Unlearn riding a bike? (now with a Manzella blog post)
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Brian Manzella
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I am speaking at the GBN (nee AMF) education event at the PGA Show on Thursday next week. As good as I am at talking, I was shocked to do my first couple of large group presentations and was not really good at all. C- at best.
I've gotten a lot better, and now I'm basically just "me" on stage and my last couple of talks are A minus at worse.
What did I learn?
God knows, I know how to talk. And, whatever my subject is at the time I am presenting it, I know it cold.
Why did I improve so much? Was I choking before? Was I just uncomfortable? Did I just get used to it?
In my semi-expert in learning opinion, I had to learn something NEW. I didn't have to unlearn anything.
At one of those first talks, I was speaking about the 20 different patterns I had used extensively since I had started golf. It went something like this:
There is a couple of lessons there I'd like to share, but first, I'd like to tell you that since that talk in late 2005, I've added at least 5 more patterns. Here are the three STONE COLD TAKE HOMES:
1. Learning a brand new pattern is VERY doable.
2. Looking at swings on video (with no TrackMan numbers) is a TERRIBLE predictor of success on a real golf course and especially in a real golf tournament.
3. I can still do 90% of each pattern after a couple of practice swings. Your brain never forgets.
4. No matter how different those 25 or so swings are, they all look a little alike. Some things in golf swings ARE hard wired, style elements that probably are 70% physical attributes, and 30% mannerisms.
I've gotten a lot better, and now I'm basically just "me" on stage and my last couple of talks are A minus at worse.
What did I learn?
God knows, I know how to talk. And, whatever my subject is at the time I am presenting it, I know it cold.
Why did I improve so much? Was I choking before? Was I just uncomfortable? Did I just get used to it?
In my semi-expert in learning opinion, I had to learn something NEW. I didn't have to unlearn anything.
At one of those first talks, I was speaking about the 20 different patterns I had used extensively since I had started golf. It went something like this:
"In my quest to become the best teacher ever, I have become my own little research project. And I got pretty good at a few of those patterns, then junked them when I thought something was worth testing long term. If I had all 20 of them playing in a loop "Brady Bunch style" on the screen right there, and had all of you vote on the one that was the best, and the one that was the worse, I'd bet a fair amount of money the one that won the "beauty contest" would be "#7," and the one that finished last who be "#14."
Only one problem, #14 could kick all of those "brians" in the rear in a stroke play event."
Only one problem, #14 could kick all of those "brians" in the rear in a stroke play event."
There is a couple of lessons there I'd like to share, but first, I'd like to tell you that since that talk in late 2005, I've added at least 5 more patterns. Here are the three STONE COLD TAKE HOMES:
1. Learning a brand new pattern is VERY doable.
2. Looking at swings on video (with no TrackMan numbers) is a TERRIBLE predictor of success on a real golf course and especially in a real golf tournament.
3. I can still do 90% of each pattern after a couple of practice swings. Your brain never forgets.
4. No matter how different those 25 or so swings are, they all look a little alike. Some things in golf swings ARE hard wired, style elements that probably are 70% physical attributes, and 30% mannerisms.
From an entirely empirical perspective, I believe one can change a motion IF and only if the ball flight is changed. Someone mentioned taking away the reward, I might change that to changing the reward. I believe the correction for a slice is a hook for a period of time. For the same reason the player started hitting slices in the first place-by reacting to the flight of the golf ball. Golf is a reactive game, not a proactive one. We all react to one of two things: the shot we just hit or the shot we usually hit. I have rarely seen this to fail in 30 years of teaching. All the drills in the world will not change anything if the golf ball keeps curving to the right. Even Hogan didn't practice with the wind at his back for this very reason. Reaction. Give them a strong grip, ball back, closed stance, early release, whatever you have to do to get the ball to draw/hook for two weeks and I'll bet the move changes.
Brian Manzella
Administrator
Truer words were never spoken.
If ya can't be cool on the course, at least be cool off it!
Reefboy: what happens when you hand someone a phone immediately after a major trauma (accident of some kind) and ask them to dial a number? Or ask them to successfully dial a number of their choice (ie any number which successfully goes through to a person of their choice) for a million bucks inside 3 seconds?
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birly-shirly
New
I like this thinking a lot. But can it be applied where the object is to hit the ball further, rather than to straighten out a hook or a slice?
Assuming the unlucky soul you try this on isn't bleeding out on the side of the road..... I would bet that you get to keep your money. Trauma does not promote clear thinking.
Why the question???
Christopher
Reef: the question was alluding to which swing you will instinctively use under pressure. You may have learned many swings, but one will be "harder-wired" than all others. No?
birly-shirly
New
If you think that way, then you're probably right.
Your level of confidence in a new, learned move, and consequently your ability to execute, is bound to depend on a number of factors, but believing that you've got one "hard-wired" swing that is bound to surface under pressure is going to skew what happens, no?
Look at somebody like Faldo, who famously changed his swing and then made his name hitting great shots under pressure. Did he revert to his old swing, or did he believe that what he had learned would hold up better coming down the stretch?
Not that everyone is Faldo - but I do believe that if people can learn how to steer a car through a skid then they can learn to swing a golf club under pressure.
Lindsey Newman
New
" what swing will you use under pressure?"
That has always made me laugh. People revert under pressure because they are "scared" to make the new move. That's all, nothing more. People act like one plays golf in a trance and cannot control anything.
That has always made me laugh. People revert under pressure because they are "scared" to make the new move. That's all, nothing more. People act like one plays golf in a trance and cannot control anything.
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I couldn't agree more. That's why "fearlessness" or the ability to deal with fear may be the single greatest asset in professional athletes.
