Out-Thinking, Out-Learning and Out-Performing Others

[james ragonnet]

Learning how to learn AND learning how to motivate yourself to learn are transformative gifts you must give yourself. These gifts allow you to out-think, out-learn and out-perform your opponents. To improve, you must change the flawed and ingrained habits that govern your swing.

To enhance your thinking, take a balanced approach. Continue to seek advice from a wide range of experts. However, don’t grant experts – even the most famous -- dominion over you. Out-sourcing your thinking and learning is the biggest mistake and greatest injustice you can inflict upon yourself. The most powerful determinant of you is YOU. If you don’t swing your swing, you’ll be enslaved by someone else’s.

After decades of coaching, playing, researching, writing and testing various methodologies, I reached a startling conclusion: Golf’s conventional and varied methodologies fail – not for different reasons – but for the same reason.

Einstein wrote, “You can’t solve a problem using the same mode of thinking that created the problem in the first place.” Herein lies the problem with golf instruction. Analysis, the divide and conquer mode of thinking that breaks things down into separate parts, is antithetical to understanding and mastering a dynamic, holistic, nuanced, tightly-coupled and complex athletic movement lasting only 1.4 seconds.

Every complex system – including the golf swing -- is an indivisible whole. When you disassemble an indivisible whole – by severing the myriad connections among its many components – you destroy the system. I’m not telling you to stop analyzing your swing. I’m telling you to not only analyze but also synthesize your swing. Analytical thinking lets you understand the actions of separate parts. Synthesis (i.e. systemic thinking) – a powerful mode of cognition – lets you understand the interactions among all the parts.   

For example, what’s the point of understanding the function of your trail elbow unless you understand how it functions interactively or holistically? No swing component – regardless of how small -- exists in isolation. Every component – directly or indirectly -- depends on every other component. To improve your thinking and learning, you must merge analytical and systemic thinking. In modern golf instruction, however, systemic thinking has been grossly overlooked.  

Analytical AND systemic thinking let you understand and solve problems from dramatically different perspectives. For example, from a butcher’s analytical perspective a cow represents separate chunks of dead meat. From a dairy farmer's systemic perspective, however, a cow represents a live, milk-producing entity. Merging analytical and systemic thinking widens your mental bandwidth.

Why is systemic thinking so important? In the swing’s inherently failure-prone system, it takes only one small glitch to trigger a cascading series of errors that will make your swing partially or totally dysfunctional. What’s most important in a system are not the actions of separate parts but the product of their interactions. Given the number of bewildering interactions in your swing, therefore, margin of error is slim.  

Your golf swing -- like your signature, fingerprint or pancreas – is uniquely yours. Therefore, adopting swing components from others who don’t share your parameters is risky and foolish. Frankly, I wasted many years trying to imitate Hogan’s swing. Instead of becoming a better version of myself -- I tried to become someone else.

There is no established path for all golfers. You must find your own path by walking it. Swing your swing by becoming an independent and innovative thinker and learner. Rely more on yourself and less on others. No teacher taught you how to speak and walk. You taught yourself. Furthermore, no teacher taught Sam Snead – who won 91 professional tournaments – how to swing. The truth is never easy.

[iacas]

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

To improve, you must change the flawed and ingrained habits that govern your swing.

I agree, and learning how to learn is important, but the "ingrained habits" are largely physical IMO.

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

If you don’t swing your swing, you’ll be enslaved by someone else’s.

I'm not sure what this even means. People who "swing their swing" often stink. They need to swing an "improved" swing and then, ideally, make that "their swing."

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

Golf’s conventional and varied methodologies fail – not for different reasons – but for the same reason.

Where's the proof that they've "failed"?

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

Einstein wrote, “You can’t solve a problem using the same mode of thinking that created the problem in the first place.” Herein lies the problem with golf instruction. Analysis, the divide and conquer mode of thinking that breaks things down into separate parts, is antithetical to understanding and mastering a dynamic, holistic, nuanced, tightly-coupled and complex athletic movement lasting only 1.4 seconds.

I addressed this in the other topic you started, but no, I disagree. You said "by definition" in the other topic, which is the more disagreeable take, so I'll discuss this stuff over there.

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

Every complex system – including the golf swing -- is an indivisible whole. When you disassemble an indivisible whole – by severing the myriad connections among its many components – you destroy the system.

No, you don't.

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

Synthesis (i.e. systemic thinking) – a powerful mode of cognition – lets you understand the interactions among all the parts.

