Time to Boycott the NFL (Part 3)?

By Pascal Dennis

Standards in Golf and the NFL


Our NFL blogs seem to have struck a chord. Thanks, all, for your thoughtful feedback.

I was especially struck by my friend Fletcher Groves’ insights into the difference between golf and NFL football.

Golf, Fletch pointed out, teaches the difference between right & wrong, self-control and respect for others.

We sent Matthew, our nine-year old to golf camp this summer. “What did you learn?” I asked.

“I learned about etiquette, Dad” he replied, with charming pronunciation. He went on to explain what the word meant & why it was important.

It’s striking that professional golfers are expected to police themselves, and take pride in the fact.

The overwhelmingly negative response to Tiger Woods’ dodgy ball drop at the 2013 Masters is a case in point. ‘Should Woods have been disqualified?’ continues to be a hotly debated question.

Woods himself acknowledged that perhaps he got the rule wrong, and seemed genuinely contrite. Let me also add that he took a costly two-stroke penalty.

The point is that professional golfers accept and even revere the rules.

Golf standards for amateurs, like Yours Truly, are not as stringent of course. Truth be told, I have been known to use the ‘toe wedge’ to get my ball out of comical lies.

And my frequent forays into the club parking lot or adjacent highway do not always trigger proportionate penalties.

“Let’s see now, you were lying seven when you went into BBQ pit. You hit out onto the roof of the maintenance shed, down the drain pipe, and into the drainage ditch along the highway. Then you sliced the ball onto a freight train headed for Alberta…”

But then again, I don’t record my scores (so as to avoid embarrassment) or play for money.

Golf has detractors and challenges of its own, which I know the PGA is working on.

But integrity isn’t one of them.

Best regards,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

What Makes a Great Coach?

By Al Norval

I’m sure we’ve all heard about the often quoted 10,000 hour rule. The rule states that this amount of practice will lead to mastery over the given subject and thus to great success in the field. In fact, this is only half true. Practice alone is necessary but isn’t sufficient to lead to mastery.

Take my golf swing for example. No amount of duffing balls off the tee at the driving range will make a huge difference in my swing (Please don’t ask me what my handicap is). The reason being I’m merely practicing the same mechanics over and over again and end up reinforcing my bad swing.

What I need to do is to make adjustments to my swing and to do that I need a coach. Not just any coach but one who can analyze my swing, understand where I’m at and then introduce a deliberate training program that corrects my swing.

The adjustments are never easy since I’ve had years of repetition that have locked the flaws in place. To overcome these flaws and correct my swing I need to concentrate fully on applying the lessons from my coach.

I don’t have a swing like Tiger Woods so my golf coach needs to improve my swing by introducing adjustments little by little. Each one needs to challenge me so I have to concentrate on it to incorporate it into my swing. And I need to practice it over and over again to lock it in. If the adjustment is too big, I’ll just give up because it’s too difficult. If it’s too small, I won’t need to concentrate and the adjustments won’t get locked in. Concentration is often something that gets overlooked but it’s concentration that creates the neural pathways in our brains that lock in the learning. As these get locked in they become automatic and provides a foundation upon which to make the next improvement.

The last thing I need is a good feedback loop so as I try to make these adjustments I can see if they are working or not. On the driving range that usually means looking at the end result by admiring the flight of the ball. The problem is I’m looking at the end result and not the process of the swing. A better way would be to look at a video of my swing or to have a mirror set up so I could see what my swing looked like. Quick feedback on the process.

What makes a good coach?

• The ability to Grasp the Situation and understand the student’s current condition
• Having a well-designed teaching curriculum
• Setting targets that challenge students but are still attainable
• Understands the right process will deliver the right results
• Provides quick feedback on the process
• Inspires the student to concentrate on the process

Sounds like a PDCA loop and it is but it must applied with a human touch.

What separate good golf coaches from good business coaches? Very little – it’s all about the coaching process. The subject matter changes but the process remains the same.

Do any of you know any good coaches? If so, what is it about them that makes them a good coach? I’d love to hear from you.

Cheers