​The 4 Stages of Learning

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The First Stage: Unconscious Incompetence
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When you are unconsciously incompetent, you don't even know that you are not skilled (either in the whole game of golf, which is very rare, or in a certain part of the game-for example, putting, chipping, or tactics.

Ignorance is bliss as they say and in this stage there's really nothing you can do directly since you don't even know that you're missing something.

But while you may not be exactly aware WHAT you are specifically missing in your game, it's probable that you are missing SOMETHING, so what works best in this stage is:

• Accumulating a lot of knowledge about golf, and 
• Observing carefully how others play (including the pros) and comparing their game to yours. 

This will help you become more aware of the scope of golf and eventually identify the skills you lack.

You can also hire a pro to evaluate your game and help you become more aware of the various weaknesses therein.

The Second Stage: Conscious Incompetence
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Once you become aware of what's missing in your game, you become conscious of it. You KNOW what the problem is, but you are unable to fix it.
​The reason for that is, of course, lack of practice and repetition. The more complex the task, the longer it will take to become competent.

The best way to shorten this stage is to:

• Focus on your practice and 
• Be patient. 

While you may intellectually know what needs to be done, your body cannot learn as quickly. It needs more repetition to be able to learn a new movement.

That's why you need to be patient and wait for your body to catch up with your mind.

Another key to becoming competent (skilled) is to focus on a single task. Don't try to work on too many things at once. If you're working on your swing path then focus only on this technique and don't try to improve your tactics, and speed at the same time.

Your focus will be split among different tasks and none of them will be performed well. Remember, your body needs a lot of repetition to make a lasting change.

 The Third Stage: Conscious Competence
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If you continue working on your swing, you will eventually "get it". You'll be able to make the right movement for the first time and you'll probably also feel a new sensation, which will signal to you that this is the movement you've been looking for.

That means that you have just become consciously competent.

In this stage, you are able to perform the swing correctly, but you have to keep reminding yourself (you are being conscious) of what needs to be done (i.e., keep your grip loose, lift your club head head, extend through the ball).

As soon as you forget or start focusing on something else (become unconscious again), you'll go back to the old technique (or skill).

The key to shortening this stage is the same as in the second stage:

• Focus only on one thing at a time, and 
• Repeat the swing or process in order to store the new information in your subconscious. 

If you are learning more aspects of the game, for example learning posture, having a good stance, rotating your hips and shoulders into the shot, and accelerating the clubhead through the ball, then first focus on EACH separately for a few minutes.

Your goal in the conscious competent stage is to STORE the information in your subconscious and you do that by CONTINOUOUS UNINTERRUPTED repetition.

The Fourth Stage: Unconscious Competence
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Once the new skill(s) has been repeated many times, it will become automatic. You will become unconsciously competent, which means that you'll be able to perform a new skill (a new stroke or improved technique) without thinking about it.

This will free your mind for other tasks. You'll be able to work on other weaknesses in your game and you'll finally be able to PLAY golf, which means that you'll be able to focus on tactics and various ways of outplaying your opponent.

Your technique will be completely unconscious and it will become a tool for solving a tactical problem.

There's nothing more you need to do in this stage regarding your newly acquired skill, but you can, of course, return to the first stage and explore what else is missing in your game and what else can be improved.

Now that you have become conscious of these four stages of learning, identify which stage you are in and make the best of each stage to accelerate your golf learning.