Capture Your Skills: A Quick Putting Test

"That which can be measured can be improved."

Earlier in the day I tweeted about Aimpoint's score predictor - a great tool for visulaizing the impact of potential improvements to your game, specifically in putting.

Golf happens to be a game that is rich with performance metrics and putting is a part of the game that has many different components.  Below is an outline for a quick assessment that will give you a snapshot of your skills in short putting, mid range putting, and lag putting.  From there, you can divide up your time on the practice green based on your results, and spend more time working on the parts of putting that are most relevant for you.

Short Putting

How many 4 footers out of 20 can you make?

1. Place 4 tees in a cross formation 4 feet from a hole.  

2. Go around the hole, clockwise, hitting 1 putt from each tee until you've hit 20.

Mid-Range Putting

Are you making enough putts from 8-15 feet?

1. Place a tees in a cross formation around the hole.  The first tee should be 8 feet from the hole, the next at 12, 10, and 15 feet.

2. Go around the hole 5 times in the following pattern: 8ft, 12ft, 10ft, 15ft.  Keep a tally of your makes from each distance.

Lag Putting

Are you 2-putting with ease?

1. Pick a hole.  Place tees in the ground at 15, 20, 25, and 30 feet.

2. Create a semi-cirle of tees around the hole wit a radius of more than 12 inches.

3. Hit 20 putts in the following pattern: 15ft, 25ft, 20ft, 30ft.  Record how many finish in the hole or semi-circle from each distance.

Where is your attention?

I’ve written a few notes on practice, specifically, how to bridge the gap between practice and play, so that your skills can transfer onto the course more efficiently.  Going a bit deeper into the subject; however, we find that there is more to practice than simply developing your golf skills.  Understanding how you react to pressure, the physiological reactions that take place, and the actions that manifest as a result, are of equal importance to develop– as they are key to creating the strong self-management skills that lead to long-term success.

Why are some simple putts more difficult than others?  Why do some people have difficulty in hitting their drivers?  There are seemingly an infinite number of answers given the variability of physical, technical, and tactical characteristics among golfers; rather, I will shed a bit of light on the connection between attention, memory and physiology.

Some people excel under pressure, while other do not.  Moreover, some golfers develop skills faster than others.  Prior engaging in research on motor learning, I had no idea why this was the case.  The research of Dr. Sian Beilock offers some great insight into this by discussing the difference how one’s attention works with memory to produce movement.  As coaches, we often talk about paralysis by analysis – a condition in which the golfer whose attention is solely focused on controlling their performance, or pre-occupied by the potential consequences of their performance.  From observation, we know that it is very difficult to perform/play at a high level when your attention is focused on controlling movement/performance or if you’re worried about it.  According to Beilock, “paralysis by analysis stems from an overactive prefrontal cortex”.  As a non-expert in the field of neuroscience, I’ve come to understand that the prefrontal  cortex handles tasks associated with differentiating - good vs. bad, right vs. wrong  - and instances where top-down processing is needed – instances when instruction is heavily guided by one’s attention on specific body parts in order to perform total movements.  In essence, an overactive prefrontal cortex limits your ability to experience automaticity – or in other words, run on autopilot – and instead creates tension in human performance, by attempting to create step-by-step movements.  

Next time you practice, consider experimenting with the focus of your attention.

Hit 10 shots focusing on the movement of a specific body part

Hit 10 shots focusing on the movement of the club

Hit 10 3 foot putts focusing on not missing.

Hit 10 3 foot putts focusing on rolling the ball.

Hit 10 3 foot putts humming ‘Mary Had a little Lamb’.

Hit 10 shots counting backwards as you swing.

As you are going through the exercise, take note of your tension levels, and quality of your focus on the required task.  You may surprise yourself.

In essence, swings are the result of a complex communication system.  As you practice and play, it is constructive to observe yourself, taking note of where your attention is when you perform your best.

Learning: Crawl, Walk, Run

When learning how to walk, did you sprint?  The answer is rather self-explanatory; however, why do we seldom follow the same process when implementing a change in our swing or adjusting our technique?  Try walking slowly, directing your attention to your feet.  How do they feel when you take a step, and push off into the next?  Where is the energy goings? Now up the speed a bit, how well is that feeling and sense of awareness maintained?

