When I came up with the concept for G60, I wanted to address the issues I’d seen first hand with golf coaching for the last 15 years.
I could be forgiven for thinking I was doing a great job. I had lots of clients, lots of good results within lessons, and lots of positive feedback. It wasn’t until I analysed the tangible evidence of improvement (handicap changes) from my students, that I realised that a large percentage of my students weren’t actually improving.
I had to ask myself why my players weren’t achieving the results they wanted. They seemed to be taking the information on board in our private 1 hour lessons and they were making some great changes in the time we had together. So what was happening in between each lesson?
The truth is, I didn’t know. I had no idea if my students were practising their drills correctly, and due to the cost of private golf lessons, it would be at least a month before I saw them again. Inevitably they would come back for their next lesson with the same issues or worse, so we would just go through the cycle again. This is one of the issues I identified with giving sporadic private golf lessons. There was no feedback for the student in between lessons, and that is the most important time in the improvement journey. Because the frequency of lessons was low, it would be a while until I could rectify any bad habits that may have occurred in the “inbetween time”. These bad habits may have seemed small at first, but over the period of a month or 2, have multiplied into bigger issues.
When learning a new skill or technique, this “inbetween time” is where we start to create good habits and get rid of the bad ones. So why was I just leaving my students to fend for themselves during this time? Purely because I just copied the standard, traditional way of teaching golf and I thought that was the only way. I would watch them hit balls for an hour, give them some homework and send them on their way. I would churn through several private lessons every day with the same hope as they left.
As you can imagine, a huge number of students failed in this process. I now know that the system wasn’t set up to allow my students to create good habits quickly enough. So even if they did make some improvements taking private lessons, the changes were hardly noticeable because they were happening so slowly.
So now with G60, we have a system of coaching set up to allow you to make faster progress. We combine frequent training of the skill under supervision with unlimited feedback online. Not to mention our group short game and putting sessions which provide fun, competition and pressurised practice every week. When you’re learning a new skill or movement, these elements of practice are game changers. The “inbetween time” is not only shorter now, but it’s also supervised by a coach.
Does this method guarantee change?
No, you still have to put the effort in! But it gives you the ideal environment to make a change. I’ve seen massive differences with the speed of improvement with this method of coaching, and by making small changes each week, students are now seeing big changes over time.
This brings us on to the title of this blog, creating good habits.
I have been reading a brilliant book recently, Atomic Habits by James Clear. I would highly recommend reading it if you want to change any element of your life. James is successful, but he explains in his book that successful people make very small, manageable changes each day, which ultimately become big, significant changes over time.
When I coach students in my program now, I feel much less pressure in each session. Why? Because I know I can give smaller pieces of information, frequently over a longer period of time, instead of 10 pieces of information crammed into a 1 hour private lesson before I see them again for 1 hour in a month or 2 months time. (sometimes even less frequently than this).
This excerpt from Atomic Habits, should really resonate with golfers, especially if you’re already a G60 member. It describes the huge effect of small improvements over time. Improve by 1% each day and you’ll end up with results that are nearly 37 times better after one year.
WHY SMALL HABITS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
“It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment
and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily
basis. Too often, we convince ourselves that massive success requires
massive action. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, writ-
ing a book, winning a championship, or achieving any other goal, we
put pressure on ourselves to make some earth-shattering improvement
that everyone will talk about.
Meanwhile, improving by 1 percent isn't particularly notable-
sometimes it isn't even noticeable--but it can be far more meaningful
especially in the long run. The difference a tiny improvement can make
over time is astounding. Here's how the math works out: if you can
get 1 percent better each day for one year, you'll end up thirty-seven
times better by the time you're done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent
worse each day for one year, you'll decline nearly down to zero. What
starts as a small win or a minor setback accumulates into something
much more”
Summary
If you’re currently trying to improve your golf, and you’re still taking infrequent private golf lessons every year, with little to no feedback from your coach in the “inbetween time”, consider making a change. You will see much quicker, lasting changes by making the switch. If you’ve seen the light and you’re in a golf coaching program like G60, you need to make sure:
You stick to our 3-P Pledge (Plan, Practice, Persevere)
You remember that improving by 1% each day will have a huge lasting effect on your game
I’ll leave you with one more quote from Atomic Habits which will hopefully inspire you to start creating good habits…
“Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same
way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of
your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little dif
ference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the
months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two,
five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost
of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent”
