The ESPY Golf Swing Coach Pyramid Learning Model

THE QATSPY GOLFER’S PAGE

By: Charles W. Boatright

Different Type of Golf Coaching System, ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique

During my annual checkup, my doctor and I discussed my recent golf book, The ESPY Golf Swing Coach, that I provided to him six months earlier for a trial. He stated that he had better results from the my book than he did from taking conventional golf lessons. I explained that I wasn’t surprised with his results, given the deficiencies with the conventional golf lessons, not necessarily the content or the instructor. But the real issues are the method and frequency of the conventional golf lesson  presented to the golfer and their retention rate of these lessons.

Most conventional golf lessons are presented as a lecture-style format, a few times per month, usually twice per month. This type of golf swing coaching only provides, at best,  a 20 percent retention rate by the golfer. The other issue is with how conventional golf lessons are presented to the student. The conventional golf lesson mainly addresses the conscious part of the golfer’s memory. We don’t play golf with the conscious mind, as some might think. We play golf mainly with our subconscious mind.

I can’t think of a more inefficient method of retaining information than relying on a lecture-style  format of a conventional golf lesson. Even if the conventional golf lesson consisted of a demonstration-lecture, the golfer’s retention is not significant. Even if visual aids, demonstrations, and examples are incorporated into a conventional golf lesson, the golfer can only expect to retain about 25 percent of the information, at best, and that drops down to 20 to 10 percent after a week of the lesson.

The other issue with a conventional golf lessons is that the golfer can only perform what techniques they have learned or practiced for a couple of holes before their subconscious mind naturally takes  over the golfer’s game.

The cost of the conventional golf lesson (between $70 to $120, per 30-minute lesson) makes the conventional golf lesson extremely inefficient for the golfer who only retains about 25 percent of their golf lesson(s). But, this reflects the average golfer’s experience and performance on the golf course. Unless the average golfer can take incredibly good field notes and perform repetitious techniques presented during the 30-minute conventional golf lessons, the golfer will only have a short-term benefit. This is why golfers find it difficult to apply their conventional golf lessons to the golf course, and why one out of five golfers are dropping out of the game of golf (REASONS: Retention, Difficulty, Expense, Time, and Access).

Golf is too beneficial of a sport and fitness activity, both physically and mentally, to give up or not participate on a regular basis. I walk the course when I play golf, and my average distance that I walk over 18-holes is 9.75 miles, three times per week.

The ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique

I had a professor in college during my junior year who explained to us on the first day in a Structural Steel Design class that our responsibility was to teach ourselves the Engineering curriculum. His job was to train our minds to be engineers. The professor’s philosophy supported the ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique, based on a self-coaching, or autodidact approach. The self-coaching technique is the most effective format of learning and retaining knowledge, especially executing the golf swing sequence. This is like taking an online course or performing homework where you are working on your own time and pace.

A self-coaching technique is similar to a golfer putting in extra, individual reps after practice, just to improve their golf game. Most great quarterbacks put in the extra time on their own by studying game films, play books, and performing their skills. Self-coaching reduces the conflict between the conscious (WHAT TO DO) and the subconscious mind (HOW TO DO) due to the focus component. This is similar to the quarterback throwing footballs through the center of a suspended tire, until they can throw the football through the tire, but until they can’t miss. In golf, a self-coaching technique allows the golfer to use failures to gain positive experience to gain confidence.

The ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique to Allow a Golfer to Play How They Practice

A self-coaching forum used in my book is called the 405- Training Drill that takes a page out of the football coach’s handbook by using a scrimmage-type practice session. This allows the golfer to take their golf swing techniques and practice to the golf course. Ninety-percent (90%) of the golfer’s techniques are a subconscious function, instead of a conscious function.

To retain and use a golf swing technique on the golf course, the golfer will have to perform the technique over a 21-day period, like how most habits are formed. The ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique allows the golfer to replicate technique and reduce this 21-day period during their practice session.

