Structuring Practice to Optimize Golf Skill Learning

Dr. Bob Christina, Professor EmeritusAssistant Men’s Golf Coach

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

The Pinehurst Golf AcademyPrecision Golf Schoolrchristina@uncg.edu

Why is it Important to Know About Practice?

“Nobody---but nobody---has ever become really proficient at golf without practice, without a lot of thinking and then hitting a lot of shots.” Jack Nicklaus

Why is it Important to Know About Practice?

• Golf skills cannot be learned without physical practice

• Some practice conditions facilitate learning more than others

Three Things Can Happen When You Practice

• Your skills and play can get better• They can stay the same, or• They can get worse

Why is it Important to Know

About Practice? “The Way Golf Skills are

Practiced Affects How Well They are Learned, Retained and Transferred to Play.”

Why is it Important to Know About Practice?

“As PGA teachers, you are responsible for designing practice conditions that optimize student learning”

Six Conditions of Effective Practice

• Practice with a Specific Purpose• Practice the Right Things• Practice the Right Way• Practice the Right Amount• Practice with Relevant Feedback• Practice when Motivated

Practice With a Specific Purpose

“The secret to beneficial practice

is keeping a definite idea upon

which to work.”

Bobby Jones

Practice With a Specific Purpose

“Whenever I go out with a bag of balls I have a very specific objective in mind… I have a clear-cut

purpose in mind on every swing.”

Jack Nicklaus

Practice With a Specific Purpose

“If you practice hitting balls without a

purpose long enough, you will start out doing it right and

eventually find out how to do it wrong.”

Harvey Penick

Practice With a Specific Purpose

“The most common practice error is to drift aimlessly to the range and start banging balls

at random. This isn’t practice. This is a waste of time. The

worst thing you can do is practice your

mistakes.”Tony Lema

Where do Students Find Specific Practice Purposes?

• What the teacher worked on with the student in the previous lesson(s)

• What the student thinks should be worked on• What other sources recommend:– Golf magazines or books– Instructional DVDs or Golf Channel– Golf schools– Playing partners

Practice the Right Things

“Work on the fundamentals constantly.”

Nick Price

“Every golfer has a fault he falls back into repeatedly. The trick is

learning what that fault is and how to correct it.”

Ken Venturi

Practice the Right Things

•Did You Know That The Driver, Wedge, and Putter Account for About 75% of Your Score?

Did You Know That Your Golf Game is About

43% PUTTING 25% WOOD PLAY 13% CHIPPING 7% SHORT IRONS 5% TROUBLE SHOTS 4% MEDIUM IRONS 3% LONG IRONS

What Are the Right Things?

The golf, mental, and course management skills and playing strategies that must be practiced to learn to improve one’s game:• Skills fundamentals• Scoring skills• Weaker skills• Most frequently used skills• Green reading skills• etc

Practice the Right Way

The purpose of practice determines the right way to practice

Three Major Purposes of Practice

• Skills development–Learning

• Skills maintenance–Retention

• Skills transfer–Transfer of learning

Two Major Ways of Practicing

• Skills development (learning) and maintenance (retention) are achieved through skills practice

• Skills transfer is achieved through transfer practice

SKILLS PRACTICE

Elements of Skills Practice for Skills Development

• Hit balls in practice contexts• Hit balls repeatedly from good,

level lies with the same club• Hit balls the same distance to one

target using the same alignment• Hit balls using drills and training

aids

Elements of Skills Practice for Skills Development

• Distribute practice (take a break after several of shots)

• Receive relevant feedback about swing and/or shot performance• Reflect on how to improve during

each break based on relevant feedback

Elements of Skills Practice for Skills Development

• No practice of pre- and post-shot routines• No practice under competitive

pressure

Elements of Skills Practice for Skills Retention

Same as for skills learning, except:• Fewer repetitions of each skill are

performed• Drills or training aids used only to

check for correctness of form and maintain feeling

Transfer Practice is Certainly Not New!

How Did James Braid Practice?• “For practice to

have full value, make each swing with the care of a stroke from a tee on medal day”

5 Time British Open Champion 1901-1910

How Did Ben Hogan Practice?• “WHILE I AM

PRACTICING I AM ALSO TRYING TO DEVELOP MY POWERS OF CONCENTRATION. I NEVER JUST WALK UP & HIT THE BALL. I DECIDE IN ADVANCE HOW I WANT TO HIT AND WHERE I WANT IT TO GO”

How Did Jack Nicklaus Practice?• “ALL MY LIFE I’VE

TRIED TO HIT PRACTICE SHOTS WITH GREAT CARE. I TRY TO HAVE A CLEAR-CUT PURPOSE IN MIND ON EVERY SWING. I ALWAYS PRACTICE AS I INTEND TO PLAY”

How Does Luke Donald Practice?“When I practice my short

game, I try to simulate real golf. I chip or pitch to several different targets, or spread the balls around and hit to one target from a bunch of different spots. I use it in the practice bunker and on the putting green, too.”

