24. Knowledge of what to do is of no use until you can do what it is you know, and do it without thinking

Did you know that no one can teach you how to play? You can be taught basic swing movements but it is you that has to learn how to use them. On the face of it, it sounds rather bizarre to be told no one can teach you to play especially when it comes from a coaching professional. It may sound like a contradiction but it is not. You can be taught all there is to know about the game and achieve an Honours Degree in the subject for your efforts but it's no guarantee you will be able to play. Knowledge of what to do is of no use until you can do what it is you know, and do it without thinking.

What you have to do is learn the experience of making unfamiliar movements. Eventually you become familiar with them and then discover how these movements have an effect on the ball. The process takes time. Frustration inevitably builds up and the pupil seeks out the coach hoping to be taught a magic movement that solves all ills but there is no magic move that will instantly cure your problem. You have to serve your apprenticeship.

I attended a coaching seminar several years ago and the presenter, who is a coach too several tour players, highlighted the point in the following way. He got 3 volunteers from the audience, made one lie flat on the floor and instructed him to do only what the remaining two told him to do. He then turned to the 2 standing and instructed them to get the third person up off the floor by just giving verbal instructions to him. After a few minutes, everyone in the room, having found it very amusing, realised how impossible it was. There was this poor fellow, still on the floor and nearly tied in a knot. The longer it went on, the worse it became. The two instructors, visibly stressed, had run out of ideas.

Very similar to the scenario that too much verbal technical golf instruction from a coach leads too. It is a state often referred to as been "Consciously Incompetent." However a player who learns the experience for himself, within a framework of basic swing principles, over a period of time has a good chance of becoming "Unconsciously Competent."

In other words ....... very Good.

"No mans knowledge can go beyond his experience". John Locke