67 What to Learn

Chapter Two

What to Learn
The best analogy is driving; we drive automatically without conscious thought, it comes from our
sub-conscious and we need to achieve the same state for golf. This is the zone; the magical
culmination of well practiced skills that are free to flow without interference. You need to create the
skill necessary for success, then get out of your own way and let the skill happen, you will only be as
good as your skill level allows. You need a good mindset and a good skill set.

How well you perform at these is a direct result of how well you learn and you learn through practice;
learning is defined as the “act, process or experience of gaining knowledge or skill that can be applied
in a different environment”. So, the best golfers are those that can most effectively learn/practice the
skill needed and apply the learning on the golf course.

To summarise……
“how you play on the course is the result of how you practice off the course;
great practice is the key to great play”
Going back to the statement that performance is ability minus interference, both of these must be
practised and are very different
Ability/Technique: this about how you move your body (mechanics) in an efficient way to create
the conditions needed at impact. This is what most golf instruction books are about, explaining
how to swing the club and is what most golfers work on when they practice but they judge the
quality of their mechanics on how well they are hitting the ball rather than how well they are
making their physical motion; this is why the golf swing can be learnt in a squash court! Your
performance will always be influenced by your ability, no level of focus or confidence will allow you
to hit the ball well if your technique is unable to.
Interference/mindset: this is about being able to focus purely on the shot in hand so that your
body can perform; and is judged by your ability to get the ball to the target (scoring). If you stand
behind the professionals at a driving range, their mechanics are pretty similar and produce
powerful and accurate shots; so the difference in their scoring is in their ability to focus on the shot
in hand. It is also the reason why we can all hit the ball well on the practice ground but not
reproduce it on the golf course.
Learning to Learn
Most instruction books tell you the technique needed or the mindset to win but not how to learn
them. This is demonstrated by the fact that the average handicap has not improved in the last 30