Professional Golf Instructor Training

[jim_0068]

Jim, long before I heard of Yoda, two other GSED told me I needed to memorize a list similar to what Yoda has published.

My first reaction was what the heck for? It is an open book test, I have it available if I need to reference it, etc.

Well I took a pre-test, not open book and to my surprise I struggled. It really wasn't that hard, it was only 66 or 67 questions and it only asked for a handful of references. So it was back to the book. When I took the open book test, I discovered that knowing where to go made a big difference and if you do take the test, if the rules are the same, don't paraphrase. Since you have the book, write it out as it is written.

Back to memorize or not? In life there are subjects that are taught that require you to memorize if you are going to be able to do your job. In school, grade school, you memorize the times tables, you memorize a lot of information. If you had taken Latin, you would discover that you need to memorize a number of verbs and their tenses, they don't track like normal verbs, so you memorize.

Does it make you a better teacher? Only if you do something with that information and that you understand it. At least that is my opinion. Being able to quote the book chapter, paragraph and verse and not being able to explain it or apply it will not make you a better instructor.

I think that memorizing it will help you along the way in becoming a better instructor, but not memorizing it doesn't by default make you a poor instructor, at least that is my opinion. Where the rubber hits the road is having the knowledge and understanding and then be able to communicate it and Experience helps...

Martee...you are comparing (as i said in a previous post) "learning" versus "teaching."

Nowhere did i say or if i did i didn't mean to imply that memorization doesn't have its place in LEARNING because it is a very valid way to LEARN basic concepts so that you can learn how to apply them in whatever subject.

What i'm saying is if Teacher A can memorize more of the constitution than Teacher B are we to say that Teacher A is better because he/she knows more of it without looking at it?

[bambam]

Hell my g/f who has extremely difficult learning disabilties could probably tell you word for word what some of the agreements are on a mortage loan from working in the industry for 5+ years but that doesn't mean she could teach someone to be a loan officer or be one herself.

I don't think the point was that one must memorize that list to teach golf or that simply memorizing the book gives you the ability to teach the material. The point was that memorizing that material will do nothing but make you a better teacher, if for no other reason than you will become a better student.

[jim_0068]

Have you had any TGM Authorized Instructor training?

Have you taught any Learning Disabled students in a classroom or tutoring setting?

[bambam]

I still stand by my statements, memorization really has 0 to do with being a good teacher in ANYTHING.

That's great because the above is LEARNING not TEACHING. You think the teacher teaching the kids the ABCs is a wonderful teacher because he/she can recite the ABCs?

My wife is a very good Kindergarten teacher, and a tremendous amount of her elementary education training was memorization work. Sure she learned how to communicate and apply the material and even learned special needs teaching tecniques, but I can assure you she would laugh in my face if I suggested that memorization had absolutely nothing to do with her being a good teacher. She would look pretty foolish if she had to lookup what letter comes after "A" everytime she wanted to teach her students the alphabet.

[jim_0068]

I don't think the point was that one must memorize that list to teach golf or that simply memorizing the book gives you the ability to teach the material. The point was that memorizing that material will do nothing but make you a better teacher, if for no other reason than you will become a better student.

Explain to me why? Why will memorizing anything make you a better teacher to any student on any subject?

I've had teachers who knew their material so well they didn't even need a book for class and i have had others who needed the book in their hands in class during lecture. Neither imo was better than the other because one had a better memory.

[mrodock]

Explain to me why? Why will memorizing anything make you a better teacher to any student on any subject?

I've had teachers who knew their material so well they didn't even need a book for class and i have had others who needed the book in their hands in class during lecture. Neither imo was better than the other because one had a better memory.

I would be hard pressed to believe that the teachers that required a book in order to efficiently lead a class did not have much of the information memorized.

"Learning is remembering" (Plato). The thing is, it all goes back to remembering. Whether one thinks memorizing the book is useful or being able to recall instantly changes you have made with students and what approaches you took and how they worked. No matter, any discipline requires being able to remember what you need, when you need it. So too, remembering where you can find the information is very useful too, and can often be good enough.

[bambam]

Explain to me why? Why will memorizing anything make you a better teacher to any student on any subject?

I've had teachers who knew their material so well they didn't even need a book for class and i have had others who needed the book in their hands in class during lecture. Neither imo was better than the other because one had a better memory.

For starters I did not say that a teacher with a better memory will be better than a teacher with lesser memory skills. I simply stated that working your tail off to know your material cold will make you a better teacher than you would have been otherwise.

...on to your questions...

I already made one point...

memorizing that material will do nothing but make you a better teacher, if for no other reason than you will become a better student.

Do you agree that a teacher must also be a good student? If so, do you agree that memorization is important for a student?

Here's a couple more...