You don't think golf instructors understand how changing one "piece" of the golf swing affects the "interactions" and how the "whole" works?

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

For example, what’s the point of understanding the function of your trail elbow unless you understand how it functions interactively or holistically? No swing component – regardless of how small -- exists in isolation. Every component – directly or indirectly -- depends on every other component. To improve your thinking and learning, you must merge analytical and systemic thinking. In modern golf instruction, however, systemic thinking has been grossly overlooked.

Again, where's the "proof" of this?

You're going to get little argument from me that most golf instructors kinda suck. But you're making some awfully broad generalizations.

Also, I linked to this in the other topic:

Many golfers do well when they don't think and they just "do."

I've said to be good at golf you either need to be incredibly dumb or incredibly smart (about the golf swing). If you're somewhere in the middle, it's a muddy, muddy road.

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

Analytical AND systemic thinking let you understand and solve problems from dramatically different perspectives.

Why should golfers be doing this, and not just outsourcing some of this stuff to professionals who have dedicated their lives to this?

Again, sometimes golfers better spend their time "doing" and not "thinking." That's what they can pay someone like me to do.

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

For example, from a butcher’s analytical perspective a cow represents separate chunks of dead meat. From a dairy farmer's systemic perspective, however, a cow represents a live, milk-producing entity. Merging analytical and systemic thinking widens your mental bandwidth.

A butcher likely doesn't care much about a dairy cow.

And again, many golfers have enough stuff to worry about. You're being vague here, no doubt so people possibly look into your books, but why should a golfer not just outsource some of this stuff, learn the little drips they need to learn, and go about their lives with a better golf swing?

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

Why is systemic thinking so important? In the swing’s inherently failure-prone system, it takes only one small glitch to trigger a cascading series of errors that will make your swing partially or totally dysfunctional. What’s most important in a system are not the actions of separate parts but the product of their interactions. Given the number of bewildering interactions in your swing, therefore, margin of error is slim.

No disagreement there, but…

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

Your golf swing -- like your signature, fingerprint or pancreas – is uniquely yours. Therefore, adopting swing components from others who don’t share your parameters is risky and foolish.

Well, that's just a straw man, @james ragonnet. Who said anything (you started the topic), and now you're introducing "adopting swing components from others"?

But there's mistruth in that too, because everyone who plays golf has a body, and those bodies have things in common: fingers, arms, torsos, legs, shoulders… etc. Justin Rose's swing isn't too different than Justin Thomas's, because their bodies have a lot of similar parts and work in very similar ways.

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

Frankly, I wasted many years trying to imitate Hogan’s swing. Instead of becoming a better version of myself -- I tried to become someone else.

Sorry to hear that. Hogan's book(s) created a lot of slicers. But that's not what all of golf instruction does.

Would you be (mildly) offended if I made sweeping generalizations about your profession?

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

There is no established path for all golfers. You must find your own path by walking it. Swing your swing by becoming an independent and innovative thinker and learner.

On its face — so I'll assume you're not actually saying this — this is horrible advice, because a good instructor can act as a guide and tell you what roads to take, and interact with you, and speed up your journey, or even help guarantee you'll get there. Walking your own path (you didn't say "alone" so that's where I'm cutting you some slack! 😄) is almost surely going to result in a higher failure rate than walking it with a guide who knows the layout of the roads.

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

Rely more on yourself and less on others.

Others know a lot more about the golf swing than "you" do.

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

No teacher taught you how to speak and walk. You taught yourself.

That's not true at all.

On 4/6/2021 at 9:21 AM, james ragonnet said:

Furthermore, no teacher taught Sam Snead – who won 91 professional tournaments – how to swing. The truth is never easy.

And yet the best golfer of all time, Tiger Woods (winner of well over 100 "professional tournaments"), has had multiple teachers.

As do almost every golfer on the PGA Tour.

[iacas]

James asked me to remove his posts from the forum, which we do not do, by rule (and the rule is based on several good reasons).

So, @james ragonnet will apparently not be engaging, and simply wanted to promote himself without any discussion whatsoever.

Disappointing to say the least.

[boogielicious]

He does prattle on doesn’t he.

[Vinsk]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

Disappointing to say the least.

Yet hardly surprising. I really don’t get it. These guys that come here in their Plato robes and expect everyone to just take them in like they’re all knowing and not to be questioned. 

[boogielicious]

7 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

Yet hardly surprising. I really don’t get it. These guys that come here in their Plato robes and expect everyone to just take them in like they’re all knowing and not to be questioned.