For the Instructor’s understanding:
Neuroscientists Discover New Aspects of Learning Golf
New discoveries about brain functioning have Big implications for you and your students.
Old Dog, New Tricks?
Research in neuroscience is now showing that whether you are 8 or 80, your brain has the same ability to make new connections!
One of the most exciting discoveries is the brain’s enormous plasticity, that is, it has the ability to change and learn. Scientists once believed that the brain was “hard-wired” early in life. Not so!
Yes, there are a couple of catches.. but ones that can be easily managed.
Pushing Past the Comfort Zone to Learn Golf
It has been shown that most people over 30 begin settling into some pretty comfortable habits. When they do, their brain’s ability to learn starts to shrink. Just as it is with “teaching an old dog”, getting the brain to learn new tricks depends a lot on the willingness of the player to leave their comfort zone.
This is also true for any of your students who you know tested to be to “controlled” or “conservative” or “self-sufficient” on the 8 Traits Personality Assessment and Report.
You will have much greater success with all your players, especially those in these three categories, if you make a special effort to get them to take ownership of their goals and the changes that they need.
Tip:
Get to know your players tendencies in these 3 areas, especially if they are over 30! This is a snap with their 8 Traits Personality Assessment and Report.
Then take a few minutes to explain to them that:
- Taking golf lessons, learning something new, is great for keeping their brain elastic and healthy! (younger)
- Their ability to learn new skills for golf is certain and can bring great rewards, but they must be ready for some discomfort as they “build new neurons” that help them replace old habits (neural pathways) with great new ones.
- It is important that they agree with, or even help you determine, their specific goals for change.
Why?
The two most important reasons:
1. Neuroscientists have found that the brain doesn’t build connections as well when told what to do. It changes patterns and builds those connections much better when the golfer is truly involved in the discovery process.
2. Change, according to neuroscientists, will be more successful when ownership is transferred to those who need to make the change…the golfer! This will help to learn golf in their own way, opposed to simply memorizing information.
Neuroscientists call this “self-directed neuroplasticity,” and it has been shown to create more connectivity (and much better learning) in the brain.
A Final Note….Learning is Hard Work!
And it requires energy to make learning stick! The brain must use glucose to move information from “working memory” to the basal ganglia at the base of the brain. [This is why you can feel so tired after a day of GolfPsych instructor training!]
Research shows that making just one decision reduces the glucose-blood sugar-available for the next decision, says David Rock, founder and chief executive officer of Results Coaching Systems in New York.
This explains why a lot of players, when energy levels are low, are inclined to simply revert back to the old habits ingrained in their basal ganglia part of the brain.
Tip:
Insist your students have a healthy meal or snack within the hour before –or even during–their lesson (and practice) to help keep those glucose levels high!
Read Part 2 Here