In the two environments where I've taught: at the university level and in a corporate environment. Memorizing the material was a requirement, I could not have been an effective teacher if I didn't memorize a good chunk of the material before I started teaching. I'm not talking about 50 minutes of class lecture, but rather the one-on-one work with each student. Sure I could look-up every question the students had, but there's no way I would have ever established any sort of trust or semblance of competency with a single student. In the corporate environment, it's more obvious – time is money. The faster I can teach a concept or technology to a student or mentor them through a particular problem, the more money our company makes. Again, if I have to look up every question...or even worse, look up what chapter to find the reference to the answer to the person's problem...you get the idea. I'm completely comfortable saying that I could have done a better job teaching my students had I memorized even more material.

[KOC]

Although my understanding of the book is still green, the guide from Yoda will be very helpful to my study. My mentor, oztrainee, always asks me questions. What are 3 imperatives, what chapters related to hands….when he challenge me; I will ask him what I memorized already. What is 6-B-3-0-1? Answer me!

Yesterday, I watched a golf coach, sort of AGTF, gave a lesson to someone I knew but not too familiar with, the coach said: Take your club back with your left arm; swing slowly; don’t use your hands; use your shoulder, use your hip, you hit it so long… But, as a student of TGM, I knew that none of the impact was pure. No matter how fat he hit, club head slipped through the mat and no adjustment or comment was given. Instead, the coach said: see, listen to what I taught you, you can hit longer than me. The guy also demonstrated a 7 iron stroke. He said: hit the back of the ball first, return to address…and he did that with off-plane 3-F-7-B weak shot!

As I am nothing, I mean nothing, I just can’t say a word, I closed my eyes, thinking of Yoda giving lesson to Collin Neeman and recent Hull videos, (also kind of information memorized) I knew how to let my friend to understand 3d impact and what sound shall like just with basic motion. But he won’t get it from that coach. When my friend wanted to took a rest, he handed the club to me, I took a deep breath, I chip a few first…ok, 3d impact sound, I acquired more, #2 and #3, still good, I punched a few, still under control, (the distance is longer than his coach already) I checked all alignments and ready for a total motion, wow, yahoo, they stood up and run close to me to see the landing, a good distance as his coach using a fairway wood. The coach said i used my hands pretty well, I smiled at him and replied: I am training my hands still…

My mentor said to me that as an amateur, I can take part in AI program, He said AA. Authorized Amateur? I also want to be authorized too, is that a dream?

[Martee]

Martee...you are comparing (as i said in a previous post) "learning" versus "teaching."

Nowhere did i say or if i did i didn't mean to imply that memorization doesn't have its place in LEARNING because it is a very valid way to LEARN basic concepts so that you can learn how to apply them in whatever subject.

What i'm saying is if Teacher A can memorize more of the constitution than Teacher B are we to say that Teacher A is better because he/she knows more of it without looking at it?

Jim I think my last two paragraphs directly address your point. I just kind of took the long way around..

Martee wrote...Does it make you a better teacher? Only if you do something with that information and that you understand it. At least that is my opinion. Being able to quote the book chapter, paragraph and verse and not being able to explain it or apply it will not make you a better instructor.

I think that memorizing it will help you along the way in becoming a better instructor, but not memorizing it doesn't by default make you a poor instructor, at least that is my opinion. Where the rubber hits the road is having the knowledge and understanding and then be able to communicate it and Experience helps...

Jim I think golf instructor success or whatever you want to label it is based on more than their knowledge, they need to be able use that knowledge to educate thier students so that they will can excute. I think that is something Kelley said about what the AI's job was. In short knowledge alone does not make the teacher, at least not the good teacher.

[Yoda]

... any discipline requires being able to remember what you need, when you need it.

For more than forty years, Homer Kelley applied his genius to solving the mysteries of the Golf Stroke. His work yielded 45 mission-critical alignments to be achieved throughout the 12 Sections of each and every Stroke. He codified those alignments as the Mechanical Checklist For All Strokes (12-3-0).

Nine of those alignments are the same: Extensor Action.

So, if you maintain Extensor Action in your Golf Stroke, you will have achieved 20 percent of the Checklist. Similarly, if your goal is to memorize the Checklist -- for immediate reference or for its teaching application with a particular student -- then you have memorized 20 percent of the List.

That leaves only 36 items.

Suppose you took only one item per week. Then, in just 36 weeks, you will have memorized each item in the List. Hopefully, you will have been interested enough to learn more and more about each one during the week devoted specifically to it, especially if you are a teaching professional. Then, you will find yourself looking for ways to apply that new-found knowledge with your students. In this manner, over time, you will come to know each item in the List.

36 weeks.

Nine months.

A human being is conceived and born in nine months.

And, for those willing to pay the price, so can be born a true Authority on Golf Stroke Mechanics.