Mental Rules of Golf No. 7 states- The subconscious mind (how we play) always prevails in conflicts with the conscious mind (how we practice). For the subconscious mind to adapt and use a technique on the golf course, the subconscious mind has to learn and practice these techniques under the similar conditions of how the golfer plays. This is the reason that golfers find it difficult to take techniques from conventional golf lessons to the golf course. The football-type scrimmage practice in the 405- Training Drill provides the golfer with a course-style practice format.

The ASPEN Golf Swing Coach Pyramid to Increase Retention

The 405- Training Drill allows the golfer to take The ESPY Golf Swing fundamentals (three simple techniques of: Sync/Preset and Yaw) to develop a self-coaching system, that has a 90 percent retention rate. This provides similar conditions during practice (like an obstacle-type course)  that the golfer will experience on the golf course. The Self-coaching system is at the base of The Learning Pyramid. Results reinforce the subconscious process and performance.

The ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique takes the self-coaching system and combines it with  prior experiences that the golfer has already developed, called Apperception. This apperception approach increase the golfer’s retention and performance on the golf course. One such Apperception technique uses the baseball-style golf swing to seize on the well-established swing mechanics and technique that the golfer has developed. These Apperception Techniques allow the golfer to retain their golf swing sequence and, more importantly, their confidence. Apperception, or APP for short, builds on an existing instinctive behavior or habit to increase the golfer’s retention of skills and confidence on the golf course. There is no substitute for focus and confidence on the golf course. You can’t coach focus and confidence; you have to develop them.

I personally have not experienced lack of focus or confidence in executing my baseball swing while standing in the batter’s box. I’m more focused on the baseball and less on my swing techniques. This same ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique can be applied to the golfer’s swing just as well. The golfer just has to convince their subconscious mind that the techniques learned in the baseball swing can be applied to the golf swing.

Applying The ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique

The convincing of the subconscious mind starts from the preset Lock position, instead of the passive address position used in most golf swing sequences. The address position is like the command ‘Mark,’ given in a Track & Field race. The usual commands given in Track & Field are ‘MARK- SET-GO‘. The address in golf is like the MARK, given in Track & Field for the golfer to take their stance, alignment, and grip. The SET is where the golfer actually starts their golf swing from with Sync/Preset. The Sync/Preset allows the golfer to be proactive to sync the elbows and preset the wrists, or wristbands, into the Lock, or the MARK, Position.

By being proactive in performing the Sync/Preset, or SET maneuver to the Lock Position, the golfer is directly engaging their subconscious mind and muscle memory, instead of thinking. The golfer’s conscious mind can do one of two things, either THINK or FOCUS. The golfer wants to FOCUS, like the Be The Ball quote in Caddyshack- where Ty Webb- played by Chevy Chase mentioned to Danny Noonan- played by Michael O’Keefe stated- I’m going to give you a little advice. There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball.

The Lock Position is actually where the golfer wants to start their golf swing from the lock position, shown below, instead of the address position. From the Lock Position, the golfer only has to take the handle of the golf club up to the top of their golf swing along the correct swing plane, noted in the time-lapse below.

GOLF TIP: If the golfer takes the handle of the club up, on the correct swing plane, the golfer will have the sensation of their feet and knees screwing down into the ground. If you don’t feel this sensation, STOP and start over, onto the right swing plane. GOLF SWING PLANE MATTERS IN GOLF SWING MECHANICS!

My grandfather, Hemi Q. Boatright, developed the ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique in 1927, using the Sync/Preset- Lock Position golf swing sequence. The Sync/Preset- Lock Position actually started his golf swing, like the baseball player in the batter’s box in the figure below. From the photograph below and to the left, my grandfather is at the North Hills Golf Course in 1946. He already has established his address position, but in this photograph, he is looking down the fairway, proactive, off the tee box. This is just prior to my grandfather establishing the Sync/Preset- Lock Position, like a baseball batter would perform.

  

Take the Baseball-Style Golf Swing from the Batter’s Box to the Tee Box

The ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique uses the Apperception, or APP, approach to engage existing muscle memory from the baseball-style golf swing. This allows the golfer to be proactive to FOCUS, instead of static, or a passive position, that allows the golfer to experience the temptation of THINKING. NEVER A GOOD THING TO DO- -THINK in the golf swing sequence! The last thing that the golfer wants to do on the tee box is to THINK and freeze up. Thinking is like the conscious mind putting up detours in the golfer’s normal golf swing sequence.

