Golf Tips vs Golf Workouts – a 4 year-old’s perspective

I was reading a book this week where a study, called the “marshmallow study”, was referenced. After a quick google search, I realized that this study was pretty powerful. Here is a quick synopsis and how it might apply to golf. Enjoy.

“Stanford University psychology researcher Michael Mischel demonstrated how important self-discipline (the ability to delay immediate gratification in exchange for long term goal achievement) is to lifelong success?

In a longitudinal study which began in the 1960s, he offered hungry 4-year-olds a marshmallow, but told them that if they could wait for the experimenter to return after running an errand, they could have two marshmallows.

Those who could wait the fifteen or twenty minutes for the experimenter to return would be demonstrating the ability to delay gratification and control impulse.

About one-third of of the children grabbed the single marshmallow right away while some waited a little longer, and about one-third were able to wait 15 or 20 minutes for the researcher to return.

Years later when the children graduated from high school, the differences between the two groups were dramatic: the resisters were more positive, self-motivating, persistent in the face of difficulties, and able to delay gratification in pursuit of their goals. They had the habits of successful people which resulted in more successful marriages, higher incomes, greater career satisfaction, better health, and more fulfilling lives than most of the population.

Those having grabbed the marshmallow were more troubled, stubborn and indecisive, mistrustful, less self-confident, and still could not put off gratification. They had trouble subordinating immediate impulses to achieve long-range goals. When it was time to study for the big test, they tended to get distracted into doing activities that brought instant gratification This impulse followed them throughout their lives and resulted in unsuccessful marriages, low job satisfaction and income, bad health, and frustrating lives. ”

This was the clearest recount, but there are others pointing to this fact contributing to as large a gap in SAT scores as any socioeconomic issue. Neat stuff, but how does it relate to golf. Simple, check the tittle.

Are you willing to struggle slightly in exchange for greater performance a few weeks, months, or maybe even years from now? Tiger did. Twice. He was willing to put his scoring on the back burner for approximately 18 months to improve his swing. As a result, he has continued to improve and reach levels of golf performance that are unparalleled. Would you take the marshmallow?

I think that golf tips are like the marshmallow. I offer them to my students all the time, but I usually tell them, “this is a band-aid” and “if you want to play better in the long run, we need to fix this also.” Usually that second option involves improving the body in order to improve the game, but those who have taken the second path have realized greater gains that were easily recovered when misplaced.

It is a lot easier to commit to a process when you know where the destination is and what the path looks like. With 3D data, physical assessments, high speed video and a greater understanding of motor learning the paths to improvement have never been clearer. Find someone qualified in your are or do what I did and learn it yourself to help your game.

Knowing how your swing works will help take the fear out of the game of golf and give you the power to say, “no thanks, I’d rather have 2 marshmallows later.”