Utilizing Knowledge

As a coach, parent, friend or spouse, we share information with one another. We do this for many reasons – to inform or educate, to create empathy, or sometimes to criticize. However, if the news does not resonate with the audience, what good is our communication? And how meaningful can our coaching/parenting/friendship/marriage be if our intentions are lost in translation?

For this reason, we ran through an exercise that gathered known information from our athletes then maximized and organized that content. We had our students list various golf skills and concepts, and they spent a few minutes writing down everything they knew on the topics. We heard definitions, applied examples and even questions. Students and coaches filled in the information gaps, and after discussion, all athletes recorded their newly-found comprehensive knowledge. As a result, our students gained a deeper understanding of how facets of our training relate to one another and why it all plays an important part in creating a more complete golfer.

Understanding the meaning behind our training components allows the students to build their self-images. Beefing up this aspect of their performance makes it easier for them to commit to their game. As a result, athletes are able to make confident decisions in an area in which they are achieving more competency. One of our main goals as coaches is for this mindset and self-reliance to carry out in other areas of their lives, making even a cautious decision maker able to make small confident decisions outside his or her area of expertise.