Pleasure vs. Perfection
By Michael Hebron
Playing golf always offers some challenges, but if the game is going to be inviting, learning
and making progress should not be a frustrating challenge. Pleasurable Game for All is what the
PGA of America call letters could stand for. Today, in 2010, and for a number of years, for every
golfer who takes up the game, another one stops playing and leaves the game. Surveys tell us
that golf has become a zero growth industry. During the last 20 years it seems that the golf
industry was focusing on perfection. The perfect golf ball, the perfects set of golf clubs; the
perfect golf swing; and I could go on. For many, this focus on perfection put aside the pleasure of
playing a game. Trying for perfection can create the kind of frustrations that makes the game of
golf less inviting for individuals, and does not grow the game for the golf industry.
When an activity is seen as pleasurable, interest grows, with fun following interest. When
a golfer’s interest in learning and playing a game is high, the natural ups and downs of anyone’s
learning curve are met with “Hey, this is interesting, I am staying involved.”
Some in the golf industry are saying that golf is a hard game to learn and play. Well this just isn’t
so, and I am not sure saying it is hard, grows the game. Golfers, for example, who shoot in the low
80s and high 70s, include blind golfers, one arm golfers, golfers with one leg, golfers who have
played the game for only a few years, and golfers who play only a few times a year.
As was said, golf should be pleasurable for all and in playing-to-learn environments it can
be. But, the way some individuals are being asked to learn and play golf has made progress at an
acceptable pace a difficult challenge. There is little pleasure to be found in learning-to-play
(teaching-fixing to get-it-right) environments filled with how-to directions, technical details and
corrections that cause a loss of self-confidence. Promoting perfection and getting it right,
separate progress from brain compatible principles of learning. On the other hand, playing-to-
learn environments promote aspirations, not technical details and perfection.
“It’s useful to know that at its core learning is a biological event. For example, without
directions, or trying, or even being aware during the first three or four years of our lives, learning
of such vastness happens that it over shadows all future learning. To approach learning
consciously is a biological impossibility.” It is self evident that early learning happened
(unconsciously) in playing-to-learn environments free of judgements that were brain compatible
for learning.
After spending time in a teaching-fixing (to-get-it-right) environment, when asked what they
are learning many golfers will answer, “I have a bad swing,” “I can’t putt,” “I have poor alignment.”
These environments have a negative approach to progress that is overlooking the elements that
makeup what the science of learning would call “a pleasurable, proactive learning experience.”
Individuals can be aware of what world class cooking is and what championship skiing
entails without taking any pleasure away from their own acts of cooking or skiing. Why? Because
both of these activities have been promoted as pleasurable activities regardless of skill level; not
ones that lead you to believe you have to be perfect at these activities to enjoy them.
Unfortunately, golfers are normally not given the opportunity to experience a safe, judgment free
environment when learning and playing golf.
Perhaps for years many golfers have only been aware of one side of the story, and expect
to be told (1) what is wrong with their swing (2) told to copy an expert model (3) been given drills
(4) to have their swing compared to a tour professional on video replay (5) given how-to
directions by a perceived expert. Not one of these five commonly used approaches to golf
instruction is brain compatible for long term learning. For example, respected research has
shown that fixing isn’t learning, but playing normally is; that expert models are more valuable when
used as inspirations rather than used as models to copy; that if used at all, video replay during
instruction is not as useful as showing video after instruction, with the student doing the self-
evaluation; that drills are more valuable after a skill is learned, than for learning a skill; that
following directions does not fully engage the higher cortex of the brain where learning takes
place.
The concept that the genius of play expands intelligence is being recognized by parents,
coaches, educators, and employers who are sharing ideas and suggestions rather than acting as
evaluators of right and wrong. In playing-to-learn environments advice givers take on the roll of a
facilitator of learning potential. It is only after a student’s learning potential is enhanced, that their
performance potential can improve. A master of anything was first a master of learning.
In playing-to-learn environments students are being guided in the direction of reaching
their optimal potential with general (just in the ball park) concepts that are free of technical
details. The brain does not encode details, it encodes and uses patterns and relationships.
Playing-to-learn environments help individuals to invent skills that are personal in nature. “I am
here to help you invent your way of putting, swinging, or holding the club” is the goal of a playing-
to-learn environment. In playing-to-learn environments there is no failure, only useable feedback
for future use. Modern cognitive science and my own experience has found that a playing-to-learn
approach to progress clearly gives a greater return on investment of time and resources than a
learning-to-play (teaching-fixing to get-it-right) approach. Individuals not only learn faster, they
retain skills and information longer in play-to-learn environments that are giving students choices
and the opportunity to self-discover and self-evaluate.
10%
When it comes to making long term progress, learning-to-play approaches to progress
often have golfers spending 90% of their training time on just 10% of what makes a golfer good or
even great. Try making your own list of all the elements you believe can make a golfer good.
What makes Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam, and Lorena Ochoa great golfers? What made Jack
Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, and Ben Hogan great?
If the list of elements that makes golfers good is an accurate one, it will not be a short list!
We could start with their swing, and then add imagination, emotional control, ability to focus,
physical strength, flexibility, short game skills, reasoning powers, deduction skills, eye sight,
organization skills, memory, self-discipline, experience, self-confidence, training schedule, and I
could go on. Note that the golf swing was only one of the elements on the list of what can make a
golfer good or great (and not the most important). Unfortunately, many golfers are spending 90%
of their time with less than 10% of what can make a golfer good; their golf swing.
When a golfer swings and the result is an unwanted outcome, it has less to do with their
physical ability to swing the club, than with how efficient all the other elements on our list are. This
holds true for high and low handicap golfers as well as professionals. We all know golfers with
less than classic golf swings who play good golf, and professionals who win when they do not
have their “A” game.
Playing-to-learn approaches to progress are similar to being a general manager taking a
wide focus to enhance every element that could support reaching optimum potential. On the other
hand, learning-to-play approaches have much narrower focus, such as focusing only on the golf
swing. For example, a learning-to-play approach in golf might be one that uses technical details
about the golf swing, how-to directions to fix the golf swing, and expert models to copy a golf
swing. Golf is not a game called “golf swing,” it’s a game called playing golf.
Copyright 2009, Michael Hebron, Learning Golf, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Neuro Learning for golf is a trademark of Learning Golf, Inc.
