Since I returned from the Southern California Vision54 trip I’ve been going over my old notes and blogs to see if I have wavered in the type of practice that I put in on a typical day and in some ways it has changed, although 90 percent of it is still similar in structure and point.  One thing that has helped the learning curve quite a bit along the way is this notion of Desirable Difficulties and Challenge Point.  These two concepts are somewhat similar in that they both are designed to make sure what you are doing is optimally challenging for learning.  They both also fit well with the new practice ideas I gathered through Vision54, namely to go farther away from repetitive hitting practice and continue to migrate towards practicing more like an actual competition.

While I was in San Diego I got a chance to have dinner with Dr. Bob Bjork and his wife Dr. Elizabeth Bjork, who have become wonderful friends as well as good resources over the past couple of years.  They are two of the researchers behind Desirable Difficulties.  In a nutshell:

Imagine a scenario in which a teacher has students practice different examples of a single type of math problem for an hour in class. By the end of the hour, it may seem—both to the teacher and to the students—that this type of math problem has been mastered. On a test two weeks later, however, the benefit may not be evident. In fact, much to the dismay of the teacher and the students, performance during training is not always representative of long-term learning. In contrast to the story told above, in which an easy training method was followed by poor performance later, imagine that the teacher had interleaved many different types of problems during in-class training drills. Recent research reveals that difficult training of this type produces higher scores on the test than the easier version described above (Rohrer & Taylor, 2007), and this is the kind of training that the Bjork Learning and Forgetting Lab believes enhances long-term learning.

There are, in fact, certain training conditions that are difficult and appear to impede performance during training but that yield greater long-term benefits than their easier training counterparts. R. A. Bjork (1994) dubbed these difficult but effective training conditions desirable difficulties. Other examples of desirable difficulties include spacing rather than massing repetitions of to-be-learned information, testing rather than re-studying information, and varying the conditions of practice instead of keeping them constant.

In a similar fashion, Dr. Mark Guadagnoli and Dr. Timothy Lee’s Challenge Point asserts:

The optimal challenge point represents the degree of functional task difficulty an individual of a specific skill level would need to optimize learning (Guadagnoli and Lee 2004). However, this learning depends on the amount of interpretable information. Therefore, although increases in task difficulty may increase learning potential, only so much is interpretable, and task performance is expected to decrease. Thus, an optimal challenge point exists when learning is maximized and detriment to performance in practice is minimized. With increased practice it is assumed that one’s information-processing capabilities will increase (Marteniuk 1976). Therefore, the optimal challenge point will change as the individual’s ability to use information changes, requiring further changes in functional difficulties in task to facilitate learning (Guadagnoli and Lee 2004).

There is a wealth of knowledge in those three paragraphs summing up the research of these wonderful Doctors.  For my practice, I pinpoint a weakness in the game and then create short challenges that are not too easy nor difficult to the point of frustration; more of a Goldilocks soup perfect.  For example, lately my scrambling has been less than optimal so I created a game around a large putting green where I have to get three up-and-downs in a row before I am allowed to move on.  What this does is forces me to practice in a similar manner to an actual game (one chip then one putt, not a bunch of chips in a row.  Also, always to a different target and with a consequence of having to drop three in a row before being able to move on).

This game incorporates a bit of the Challenge Point theory and the Desirable Difficulties.  It includes spacing instead of mass repetition and is, unfortunately :), difficult enough to force me to really concentrate.  As my chipping and putting improve and three up-and-downs in a row becomes too easy I can either up the number to four or I can increase the difficulty of each hole/lie/distance, etc.

No matter what you are doing, make sure it’s the right amount of challenge to engage your mind, that it is context specific and random enough to keep you on your toes.  Also, test yourself along the way to see how much you are absorbing.  For me, this last part is what tournament season is all about.  It is the time of the year where I can see what has been learned and absorbed since last season and it’s a wonderful way to see what I need to focus on next.

The practice possibilities are endless.  Whether alone or with someone, create a game and challenge yourself.  It’s fun to see how fast you can improve when you really have to.

