I deliver packages for Amazon Flex at least 4 days a week. I do it to make some extra cash and because I really enjoy doing it. I like driving around in new places outside of the city. While out driving around God’s Green Earth I get to do a lot of thinking. Kinda like when you cut your grass. I enjoy doing that as well. My last 8 years in the Army was spent in an instructor role of some sort. During that time, I had to attend continuing education courses and earn my training certificates in subject matters that are not interesting. One of the courses I had to attend was a two-week Course Curriculum Writing Course. I forget what they called it. It kinda screwed me up because now when I look at training I think about Terminal and Enabling Learning Objectives.
On to what this is all about. While driving, I was thinking if I had to write a course on Golf, what would that look like. Well, here are my thoughts. First, I needed to come up with my Terminal Learning Objectives (Task to be learned. Conditions of task. Standards of task). What will be the main takeaways of the course? What are the high level most important parts of golf?
- Equipment Component
- Physical Component
- Environmental Component
Each of those 3 Terminal Learning Objectives (TLO) would have Enabling Learning Objectives (ELO) that support the TLOs. We’ll start with the Equipment TLO or, “Equipment Needed To Play Golf”, as an example. The ELOs under that TLO would be:
- Clubs
- Balls
- Tees
- Accessories
As you can clearly see, it can be a bit overwhelming learning about the equipment used in golf. The next category that needs to be addressed is the Physical Component. This one can get deep.
- Understanding Kinesthetics In Golf (How the body moves and how to move the body to maximize energy transfer to the ball).
- Physical Conditioning – For the Pros, they walk. No carts allowed for those fellas. A typical course will be roughly 6,000 yards of playing length. That doesn’t include all the walking around to look for their ball and walking from one green to the next tee box. That also doesn’t include slope and elevation changes. So yeah, you kinda need to be in shape. For us regular folk, we have carts. What if it just rained? Um, the words “Cart Path Only” will be posted along the course.
- Flexibility – You need to be a bit bendy to swing the club and for prevention of pulled muscles.
- Mentality – This one is my favorite. This one can honestly make or break a person’s golf game. You cannot carry what happened on a previous hole to the current hole. If it went bad. I believe it was Jack Nicklaus who once told an interviewer that he never missed a putt within 5 feet and never 3 putted. The interviewer rebutted and said that he’d actually seen him do both of those. Nicklaus had to believe those things haven’t happened in order to leave it behind him and not carry it with him. Pretty smart. Here is the story.
“Jack was speaking at an event at which he said “I have never three-putted, or missed from inside five feet, on the final hole of a tournament.” For those of you who are not golfers, he was saying that when the pressure was at its greatest, on the final hole of a 72-hole tournament, he had never missed a putt he should have made (if you are a professional golfer, you shouldn’t miss from inside five feet, and you shouldn’t take more than two putts on any hole).
At question time a guy in the audience took Jack to task. He said that he was watching a recent tournament and that Jack Nicklaus missed a three-foot putt on the last hole.
Jack replied “Sir, you’re wrong. I have never three-putted, or missed from inside five feet, on the final hole of a tournament.” The audience member offered to send him a video tape. “No need to send me anything sir. I was there. I have never three-putted, or missed from inside five feet on the final green of a tournament.”
After the talk was over the audience member came up to Dr Rotella and asked “What’s wrong with Nicklaus? Why can’t he just admit it?”
Rotella asked the man if he played golf (he did) and what his handicap was (16 … an average weekend golfer) and whether if he missed a short putt on the last hole of a tournament he would remember it and admit it (of course).
Rotella then said to the man “So let me get this straight, you’re a sixteen handicapper, and Jack Nicklaus is the greatest golfer ever, and you want Jack to think like you?” The man had no answer.”
Lastly, we have the Environmental Component. This one is probably the most technical. You can have the most Gucci gear in your bag but if you don’t know how to play in your current environment, you’ve got a bag full of paper weights. Factors, ELOs, involved in the Environmental Component.
- Grass – How different types of grass affect your play
- Slopes and Hills – Hitting down, Up or on Side Slope
- How to Play the Wind
- How Moisture on the ball and/or club face affects the flight
- Cold vs Hot – How that affects the ball and it’s flight
- Barometric Pressure
- Playing at Altitude
Love this video interview of Phil Mickelson when talking about the environmental affects on golf.
My brain is mush just pounding the keys trying to type what comes to mind. There is so much involved. The premise of this article is not about how to write curriculum. My goal with this article is to try and convey the difficulty of the sport. I didn’t really start playing golf until 2018. Before then I loathed the sport and made fun of guys who golfed. I started dabbling then embraced it in 2020. Since then, it’s been a journey of learning and experimentation. I’m a 15 handicap and play as much as I can. I’ve forgotten my swing then learned a new one, then forgotten that one and remembered my old one to fine tune. It can be frustrating. There is so much to learn and it can be overwhelming. Having owned a CrossFit gym for 6 years, started working out when I was 15, played football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and participated in Physical Training for 26 years in the Army I am thoroughly convinced that golf is the hardest sport, overall, to master. The amount of variables against the player are almost inconceivable. My credo? Stay after it. Continue to learn. This is a lifelong journey and it’s exciting to me each time I learn and try something new. Equipment evolves, I evolve and the places I play evolve. What a wonderful past time.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and find it interesting. If you have something to debate or add to, please feel free to do so in the comments. If you find this article helpful or entertaining, please share it. Thanks!!
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