Often times, slowing down heightens your sense of feel and sharpens your awareness.  When implementing changes, feel is seldom real, and therefore it is important to be aware of what your intent feels like and how it is different from what you are trying to change.  Why? Learning is indifferent to correctness.

Think back to an earlier post regarding deliberate practice.  We know that for practice to be effective in must

1)      Engage the brain in the planning process to stimulate the body appropriately.

2)      Use the brain to evaluate the resulting feedback to transfer to memory.

3)      Create an environment with a certain degree of random order to stimulate 1) and 2).

How can we use the idea of crawling, walking, and running before we sprint with principles of deliberate practice?  First, define the goal of the practice.  What part of your swing would you like to heighten your sense of awareness of?   Second, close your eyes.   By removing the temptation to ‘check’ the movement, your sense of feel is increased. Third, gradually build your speed, and experiment with other speeds as your comfort level increases.  To start, make full swings, hitting shots with your eyes closed at 25%, 50%, 75%, and then 90% speed.  To add more randomness, create a die out of wood and for each side, put a percentage figure.  Roll the die, then execute the shot at the speed on the die, waiting 1 minute between each shots.    Lastly, evaluate the resulting tempo in relative to the intent on a scale of 1-5 prior to hitting the next shot.

How do you define talent in the context of golf?

Let’s take a very common situation that we run into in Canada.  Let’s take two kids - Jimmy and Billy.

Billy turned 15 in January.  Throughout his youth, he has had limited involvement in hockey and other stick and ball sports.  Rather, Billy has been playing golf every summer since he was 6 and year round since he was 10.  Billy is regarded as one of the top juniors at the 15 and under level.  He has already garnered scholarship interest from many Division I schools.

Jimmy turns 15 in October.   Jimmy played ‘AAA’ hockey for 5 years; however, he was cut from his ‘AAA’ team this season, as he simply wasn’t good enough – he grew significantly during the previous season, which greatly affected his skating.  Jimmy also played tennis recreationally in the summer.  He took up golf with his buddies last summer and realized that he really enjoyed the game, as it was a great way to get away from the hard hitting in hockey.  Frustrated with hockey; he chose to direct his attention towards golf.  Fully committed to golf and despite never playing in any competitions, he entered a year round coaching program. 

So, who has talent?

In this situation, there is no right answer, but there is no question of who is the better golfer now.

Talent, howevere, produces images of ability or competitive advantages that are largely uncultivated or raw.  In essence, talent is potential yet to be realized/trained.  However, we most commonly use performance as a means to identify talent.   Why does this matter?

Think of the golf talent pool.  Talent is identified by score and performance at a young age, which isn't wrong.  Most strong performers choose to train their golf skills in lieu of playing other sports.  Often times, the top juniors between 8 and 12 haven’t hit their Peak Height Velocity and because of their golf-centric focus, don’t possess strong athletic backgrounds/physical literacy.  Think about it, imagine being the top player in your age group, and then all of a sudden, having your bones grow at different rates than tendons, etc.  What would that do to your game? Coordination?  Imagine if every shot felt as if it were 3 or 4 inches below your feet.  Would that impact your performance?  Now think about how those changes in performance would affect your confidence?  It’s a pretty hard fall from the top, even for kids.  That being said, if we as coaches are conscious of this and proactive in monitoring PHV, competition schedules can be managed and you can bring your athletes back into your safe environment to develop coordination, speed, range of motion and their scoring skills.  Try and be aware of PHV when reading the next paragraph.

To take a page from ‘Outliers’ by Gladwell, most NHL players are born between January and March, making them the oldest in their birth year, which is undoubtedly a huge competitive advantage when competing against kids born in December of the same year.  What is the January-March of golf?  In Canada, it would be September – December, as that buys them an extra year of U17 and U19 golf given the cut-off dates for our championships, making them more of a force when competing against kids in the same age division, but born in the summer months of the following year.  It also allows them to come back to Canada after their freshman year in College and compete in junior golf.  Or, as many kids in Canada do, it allows them to take a year off after high school to train, and compete as an ‘over-ager’ in junior golf.

