Chip Kelly made me smile today

As a follow up to the last post, I guess putting blogging back in my forefront worked because I started seeing good topics everywhere I look again. Anyway, This morning, I was watching Sports Center on ESPN and they were interviewing Chip Kelly, the head football coach for University of Oregon. He was talking about a fun activity that the team does each Friday night to help get them pumped up for a game. He takes a popular movie and dubs over the famous lines with the message of the week. The thing that impressed me was the reason that they do this. It’s not to lighten the mood. It’s not to keep a bunch of 21-year-olds entertained. He does this because he said the majority of his players are visual learners. Do you know what style of learner you are? Does your instructor or trainer? I’m guessing no to all of these questions, but it may be one of the limiting factors in your improvement.

Somewhere during childhood we each hardwire our brains into a certain pattern of learning. The three common distinctions of learning are Visual, Auditory, or Kinestetic. In golf, or sport, these would be Visual, Rhythm, or Feel. The different learning styles really dictate how a person should approach practice and how they should build a preshot routine. If you cross languages, or wires, you will be confused.

Here’s a familiar example for a visual learner. Let’s say a visual learner goes to the golf course with a tip from a recent golf magazine fresh in his mind. The article talked about dropping the arms to bring the club from the inside in order to stop his slice. Sounds good right? Not for Mr. Picture. The only way that he will benefit from it is if he were to try and drop his arms but focus on what it looked like. Otherwise, this will create a fuzzy picture and for a Visual person to perform well is simple. The clearer the image for a Visual learner, then the better the result. Visual learners do well with shafts in the ground for practice so that they can SEE where the club is supposed to travel or other drills that help create a clearer image. Drills that focus on FEEL can confuse a visual learner and make the player worse.

From my experience, very few golf professionals are really aware of the different learning styles and even fewer incorporate them into their lessons. They ask every player, “How does that feel.” They stick shafts in the ground for anybody doing a path drill. Or they talk about how important rhythm and balance are regardless of who they are talking to. Let me give you an example that comes to mind when I think of how golf instructors look at students. A friend and golf pro had just finished giving a lesson when I was walking up to join him for a late nine. I could tell by the expression on his face that he thought it went well. But I asked how it went anyway.
He said, “That was one of the best lessons I have ever given.”
I said, “So if I asked your student, he would know exactly what he is supposed to work on and why?”
He looked puzzled and said, “well no, he probably couldn’t explain it to you.”
I responded, “That’s fine, could he show me?”
“well…maybe” He said as his tone changed towards frustration with me and my constant questioning.
Now I was puzzled. I asked him, “What made the golf lesson one of the best you have ever given?”
He said, “Easy, I explained what he needed to work on as clearly as I ever have and I did a great job of showing it on the video.”
“oh….good, let’s go play.” During the round, I explained my line of questioning.

An important lesson in communication is that “the meaning of a word in a given conversation is the interpretation of the listener.” I might say the most correct explanation imaginable, but if it not interpreted by the listener then it’s my fault. Usually, if the listener doesn’t get it, then I’m not speaking the same learning language that they are looking for. That might have been the case here. All those pretty words might have been lost on a feel or visual player.

My lesson to you is to know your own personal learning style. Until this concept is more mainstream if you don’t know your own personal learning style then you are just rolling the dice with your golf pro. Well, unless of course you get one of those rare special coaches like Chip Kelly of University of Oregon. I’m routing for the Ducks this year.