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This first one is my handicap according to hours of practice.  I first got a handicap after about 2,000 hours of training and at the time I still had just 7 clubs.  The most recent handicap of 2.8 that was given last week is not included, this data is up to about 5,000 hours of training:

This next one is my handicap related to date.  Not exactly linear, but to me it’s obvious when I made big changes in my swing and what came from them after the step backwards:

This one is similar, but it’s how the handicap relates to the number of practice hours:

Then he charted out my rate of practice and how that has changed over time. What this demonstrates is that once I started playing full rounds my daily/weekly/monthly average practice hours actually decreased from when I was solely working on the putting green and range.  Originally I was scheduled to finish October 2017, but at the new rate the final date should be closer to November 2019:

This final one looks at my training rate from day one to the present day and shows a bit clearer how the average number of hours logged a day has slightly slowed since July 2013.

In other news I got the email yesterday saying I could officially play in the Oregon Am qualifier June 3rd.  This is the first year where my handicap was low enough to get into the event and I am excited to give it a go.  Last year 76 was the qualifying score to get into the actual Oregon Am.  I have that number in the bag and if I play decent I should be able to progress.  The actual Am is 36 hole stroke play and then the top 64 players get to move on to a 4 days of match play.  One step at a time and my goal is to play well in the qualifier coming up soon.

I was invited last year, but the conference was in St. George, Utah and at the time I was not in a position to afford the flight, hotel and golf.  This year it happened to be in Orlando and since I was already in Hilton Head, just 300 miles north, I decided to make the drive down and meet the group.  I was also fortunate enough to get to present one of the days as well as attend all of the presentations Friday and Saturday mornings.

I left early Thursday morning, really early.  It was about 5am East Coast time, which felt like 2am due to my not-quite-acclimated Pacific Coast body, but I wanted to make it to Orange County National (OCN) in time for a practice round at noon.  The drive went pretty well and I arrived in time to hit a few balls before heading out for a round.

The practice round was on the Crooked Cat course with three ICHP participants and it was a beautiful course, as well as day:

Such a refresher after the last few rainy weeks in Portland.  Glad to be in some sunny Florida weather, even if just for a couple of days.

The practice round went pretty well, was about 4 over through 15 holes, but then hit a wall of tiredness.  I think getting just a few hours of sleep and driving 6 hours then spending 4 hours in the sun and heat took it’s toll.  I doubled 16 and then bogeyed both 17 and 18 to card an 80.  But, I got a good look at the course and was hoping to play it again when the round really mattered over the next two days.  Much to my chagrin, though, the next two rounds would be played on the other 18 at OCN: Panther Lakes.

After that round UCLA psychologists Bob and Elizabeth Bjork arrived and I decided to go out and play the Tooth course with them.  Harvard psychologist Dan Schacter joined in and we had just enough sunlight to play this 9 hole par 29 course:

This was an awesome course to practice the short game.  If I happened to live near here I would spend many a days fine tuning the wedges on this track.  It’s basically a wide open field with water hazards, sand traps and 9 unique greens.  The holes play from 60 yards to 300+ yards.  I hit it pretty well as the short game is my strength and shot even par my first time around this short course.

After the drive and playing 27 holes it was about 8pm and my entire body was shouting for me to end the day.  But, the day wasn’t quite over yet as a small group wanted to go have a putting competition in the dark.  I couldn’t pass up this opportunity no matter how tired I was and joined in the nighttime fun.  We rolled the ball on the Bermuda grass greens under a simple floodlight and a bit of shine from the moon for an hour and then I had to call it a day.

The next morning the 24 participants of this year’s ICHP congregated in a meeting room to listen to a few presentations.  They were all interesting and inspiring.  This year it was kicked off by University of Illinois Professor of Psychology Aaron Benjamin who presented research on the difference between blocked, random and “increasing” practice:

I wanted to know more about Aaron’s research and left his, and everyone’s, talk wondering how I could best transcribe/translate this type of presentation into my blog. It’s a tall order considering each of the weekend’s 8 presenters can have years of research backing up their 30 minute talk and for me to assume I can sum it up in a paragraph or two is a bit outlandish.  There is a lot of value here for anyone interested in human performance and I have been considering a lot of different ways to get this content to my blog’s readers.