The ESPN Sports Radio Talk Show Interview

I was interviewed by a local ESPN sports radio show, where the host, an avid golfer, was describing his golf game over the past four weeks as being dreadful, horrible, and awful during the opening monologue of the show. This was before my interview was to take place in the next segment.

During the interview about my book, the host stated that everyone has different swing styles, techniques, and mechanics, and that golf lessons still provided the best results to the golfer. I asked him how long had he been taking golf lessons. He replied, “For about six years. My follow-up question was, “How has that worked for you?” He replied- “I’m still struggling around an 18 handicap.” I then asked him what his long-term goal was?” He replied, “A single-digit handicap.”

I then asked the host “if he knew about Einstein’s Theory.” The host answered, “Are you referring to the Theory of Relativity”? I replied “No, I’m referring to the Theory of Insanity.” He was not amused as much as I was serious. Golf lessons are just the starting point to understand the WHAT, the conscious part of the golfer’s golf game, representing the 10 percent factor. The only way the golfer can improve their golf swing and game is to practice under scrimmage-type conditions, like the 405- Training Drill, in football, and actually play golf using the subconscious mind, the 90 percent factor.

Another Apperception Approach to Learning and Self-Coaching

Playing golf is no different than learning to drive a vehicle. At first, there are the nerves with surplus adrenaline, where everything you performed you had to think about in a parking lot or vacant field. This is especially true with a manual transmission, like my granddad Boatright’s 1974 red/white Ford Bronco and his 1946 Jeep. Coordinating the accelerator with the brake and clutch was an acquired technique.

But once I became acquainted with the manual transmission, I didn’t even think about the shifting and the clutching process. What occurred was the process started out as a conscious procedure in the parking lot where I had to think through each and every element in a sequence. After I gained experience, the procedure became a subconscious and instinctive process, like automatic on the open road. This is how the golfer wants to proceed in their golf game with the ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique. A driver can’t learn or experience all they need to in the parking lot, until the driver has to actually drive on the roadway.

NOTE: For those who might not be familiar with Einstein’s Theory on Insanity, it simply states- “Insanity: is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

To learn about the ASPEN Golf Coaching Technique and how to apply the 405- Training Drill, purchase your copy of The ESPY Golf Swing Coach from the links below, or visit your local bookstore:

My book can also be purchased at Edwin Watts Golf Store in Jackson, Mississippi. Phone No. 601-956-8784

820 East County Line Road, Ridgeland, MS 39157

My book can also be purchased on-line at:

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

Health and Fitness Program Golf Exercise for Power

This book is based on a self-coaching forum (ASPEN Pyramid) that provides the beginner and advanced single-digit handicap golfer with a safe, ergonomic classic golf swing for more power and control, without debilitating injuries that are common with some modern-day golf swings. As part of the ESPY Golf Swing Coach is a workout program designed especially for golfers and an effective diet program detailed below:

   

Please take advantage of my SR-925 Diet Program, where I lost 6 inches in my waist in 3- months (FREE of CHARGE) with the CASPER Workout Program, detailed in Section 20 of my book, great golf swing workout:

One component in my CASPER Workout Program that I follow is using a Medicine Ball to perform what I call Stocking the Shelves, illustrated below in the figure:

Please include an exercise routine in your weekly schedule.

Also, learning The ESPY Golf Swing Coach process is an excellent way to develop Rhythm without experiencing the Blues in your golf game for confidence; learn how to take your baseball-style swing from the batter’s box to the tee box.

Please visit “The Locker Room” for an Index of all my golf articles to improve your golf game and life. Discover how you can take your baseball swing from the batter’s box to the tee box.

Learn How to take your baseball-style golf swing from the batter’s box to the tee box.

For Comments or questions please contact me at 1-888-514-1228 Mon – Fri from 9 am to 4 pm CT Zone.