeks, I have been spending some quality time on how humans actually learn and make progress in activities, even to the point of becoming “genius”.
As this subject pertains to golf however, I was recently rudely reminded of the hard cold facts of the game. This passage is taken from the book, “Slow Practice Will Get You There Faster”, written by Ernest Dras. “Studies have shown that the majority of golfers just cannot hit the sweet spot, although going through various teaching programs and knowing the fundamentals. A group of 50 golfers were tested; they had handicaps of ten and above. It came out that they were able to make solid contact every fifth or sixth shot, by accident. On average, they missed the sweet spot by 3/4 of an inch. (tests performed by Power Golf Academy by John Darling.
As a teacher, I can verify that these statistics are correct. All you have to do is go to any public practice range and observe the “practicing” golfers. Sometimes it is very disconcerting. A lot of money is being spent in the name of “practice” without much progress, if you believe the statistics of average golfer’s handicaps.
I now more than ever believe that we are practicing incorrectly. The information being served up by teaching professionals, Golf Digest, Golf commentators, etc., is excellent, so much material it is incredible. WE AREN’T MAKING ANY PROGRESS !!!
So, I will be doing a series of articles about “practicing golf”. Specifically about “how”
we practice and learn. With all this information we should be getting better, but we AIN’T!
Let’s explore another pathway to greatness. The next article will focus on “slow practice”. It will be interesting and fun.
Keith Haley Golf 