Human beings are learning animals, probably the most
efficient learning machine ever to have walked the earth. From birth we are programmed to alter our
behaviour depending on our desires and the feedback we are receiving from the
environment. Our success as a species is
largely down to how efficiently we learn and change our behaviour, depending on
circumstances.
So, if the learning process is so natural and normal, why do
we find it so hard sometimes to change our behaviour and learn new skills,
especially new motor skills and movement patterns?
Something seems to have gone wrong with the way we learn, we
seem to have got in the way of the natural process and made it much harder than
it needs to be.
Rather than focus on the acquisition of the new skill as a
starting point, perhaps it would be better if the first stage of the learning
journey was to reconnect with and understand exactly how we go about acquiring
and developing that new skill, whether it’s a golf swing, playing a musical
instrument or tiling a bathroom.
In his books, ‘The Talent Code’, and ‘The Little Book ofTalent’, author Daniel Coyle goes into great detail into the learning process,
and offers some great insights into how to get the most from your tuition and
practice, and how to work with the natural learning process rather than
fighting against it.
Here are a few of the key points he raises.
1. Repetition is the absolute Number 1 key to
successful motor skill acquisition.
It takes about 3000 repetitions of a movement for the body
to ‘get it’, 10000 reps for it to become a habit. That’s why a couple of hours a week down the
driving range might be fun, but it isn’t really helping your golf swing to
become a consistent, repeatable movement.
2. We learn most by failing.
You need to fail to learn.
Instead of berating yourself and feeling angry and disappointed when you
hit a bad shot, pause for a second. Open
your mind. What actually happened
there? What did it feel like? What was the difference in feeling between
that and a good one? Your mistakes are
the big opportunities. Make them count.
3. Break it down into
small pieces.
When learning a large and complex movement such as the golf
swing, it really helps to break it down into ‘chunks’. Work on small pieces of
the movement, such as the takeaway, transition or impact, and focus tightly on
that specific part of the movement, repeating it over and over until it is
perfect. Then integrate it into the overall movement.
4. Little and often
is better than feast and famine.
Sitting down once a week and saying “Right, I’m going to
practice my grip for the next hour” very rarely works, for the simple reason
that it’s dull, repetitive and unlikely to hold our attention for that length
of time. Within a few minutes we’ll get distracted and any opportunity for
learning will be limited. Much better to
say “Right, I’m going to grip the club perfectly 20 times” then leave it an go
and do something else, coming back after a while, then doing 20 more perfect
reps.
5. Play games, make
it fun!!
In the same way that a little and often is better than feast
and famine, playing games rather than doing drills, is an excellent way to make
practice engaging and enjoyable. Whether
it’s competing with a friend to get it up and down, or challenging yourself to
hole 20 consecutive 3 footers, or hit 10 drivers in the fairway, making
practice into a game keeps it from becoming ‘work’. Most of us play golf for
fun, and while we all want to improve, turning it into work is rarely the way
forward.