What I have decided is that I need to start recording Skype conversations with all of these amazing people I cross paths with throughout this journey and posting those on this site. It’s the only way to appropriately and realistically capture the true essence of their work without me muddling it up through a poor translation.

The next non-golf goal, then, is to figure out how to record a Skype conversation and set some of these up.  There are so many incredible people out there that can help us all.  I have met countless potential resources over the past 4 years while trying to find the best sources in the human performance realm to assist me with this journey and would love to share these with everyone.

After the talks we went out and played OCN’s other course: Panther Lakes.  It was a strange day ball striking wise and it took about 6 holes to realize that I had reverted on my old takeaway which was causing some erratic drives and iron shots.  The course was beautiful and the day was lovely, but I just didn’t play well.  The game that day was a four-man team game and one of my partners had the round of his life, but unfortunately I didn’t contribute much and we ended up coming in second by one stroke.

The next day five people gave talks in the morning and then we all went out for a shotgun start on Panther Lakes.  This day the competition was for individual gross and net scores and I was determined to hit the ball better.  Playing a course for the second time is worlds different than seeing it for the first time so I had some local knowledge of where to aim and where not to let the ball end up which helped immensely.  The previous day I hit a few shots that I thought were in position A just to find out that the ball was blocked by a tree or had rolled into a hazard.  This time my aim was more purposeful and it made a difference.

Round one on Panther Lakes I shot an 86 and it was a dirty 86 marred by errant drives, missed greens and a couple of lost balls.  This time around the ball flew better and greens were hit with ease.  I still hadn’t figured out putting on Bermuda grass very well and had 3 3-putts as well as 35 total putts, but shot a 76 which on a windy day was good enough to win for low gross.  In a way it was my first competitive win involving more than a foursome, something I just realized while writing this blog.  That’s pretty cool.

The day was drawing late and I still had to drive back to Hilton Head so I said my goodbyes to the group and hopped in the car for the drive back up I-95.  It was quite the trip and my only regret is not being able to summarize the presentations.  This will have to wait until we can hear it from sources themselves.

Now I’m back in HHI and back to practice, definitely going to get to work gaining experience with Bermuda greens and chipping off of these surfaces.  Please remember, if you want to support the plan and happen to purchase on amazon just click through the link on the right and purchase anything you want.  A small percentage goes towards supporting The Plan.  Thank you!

We hit the ball pretty well, but for some unknown reason the three of us collectively had an off weekend putting-wise which kept us far from the winner’s circle.

I’m not quite sure yet what to take from the event, although know that I need to tighten up my approach shots and keep working on 8-10 foot putts and spend time learning how to better read breaks.  Those things are always on the practice books and can forever continue to improve.

The weather is starting to change for the better here, too.  Today is the first day where there is more sunlight than darkness as the sun sets 12 hours and one minute after rising.  That transition is one of my favorites as it means Spring is here and the next 7 months are golden golfing (or anything outside) weather.

But, Portland can be hit or miss in early Spring and I have been planning on visiting my family in Hilton Head for some time.  March is a great time for golf down in South Carolina and I am flying  out tomorrow for a two-week stay on the island.  I’ll be staying with my parents and looking for any type of game or small tourney to play in while south.  It is always interesting to take a break from Bent grasses and practice on Bermuda for a while, too.

This coming weekend I am also driving to Orlando to attend/present at the ICHP conference.   ICHP is a small gathering of PhDs and other interesting researches/golfers who get together once a year in order to share ideas as well as golf for three days.  This year it is at Orlando’s Orange County National golf course which I hear is a great track.   I am excited to meet everyone and to tee it up there for my first ever 18 holes in Florida.

During and after the conference I will report back about any new ideas or thoughts that I hear.  There are some amazing minds attending this year and I know I will find some new inspiration over the weekend.  From now until then I will do my best to put together a presentation about The Dan Plan as I have been allotted a 30 minute speaking slot on Friday.  Shouldn’t be too tough to put something together, I have almost four years of material to cover…

Speaking of that, two events are drawing near.  The half way point and my four year anniversary.  They may even hit around the same week, which would be pretty cool.  Looking back I thought the entire 10,000 hours would take just 4 years, but at that time I had no clue what deliberate practice was nor could I foresee what a realistic and reasonable practice rate/routine would be once I was going on all cylinders.  Four years and 5,000 hours seems like a good pace to me.  And, who knows what the second half will bring.  I am very excited about it.  It seems like a new beginning and this time I know exactly where I am and where I need to be.

