Does Practice Make Perfect?

This year my son Matthew played high school football for the first time. Although that is not unusual, it was his first time to ever play organized football. The high school he is attending is brand new and he felt great honor being part of a new tradition, playing in the schools inaugural season.

I was, to say the least, extremely proud of Matt and can honestly say that I had tears in my eyes when he took the field for the first time. For me it was a flashback to my own first high school football game. I so vividly remember the emotion and excitement of that night 28 years ago.

Matthew, a 6 foot 4 inch - 250 pound sophomore, played often as a backup offensive and defensive tackle. His team ended their season with 9 wins and 1 loss, an amazing record for a first year high school football team.

Now you are probably wondering what this has to do with golf? Well, actually nothing, but it does lead me to what impact great coaching can have!

My son is a benefactor of an exceptional headcoach. While most of the players on the team had played football for years - some, like Matt, had never played a single down. It astounded me to watch his coach bring this group of kids together, teaching kids a new system that by high school standards is very complicated to say the least.

The headcoach had a plan in place to bring all the players together and began them with the "This is a football" speech. He started all the kids, freshman and seniors alike, at the beginning, covering the basics and progressing only when as a unit they were ready.

Now myself, having played in college and spent 3 years in the NFL, was working with Matt at home. I wanted desperately for my son to get better quick! It took no time at all for Matt's headcoach to let me know that while he appreciated my desire to help Matt, it was actually hindering his development and slowing down the entire teams progress.

He thoughtfully explained that while my advice to Matt was technically accurate, I needed to look at it from another point of view. I was giving advice to my son in the same way I would a teammate, but this teammate had never attended a practice, a team meeting or even put a helmet on before, so how could he understand what I was saying.

Of course my feelings were hurt to some degree, but it made complete sense after thinking about it. I was giving instruction on an NFL level to a beginning player, there was no way Matt could process this information - much less apply any of it!

So the next time you are sharing the practice tee with someone working on their game, think before you offer any advice, perhaps they are taking lessons. If so, consider that their instructor might have a lesson plan in place and this student might be at the beginning of that lesson series.

Just like my son who benefited from a coach who was committed to excellence, golfers can do the same. A good teacher can and will help players of all levels improve. Always remember "Practice doesn't make perfect - Perfect practice makes perfect".