TESTING

Once you’ve gained some confidence in your ability to apply good technique to produce the shot you want in golf (skill), it’s time to test. My favorite test on the driving range is to hit at least 8 out of 10 shots with each club in my bag reasonably straight, with good contact and good distance. Short irions required to land within 15 feet of the pin.  It’s a bit of pressure in that if I don’t reach the 8 out of 10, I have to hit another 10 with that club with the goal of I don’t move on to the next club, or go home, until I’ve reached this goal which means spending the entire time, and possibly hundreds of balls, with the nine iron.

When applying “testing” to stuttering / stammering, your “driving range” is your support network — friends, family, primary coach, mcgp phonelist, street and telephone contacts. The difference here is the *standard (explained below)needs to be increased to 10 out of 10 (if under time constraint, 5 out of 5 will do).  I will do a series of 10 contacts with the first goal being of getting 10 out of 10* (see below) projecting through my chest without distortion/struggle in the articulators or vocal cords. Keeping track of successful and not successful contacts lets you know what stage of overkill you’re in as follows:

Panic stage: 0 -1 out of 10

Barely manageable fear stage: less than 5 out of 10

Exciting fear stage: 5 to 9 out of 10

Fun stage: 9 to 10 out of 10

Boring stage: 10 out of 10 (but do more to be sure)

Once in the boring stage with any and every possible feared word or sound, you can use contacts to refine your skills. Try 10 contacts focusing on good eye contact, then another ten with deep and breathy tone, etc. etc.

*There are a few reasons for the tougher standards with my speech (requiring 10 out of 10) here than in golf (requiring 8 out of 10). The biggest reason, arguably, is that golf is so much more difficult, technically, than speaking which was, although complicated, a skill aquired almost unconsciously in early childhood.