This past winter through the power of social media, I've met numerous exceptional golf instructors who have had quite an impact on my approach to teaching golf. Some of the most powerful lessons I've learned have come from Kate Tempesta, Kendal Yonomoto, and Bruce Rearick. What these instructors have in common is that they have all taught me that golf can be creative and needs to be. And in order to be creative, we have to help students of all ages to develop their natural athleticism first and then we can fine tune their games with the technical aspects.
Whether we are golf instructors or managers of businesses, there's always a tendency to get in the way of the creative process and try to mold golfers or employees into our own image, instead of getting out of the way and letting the creative process take place. To illustrate, a friend of mine named Garrard McClendon shared the following example with me. A parent and his child pick up the same video game from the store. In one room the parent is looking over the instructions and studying the details of "how" to play the game. In the other room, the child has already ripped off the wrapper, stuck the disc in the console and has reached level three before the parent even starts to play. Earlier this winter, I had the first phone conversation that reminded me of this and the importance of teaching golfers of all ages the importance of experiential learning.
Enter Kate Tempesta, an authority in early childhood movement and the top junior instructor in New York City. I had a eye opening 30 minute conversation with Kate and her charisma and love for children shot through the phone line like a lightning bolt. As golf instructors, we see the basics of "how" to swing the golf club in a textbook detailed way. Kate has taught me the real basics of all sports, which is teaching the creative and athletic movement which will give the golfer a solid foundation to learn to "play" the game and have fun. She's made me realize how important creative motion is and this needs to be a joyful creative discovery process. Definitely not the mindset of the typical golf professional. In the middle of the phone call, the epiphany came when I said to Kate, "So what your telling me is I have to quit thinking like a golf pro!"
My Canadian friend, Kendal Yonomoto understands this process. Just like Kate, Kendal is another innovator in the world of golf instruction and is definitely making an impact of the future of golf coaching. He also understands the importance of developing the athlete first and then fine tuning the golfer. His golf training involves working with a medicine ball to simulate the golf swing motion and as a result, his golfers develop the specific motions and muscular development to move the golf ball around the course with power, precision and touch. In fact, Kendal told me that a lot of his teaching process was developed by training with world class sprinters in Canada. Click on this link to see a demonstration of his teaching: medicine ball training. This training reminds of when I played basketball. For the first weeks of practice, all we would do is run laps and do numerous agility drills without a ball. Without this preparation, there was no way we would be prepared to practice learning the plays.
The most recent piece of my journey comes from my relationship with Bruce Rearick, an exceptional putting coach who has compiled tons of research through years of experience in club fitting and working for Science and Motion, the company that developed the SAM PuttLab. The most important thing I've learned from Bruce is that our visual perspective determines how we should putt the ball into the hole. After determining the optimal position to stand so we see the line of the putt, this determines the stroke we should use and most importantly, the best putter that we should use. This process has definitely simplified my approach to teaching. Should a golfer insist on using a putter that doesn't match their natural tendencies, it would be the equivalent of using a crowbar to hammer in a nail (I've had first hand experience here. hehe), the job will get done eventually, but you'll have to make a lot of unnatural compensations in the process.
So what does all this have to do with rearranging the golf shop? I normally have the staff rearrange the golf shop when I know I'm not going to be around for a while. I've learned that if I'm around, my opinions get in the way of their creativity and we end up with a messy arrangement of clubs, clothes and balls all in random piles resembling the disaster of a child's room that never gets cleaned up. I don't return until they let me know they're done creating and I'm always pleased with the results. Then all we need to do together is fine tune the results and make some sales.
Our responsibility as leaders is to provide the learning environment that result in the experiential creative learning process. Simply giving instructions and telling someone to go do their job or practice is the equivalent of giving out homework assignments or a job description and expecting to create expert performances. As leaders, we also have to realize that on occasion we'll have that student or employee that is looking for a panacea to get better now without the willingness to change or put forth any effort. At this point all we can do is move on to the next person whose been waiting for us and lead them along the way of the joy of the journey.
To learn more about Kate visit: http://www.ktuga.com/
To learn more about Kendal visit: http://www.coachkendal.com/
To learn more about Bruce visit: http://www.bargolfinstruction.blogspot.com/
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