|GAME SENSE LEARNING| COACHINGEDGE


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Peter Mattsson, formerly director of coaching at the English Golf Union and now director of elite performance at the Swedish Sports Confederation, has used the model as a basis for pre-season training camps with Sweden’s leading PGA and LPGA Tour golfers.


One game called ‘Mission Impossible’ saw players compete in pairs: one player picked the most impossible lie they could find somewhere within 60 yards of the green with the person to hole out in the fewest strokes getting to pick the next lie and the first to five won.


‘When they start seeing in competition what works and why, then they “buy in”.’


Mattsson also suspended helium balloons on string at different heights and asked pros to hit them from different lies, played billiards and croquet on the greens, set out target nets and hoops, and even wired players up with microphones and asked them to ‘think aloud’ as they assessed each shot.


Eleven of the 12 participants, including seasoned pros Freddie Jacobson and Jesper Parnevik, said the course had changed their tactical awareness. It helped


Swedish professional golfer Jesper Parnevik has experienced game sense learning in order to boost tactical awareness


them find new solutions to differing situations and to picture the shape and feel of shots before hitting them, increasing precision and enhancing decision making.


TGfU’s growing popularity is not to everyone’s liking, of course. Many coaches still believe that traditional skills practice is the most efficient path to improvement. It’s also possible you’ll encounter resistance from athletes too, particularly those a little ‘longer in the tooth’ (in terms of age or experience) who don’t


appreciate their long-trusted training methods and tactics being challenged, or being put out of their comfort zone.


‘Obviously, some of them (older, more experienced boxers) ask, “What is this?” to start off with, but as soon as it becomes apparent why they’re doing something slightly different to what they’re used to, they soon take to it,’ says Gilbert. ‘When they start seeing in competition what works and why, then they “buy in”.’


© Action Images Limited/Reuters


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