Watch guys on the range or on a basketball court before a game. Everyone is comepetent and sometimes amazing, but very few take it to the field of play when the bell rings....and it ain't for lack of practice.
I always liked the analogy of walking on a line painted on a gym floor that is six or even 12 inches wide. You could do it for days. Now suspend that line 100 feet in the air...most people would be paralyzed with fear. Other people would still walk the line. Who knows?
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For a start, pressure and trauma are two very different physiological/psychological processes. So it's a very bad illustration for your argument, but I do get the point you're trying to make and I don't agree with it.
Lets leave trauma alone in this discussion as I don't think being attacked on a golf course and needing to continue playing is a common occurrence. Pressure/stress on the other hand is very common, not just what is happening on the course but off the course as well. Now the problem with stress is the adrenalin that is released in the body as part of our "hard wired" response called "fight or flight". I say this is hard wired because, as a normal person, there is nothing you can do to change this response. If you have a constant triggering of this response from the same source, the response doesn't stop over time, you just learn to accommodate it.
For any competitive situation it is helpful to have a bit of a squirt of adrenalin as it helps to increase performance, but too much and performance takes a nose dive. The relationship of the amount of adrenalin to the top of that bell curve varies from person to person and activity to activity. Things that rely on not much thinking and lots of raw power can handle more adrenalin, like playing football(depending on what part of the world you're from, rugby). Fine motor activities, like microsurgery are completely destroyed by large flows of adrenalin.
The effects of adrenalin that are relevant to this discussion are the loss of muscle co-ordination(ie. not being able to punch the numbers on the keypad to make a call to emergency after an accident), and the increase of blood flow to the limbs which affects the power and resilience of the muscles. With anything that requires precision, these two things are going to interfere in a big way unless allowances are made. These allowances are guesses based on past experience, if you have it.
I think it would be a fair statement to make that golf is one of the most precise sports there is. If you're millimeters off at impact or microseconds out in your swing sequence you can go from glory to hell in the blink of an eye. So this demonstrates how exposed golf is to adrenalin. If you apply too much, you get the brain snaps that always seam to make the news. The best recent example I can think of is McIllroy at the masters last year. So the trick is to find what is the best amount for you and how to keep yourself at that level. Enter the sports psychology.
So what I think you are referring to is not a "hard wired" swing but a choice to execute either the simplest(least moving parts) or the most comfortable swing you have to accommodate the changing flow of adrenalin in your system and get the job done. This process can be conscious or subconscious depending on your experience.
Christopher
If you think that way, then you're probably right.
Your level of confidence in a new, learned move, and consequently your ability to execute, is bound to depend on a number of factors, but believing that you've got one "hard-wired" swing that is bound to surface under pressure is going to skew what happens, no?
Look at somebody like Faldo, who famously changed his swing and then made his name hitting great shots under pressure. Did he revert to his old swing, or did he believe that what he had learned would hold up better coming down the stretch?
Not that everyone is Faldo - but I do believe that if people can learn how to steer a car through a skid then they can learn to swing a golf club under pressure.
You refer to self-fulfilling prophecies birls. No disagreement from me on that.
But Faldo never really played under pressure with his new swing. He was no doubt a master of self control (on the golf course anyway
). How he would have reacted to true pressure is another question. Real pressure is playing the last 4 holes with OB left and trees right for your tour card when your bank balance is low and you can't stand the thought of working in Tesco for another year.
I agree, all this monkey turd about some swings breaking down easier than others under pressure makes me laugh like a dog snarling its teeth.
BUT, don't tell me there is no effect from your emotions on your swing. Desiring a specific outcome creates a complex emotional state which changes people's physiology not to mention their behaviour and most probably their golf swing. To say that people are immune to this is something I would disagree with. Some may be less affected than others admittedly.
This is exactly what I am referring to. Fearless is not a human state, unless you are gaga. Everyone reacts to their emotions, I was throwing the possibility of a connection between this reaction and the concept of "hard wired" up for debate.
I was always amazed at how certain people handle potentially difficult or stressful situations by reframing them into something positive while others freeze up. Fight or Flight is exactly right.
When Matt Kuchar finished high up in the Masters and the US Open as an amateur, it was arguable that there were a thousand or more better players than Matt in the world at the time. Somehow, he viewed or felt the Masters and the US Open were opportunities to shine and didn't shy away from the pressure that nearly everyone else in the world would have felt. Regardless of what some people may think, he "overachieved" at that moment in time. His game went up a level.
Conversely, there are players that have developed an amazing amount of skill at the game of golf to the point that they don't have to play their best to keep their Tour Cards. They have a high level of competency in every part of their games and being a member of the PGA Tour and playing golf for a living in front of galleries and television cameras is well within their comfort zones. That being said, their respective comfort levels may not include Sunday afternoons.
I would bet that there are players in the Top 150 in the world that don't even love the game of golf, they are just really, really good at it.
When Matt Kuchar finished high up in the Masters and the US Open as an amateur, it was arguable that there were a thousand or more better players than Matt in the world at the time. Somehow, he viewed or felt the Masters and the US Open were opportunities to shine and didn't shy away from the pressure that nearly everyone else in the world would have felt. Regardless of what some people may think, he "overachieved" at that moment in time. His game went up a level.
Conversely, there are players that have developed an amazing amount of skill at the game of golf to the point that they don't have to play their best to keep their Tour Cards. They have a high level of competency in every part of their games and being a member of the PGA Tour and playing golf for a living in front of galleries and television cameras is well within their comfort zones. That being said, their respective comfort levels may not include Sunday afternoons.
I would bet that there are players in the Top 150 in the world that don't even love the game of golf, they are just really, really good at it.
Brian Manzella
Administrator
What great posts!
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