CLEARLY, BRAID, HOGAN, NICKLAUS PRACTICED AND MICKELSON,

WOODS, DONALD PRACTICE THE WAY THEY PLAY TO TRANSFER SKILLS FROM THE RANGE TO

COMPETITION ON THE COURSE

Elements of Transfer Practice

Practice Like You Play• Practice on a course• Play a simulated round on the

range or short-game area• Play shots from varied lies• Use different clubs to hit balls to

different targets at different distances

Elements of Transfer Practice

Practice Like You Play• Play shots with the same club to

different targets of varied distances

• Play shots with different ball flights• Play shots using pre- and post-shot

routines

Elements of Transfer Practice

Practice Like You Play• Use one swing for each shot, regardless

of the outcome• Use one ball for short game shots and

putting---keep score• Practice shot accountability under

simulated competitive pressure

Elements of Transfer Practice

Practice Like You Play• Vary accuracy demands of shots• Play shots with different clubs selected

at random• Putt from different distances selected at

random

A QUESTION

“IF YOUR STUDENTS’ GOLF SKILLS DON’T TRANSFER TO PLAY THE WAY THEY PRACTICE, WHY NOT HAVE THEM PRACTICE THE WAY THEY DO TRANSFER?”

Practice the Right WaySpacing of Practice• Frequent, shorter practice

periods benefit learning more than fewer, longer ones

Practice the Right Way

Where to direct student’s attention when practicing a swing• Internal cues• External cues

Practice the Right Way• Internal cues:–Focus attention on the movements or

mechanics that produce the swing• External cues:–Focus attention on the effects the

movements have on the environment such as the clubhead

Where Did Jack Nicklaus Direct His Attention?

“Some people think about what they’re mechanically doing through the ball. I think about what I want the clubhead to do through the ball to make the ball do what I want.”“… I didn’t play by swing mechanics. I played by feeling things that would make the mechanics happen.” (Nicklaus 2011)

Examples of External Cues• Imagine the top half of the putter face

contacting the ball before the bottom half• Whisk the shot on its way as though you

were swinging a broom for proper chipping action• The club’s acceleration from the top of

the backswing should be gradual, like a car coming down a roller coaster

Examples of External Cues

• Swing the clubhead along the target line• Take the clubhead back along the target

line such that the toe is pointing to the sky when the shaft is parallel to the ground• Visualize hitting a fade when hooking or

hitting a draw when slicing

Distance of an External Cue from the Student

• Any distance if it works•More experienced (skilled) the

student, the further it can be away

Concluding Remarks About Internal and External Cues

• Students can learn and perform using either internal or external cues• Often external cues can produce a faster

rate of learning than internal cues• Often external cues can be used more

easily than internal cues when playing• Often internal cues are used when

external cues would be more effective

Practice the Right Amount

“I learned a long time ago that there is a

limit to the number of shots you can hit effectively before

losing your concentration on your

basic objectives.”

Jack Nicklaus

When to Stop Practicing• Stop practicing when:–Goals are achieved– 100% concentration cannot be

sustained – Lack of progress leads to

frustration and discouragement–Boredom sets in–Physical fatigue begins to impair

skill performance

Amount of Practice Effects

Low Moderate High

Amount of Practice

• Learning• Proficiency of Performance• Retention & Transfer• Reliability of Performance

Improvement

High

Low

“On What Should the Amount of Practice be

Increased?”

48

“How Can the Amount of Practice be Increased While Maintaining the Motivation

to Learn?”

How Much Practice is Needed to Reach Elite Performance?

AMOUNT OF PRACTICE NEEDED TO BECOME

AN EXPERTABOUT 10,000 HOURS

OR10 YEARS

Ericsson, et al (1993)

AVERAGE NUMBER OF YEARS 11 MAJOR WINNERS PLAYED

THE GAME BEFORETHEIR VICTORY

Amount of Practice Needed to Become a Major Champion

A Test of the 10,000 Hour Hypothesis: The Dan Plan

• www.TheDanPlan.com• www.ChristopherSmithGolf.com• Dan is 30 years old; never played golf before• Quit his job as a commercial photographer

on April 5, 2010 to test the 10,000 hour hypothesis

• Practices 30 plus hours per week

Practice with Relevant Feedback

• Relevant feedback is essential information about how students performed compared to how they should have performed

Sources of Relevant Feedback

Intrinsic• Feeling the swing or ball contact• Hearing the clubface contact the

ball• Seeing the ball flight, shot, and

divot pattern

Sources of Relevant Feedback

Augmented

• Verbal or non-verbal cues from a teacher, coach, or playing partner• Video• Launch monitor or swing vest• Drills or training aids

What Relevant Feedback Provides

• A basis for evaluating the correctness of performance, from which students can learn to improve or maintain their level of skill

• Information that can positively or negatively influence motivation to learn

How to Administer Relevant Augmented Feedback in Practice

• Provide augmented feedback more frequently early in learning and less as learning progresses

• Encourage each student to learn the golf swing and shots through guided discovery by providing augmented feedback only when needed

Practice When Motivated

Low Moderate High

High

Low

More

Less

Motivation Level

Effor

t

Lear

ning

Practice When Motivated

• Students’ motivation determines how much effort they expend toward learning each practice goal

• Thus, the teacher must find ways to motivate each student

Ways to Motivate Students

• Set specific practice goals that are meaningful and moderately challenging• Work on each goal only as long as

the student can maintain 100% concentration• Strive to achieve a variety of goals

in each session

Ways to Motivate Students

• Incorporate variety, friendly competition, games, play, fun, humor, and rest breaks

• Use motivating feedback that compliments the student’s effort, desirable performances, and progress

Ways to Motivate Students

• Show enthusiasm for the student’s learning• Show empathy and provide

encouragement when the student struggles with learning• Have student practice with other

students

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION