Youth Golf Program @ Michael Hebron's School for Learning Golf (TM)
“Flow –Through” Learning
By Michael Hebron, PGA MP CI
An Invitation to Succeed - Success in Classrooms Through Golf
One of the aims of our program is to create an interest in playing golf. Said another way, one
of the goals here is to make learning and playing golf much easier than some may believe it
can be. At Smithtown Landing we believe that golf can be uncomplicated, interesting, and fun
to learn and play, which leads to developing other physical and mental skills.
The program is designed to help students learn “what to do,” (a positive) and avoids any “How
to” directions that try to fix poor outcomes. Studies into the nature of learning show that fixing
is a negative approach to progress, and has never supported developmental learning. But by
focusing on “what to do,” long-term learning is encoded through the students’ own reasoning
and deduction skills.
Why should children learn to play golf? Some views would say, to win a scholarship; or to
develop a great swing; or to win tournaments, or to learn life skills. These views should be
rethought and quickly replaced with: children should learn to play golf simply because it’s a
great game that’s fun to play with friends and family. Of course playing a game that one loves
could result in having that game open other doors. But I have never seen playing a game for
the purpose of gaining more from it than the enjoyment the game itself provides, open other
doors. Scholarships, great golf swings, and life skills may be possible outcomes, but they
should not be someone’s (parent or child’s) reason for playing golf or any game.
There are many skills that acts of learning and playing golf develop that unconsciously “flow
through” and mix with future acts of learning in other environments, including classrooms.
While this may be a counterintuitive insight, it’s a reality. Studies from cognitive science show
that past experiences in golf can unconsciously “flow through” and mix with new learning
experiences, making them deeper and more meaningful. (I refer to this as “flow-through”
learning,
which is a stage of progress that is often overlooked.)
Acts of true play, and what Chuck Hogan calls the “intelligence of play,” do indeed improve one’
s capacity for learning anything. Developmental learning (or what is referred to as real
learning) is grounded in the kind of active learning (or play) that enhances one’s ability to
evaluate and solve problems. When we are learning, making long-term progress requires
more than the skill of memorizing information. Studies from modern science not only support
this view; they suggest that learning golf, more than any other sport, can accomplish this goal.
There are several reasons that acts of “play” and “flow-through learning” support progress in
schools, and beyond in any real world environment. “PLAY” could stand for Powerful Learning
About Yourself.
Act of Learning And Playing Golf have an Influence That Goes Beyond Just Developing A
Physical Skill.
Learning and Playing Golf:
• Promotes cooperative behavior
• Develops self control behavior
• Promotes reflexion
• Helps develop locomotive skills
• Promotes problem-solving behavior (critical thinking)
• Aids in eye-hand coordination
• Promotes patience
• Develops self assesment skills
• Promotes logical thinking
• Develops self discovery behavior
• Promotes self development
• Develops competitive spirit
• Promotes sportsmanship
• Develops cardiovascular fitness
• Enhances emotional-social growth
• Develops cognitive skills (critical thinking)
• Promotes group interaction
• Promotes reasoning and deduction behavior (critical thinking)
• Promotes physical development
• Develops choice making behavior (critical thinking)
• Promotes pattern and sequence recognition (critical thinking)
• Helps individual to understand they are unique
• Enhances auditory and visual memory
• Helps develop strategy making behavior (critical thinking)
• Helps develop both fine and gross movements
• Helps develop alertness and visual tracking behavior
• Helps develop foresight and operative behavior (critical thinking)
• Promotes combining a variety of thinking and motor skills (critical thinking)
• And most importantly, helps to develop self reliance and self confidence
Goal unconscious (not conscious) thinking and motor skills
As was said, when learning golf, some of the same skills needed to be successful in school and
beyond classrooms are being advanced. Golf and “flow- through” learning im
improve the self-skills: including self-discovery, self-development, self-assessment, self-
learning, and self-confidence to name a few. Of all the self-skills, self-confidence is the most
important when it comes to making progress in school and sports. Our program is geared for
supporting and enhancing your children’s self-confidence and self-reliance.
The youth golf program at Smithtown Landing has over 800 participants and is designed to
help each individuals play golf and learn in their own unique way (We do not have a program
learn to play, we use a play to learn approach. Play births developmental learning). The
program is not trying to teach golf parse, it is helping students learn golf based on all of their
past experiences. One of the techniques used to keep a student’s interest engaged is to give
them choices. Studies show that giving students a choice is perhaps the most meaningful
approach for learning and making progress. For example: we may ask, “Which way of swinging
the club would you choose? Showing swings A, B, and C. Our program gives students choices,
it does not give commands, criticisms, or judgments of outcomes. Students learn to use their
own power of self-assessment.
Efficient approaches to developmental learning are designed to make students feel smart.
These approaches take place in smart classrooms and smart learning environments. These
environments take into account that Students Minds Are Really Terrific.
copyright Michael Hebron, all rights reserved 2010
“Flow –Through” Learning
By Michael Hebron, PGA MP CI
An Invitation to Succeed - Success in Classrooms Through Golf
One of the aims of our program is to create an interest in playing golf. Said another way, one
of the goals here is to make learning and playing golf much easier than some may believe it
can be. At Smithtown Landing we believe that golf can be uncomplicated, interesting, and fun
to learn and play, which leads to developing other physical and mental skills.
The program is designed to help students learn “what to do,” (a positive) and avoids any “How
to” directions that try to fix poor outcomes. Studies into the nature of learning show that fixing
is a negative approach to progress, and has never supported developmental learning. But by
focusing on “what to do,” long-term learning is encoded through the students’ own reasoning
and deduction skills.
Why should children learn to play golf? Some views would say, to win a scholarship; or to
develop a great swing; or to win tournaments, or to learn life skills. These views should be
rethought and quickly replaced with: children should learn to play golf simply because it’s a
great game that’s fun to play with friends and family. Of course playing a game that one loves
could result in having that game open other doors. But I have never seen playing a game for
the purpose of gaining more from it than the enjoyment the game itself provides, open other
doors. Scholarships, great golf swings, and life skills may be possible outcomes, but they
should not be someone’s (parent or child’s) reason for playing golf or any game.
There are many skills that acts of learning and playing golf develop that unconsciously “flow
through” and mix with future acts of learning in other environments, including classrooms.
While this may be a counterintuitive insight, it’s a reality. Studies from cognitive science show
that past experiences in golf can unconsciously “flow through” and mix with new learning
experiences, making them deeper and more meaningful. (I refer to this as “flow-through”
learning,
which is a stage of progress that is often overlooked.)
Acts of true play, and what Chuck Hogan calls the “intelligence of play,” do indeed improve one’
s capacity for learning anything. Developmental learning (or what is referred to as real
learning) is grounded in the kind of active learning (or play) that enhances one’s ability to
evaluate and solve problems. When we are learning, making long-term progress requires
more than the skill of memorizing information. Studies from modern science not only support
this view; they suggest that learning golf, more than any other sport, can accomplish this goal.
There are several reasons that acts of “play” and “flow-through learning” support progress in
schools, and beyond in any real world environment. “PLAY” could stand for Powerful Learning
About Yourself.
Act of Learning And Playing Golf have an Influence That Goes Beyond Just Developing A
Physical Skill.
Learning and Playing Golf:
• Promotes cooperative behavior
• Develops self control behavior
• Promotes reflexion
• Helps develop locomotive skills
• Promotes problem-solving behavior (critical thinking)
• Aids in eye-hand coordination
• Promotes patience
• Develops self assesment skills
• Promotes logical thinking
• Develops self discovery behavior
• Promotes self development
• Develops competitive spirit
• Promotes sportsmanship
• Develops cardiovascular fitness
• Enhances emotional-social growth
• Develops cognitive skills (critical thinking)
• Promotes group interaction
• Promotes reasoning and deduction behavior (critical thinking)
• Promotes physical development
• Develops choice making behavior (critical thinking)
• Promotes pattern and sequence recognition (critical thinking)
• Helps individual to understand they are unique
• Enhances auditory and visual memory
• Helps develop strategy making behavior (critical thinking)
• Helps develop both fine and gross movements
• Helps develop alertness and visual tracking behavior
• Helps develop foresight and operative behavior (critical thinking)
• Promotes combining a variety of thinking and motor skills (critical thinking)
• And most importantly, helps to develop self reliance and self confidence
Goal unconscious (not conscious) thinking and motor skills
As was said, when learning golf, some of the same skills needed to be successful in school and
beyond classrooms are being advanced. Golf and “flow- through” learning im
improve the self-skills: including self-discovery, self-development, self-assessment, self-
learning, and self-confidence to name a few. Of all the self-skills, self-confidence is the most
important when it comes to making progress in school and sports. Our program is geared for
supporting and enhancing your children’s self-confidence and self-reliance.
The youth golf program at Smithtown Landing has over 800 participants and is designed to
help each individuals play golf and learn in their own unique way (We do not have a program
learn to play, we use a play to learn approach. Play births developmental learning). The
program is not trying to teach golf parse, it is helping students learn golf based on all of their
past experiences. One of the techniques used to keep a student’s interest engaged is to give
them choices. Studies show that giving students a choice is perhaps the most meaningful
approach for learning and making progress. For example: we may ask, “Which way of swinging
the club would you choose? Showing swings A, B, and C. Our program gives students choices,
it does not give commands, criticisms, or judgments of outcomes. Students learn to use their
own power of self-assessment.
Efficient approaches to developmental learning are designed to make students feel smart.
These approaches take place in smart classrooms and smart learning environments. These
environments take into account that Students Minds Are Really Terrific.
copyright Michael Hebron, all rights reserved 2010