Why is this relevant in identifying talent and our scenario?

Billy, while highly skilled, will be approaching a very difficult time in his development, especially given his lack of athletic background.  PHV degrades motor skills, and unless he is conscious of what is about to happen, and is proactive in managing his schedule and training, he risks completely losing his confidence and (potentially) scholarship opportunities.  He also doesn’t have the option of the extra year of junior golf, so he may feel pressured to continue with his traditionally heavy competition schedule - not good – especially given the body’s fragility during growth, which exposes him to overuse injuries should he push too hard.

Jimmy clearly has a great opportunity in front of him.  Having gone through a rapid growth spurt, and trained heavily for hockey during that time, was able to develop his speed, coordination and angular/rotational striking skills, which transfer nicely into golf.  Coming from the hyper competitive world of ‘AAA’ hockey, he possesses strong competitive instincts and work ethic in addition to his speed and overall athleticism.  Lastly, his birthday buys him extra time in junior golf – with a strong coaching program and his natural athletic instincts; he can rise quickly if managed correctly.

Again, it’s very obvious who the best player is now.  But who has more upside? Is being the best player in the world as a kid a key determinant of future success?  These are tough questions that can be argued from both sides, as Billy can be successful if managed correctly.

“Training always beats talent until talent trains.”

The key to long term player development (and the health of the game) is identifying untrained talent, like Jimmy, who would otherwise go by the wayside, and being conscious of PHV and its impact on motor skills in protecting our highly skilled young athletes.  Being proactive in measuring golf-specific KPI’s like clubhead speed and simple physiological KPI’s like vertical jump at the grassroots level can funnel an entirely new brand of athlete into the game.

I’m curious to hear what other coaches think about talent ID, and the relationship between trained skill and talent.

Please leave comments discussing how you define and measure talent.

Deliberate Practice: What is it?

Reflect on your last practice session.  Why did you practice? Did you have a goal in mind? What did your your session look like?  Did your activities support your goal?

I recently reviewed a seminar on Practice and Golf Skill Development by Dr. Tim Lee – a renowned academic in the field of motor learning.  At one point in the presentation, Dr. Lee visited the ‘10,000 hour rule’.  When discussing Dr. Ericsson’s definition of practice, Dr. Lee was quick to point out that deliberate practice, rather than repetition, is required to reach expert levels of performance.  In this case, deliberate practice is defined as being goal oriented with the specific purpose of achieving an end result.

What then characterizes deliberate practice?  According to Dr. Lee, what separates deliberate practice from other forms, is the engagement of the brain in planning the event, and in evaluating the feedback afterwards.  Why? Involving the brain in defining intent and evaluating the result promotes learning, while recalibrating after every shot resembles the context of the game and improves focus.   Effective deliberate practice, therefore, starts with a goal and follows a plan of action that starts by engaging the brain in order to stimulate the body in a way to create the desired behavioral pattern, and then evaluating the feedback to determine if the goal was met or not and if any adjustments in the pattern (or command) are needed.

How does this relate to you and what can you do to improve your practice?

1. Always go to the practice area with a goal in mind - what are you trying to accomplish?
2. Construct a plan of action that supports the goal – know what you’re working on and how you’re going to go about it.
3. Stop when you’ve met your goal – quality of repetitions is of utmost importance, not quantity
4. Add variety to your practice to improve retention and transfer of golf skills. – Hit 30 balls in 30 minutes to different targets with different clubs (add different lies for fun) going through your routine on each ball.  Also, try some other 1-Ball practice exercises 

In summary, deliberate practice is much more difficult than hitting golf balls, as it requires more energy in the planning and review process of each shot.  Moreover, recalibrating on every shot gives you the opportunity to center yourself and discover your rhythm on each shot, which is no easy task.  However, as Dr. Lee points out, recognize that temporary changes in performance do not equate to learning.  Therefore, see the challenge that deliberate practice presents and understand that even though it is harder, your long term development will be much better off.