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On Wednesday I had a followup club fitting at the Titleist Oceanside facility so departed on the long and winding desert backroads between Palm Springs and Carlsbad:

It was a beautiful drive over the mountains from the desert to the Pacific with some great views at the beginning of the journey:

And the Pacific at the end of the route:

I arrived early for my fitting and was scheduled to be fit next to PGA Tour rookie Kevin Foley.

But, I don’t want to talk about that experience quite yet as I do not have the specs and would rather cover the rest of the trip then address the fitting early next week. Check back soon for that story.

Afterwords, I drove up to LA to meet with a friend who wanted to introduce me to a sports performance psychologist, Mike Gervais, on Thursday morning.  I didn’t know much about Mike so wasn’t sure what to expect but pretty soon after meeting him I could tell he was solid and would have some good insight into how to enhance learning.

We talked for about an hour and much of it was about how to use imagery to accelerate skill acquisition.  I’ve met a lot of people working in this, or similar, realm and always find it difficult to sum up their work and our conversation.  The new plan is to start filming these conversations to post on the blog, but that won’t come to fruition until there are a handful of these in the bank.  Right now, we have filmed two such videos, one with Dr. Bob Bjork and one with Dr. Dan Schacter.  Soon down the road we are going to revisit with Gervais and a handful of others and once they are edited and ready to post I will launch this new series.  I’m very excited about it as what they all have to say has great value to anyone interested in learning.

For now, I will try to cover the discussion as best as possible.

Mike talked about how the different athletes he works with utilize imagery in their daily routines.  Whether it’s by entering a meditative state in the evening and imagining the day’s practice routine or through closing your eyes in the shower and going through an entire future competition, the basic idea is that by putting yourself in a fully aware, but closed eyed, state where you can feel, taste, hear and see what you are trying to learn you can activate the same parts of your brain that are activated when you are actually competing or practicing.  It’s a powerful way to add to and enhance a practice session.

An important point was to differentiate imagery and visualization and he suggested that visualization was more of a basic state of picturing something (ball flight, putting line) whereas imagery was a deeper state utilizing all of the senses.   This is where my knowledge of the subject tends to limit my ability to write about it.  After an hour conversation I walked away with a general sense of what I can do to help my own journey, but not a broad enough grasp of the concepts to do it justice in a blog format, which is exactly why I want to film these interactions so the info comes directly from the source.

He gave me an example by having me relax and close my eyes and talked me through an experience of eating an apple.  By the end I could see it, hold it, taste it and was actually swallowing.  It was a lot like mediation, but had directed aspects focussing on one specific task.  I could immediately see how this would help ingrain a new swing when the range was not available and would be a great addition to any daily routine.

This is a subject that will be revisited often down the road.  For now, here is an anecdote from the book Imagery in Sports and Physical Performance:

Imagery techniques had been utilized extensively for decades in training world-class athletes in the former Eastern-block countries.  But in the United States the use of imagery to enhance athletic performance had received only limited attention.  Recently this has changed and reactions to this application of imagery range from total faith in its efficacy to absolute denial that it may hold promise for our athletes.

Fortunately, a considerable body of research on the relationship between imagery and athletic performance has emerged in the last decade.  Although many questions have been answered, many more require further scrutiny.  Both experimental and anecdotal evidence clearly demonstrate that imagery techniques can be a valuable tool in improving athletic performance; however, they must be applied with care.  Research has demonstrated that they also can have deleterious effects when used inappropriately.

This is a bit on the fringe and needs some looking into.  But, I think you would be hard pressed to find a top-performing athlete who does not use some form of imagery in their routine.

It’s December 13, 2013 and I have 52 minutes before heading to the lobby of my hotel in Westwood Los Angeles (directly across from UCLA’s campus) to meet two friends I flew down from Portland with.  We’re heading to dinner with UCLA’s Bob and Elizabeth Bjork, and Harvard’s Dan Schacter who are both leading psychologists in the realms of learning and visualization, respectively.