Deliberate play vs. Deliberate Practice
There is no doubt to the benefits that youth golf provides. The game closely parallels life, teaching integrity, respect, discipline and physical activity. All life lessons wrapped up in a club, a ball and some green grass. The questions then becomes, “how do we keep kids involved in the game?”
There have been many institutions that have conducted surveys to tackle this question and study after study comes up with the same #1 result. Kids play golf because it is FUN. As a coach designing youth golf programs, I am constantly balancing the amounts of deliberate practice vs. deliberate play to achieve the maximum amount of fun.
Deliberate Practice
Deliberate practice is a highly structured activity that requires effort, generates no immediate rewards and is motivated by the goal of improving performance rather than inherent enjoyment. (Cole et al. 2009)
An example of this can be seen with an athlete preforming drill after drill with the only focus being on the task of completing the drill.
Deliberate Play
Deliberate play is intrinsically motivating, designed to maximize fun and enjoyment and provide immediate gratification. It often requires minimal equipment, is flexible and allows participants to experiment with rules, tactics, participants sizes and ages. (Bayley et al. 2010. Cote et al 2009)
When designing youth golf development programs, it is crucial to understand the stages of motor learning and the importance of being physically literate. Using the PGA’s American Development Model (ADM) and Long-Term Athlete Development athletes can be placed into one of the seven stages.
Each stage should have it’s own ratio of deliberate practice vs deliberate play. This approach focuses on having athletes perform age-appropriate skill acquisition games and drills to maximize athletic potential.
Designing your youth programs with consideration for deliberate practice and play along with the PGA’s ADM will maximize the athlete’s enjoyment of the game, keeping them involved in golf.
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