I always thought of coaching as a two way street and the building of a relationship. But this month has been a real learning curve for me. The concept of ownership of the solution has always been a key focus but a few sessions this month have made me take it a step further and place greater emphasis on the creation of the solution.
It struck me in a session last week when a clients reaction after any poor shot was to turn to me and ask why did that happen. Perhaps even more importantly, maybe even before I had started to speak, the client wanted the ultimate answer to what do I do to stop it happening again. If you can’t feel anything yourself and, even more crucial, you aren’t trying to understand what you feel as you think the answer is stood next to you, then it’s going to be difficult to naturally progress. It’s a bit like being given the answer to a maths question but not knowing how to get to the answer. You may be given something to work on but why are doing it and where is your underlying confidence in this. Is it based solely on your trust in your coach? Do you have more belief in the solution and more likely to stick with it if the coach has years of experience or someone else has said they are good? Maybe if they are double the price of other coaches they must know more!
If you take time to understand the problem and its cause then you will be more invested in the solution and be part of how you got to it. This approach engages different areas of your brain and as a result, they start to work together when you are implementing corrections. Both your creative and analytical parts of the brain are on the same page. This gives the solution a greater chance of success as any questioning thoughts are eliminated.
It’s always worth finding something with your coach that you can use when you are on your own on the course. Something to give you feedback on why the result was what it was. This could be shot shape, divot position or direction. All these give you an indication of what you did and you can use that feedback on the next shot. Without this, it's easy to get a bit lost and lack direction on the course. You then have the ability to develop on your own and unleash your own potential for learning rather than simply waiting for the next instruction.
