On The Tee with Hank Johnson

Bring Your Teacher An “Empty Cup”
There is an often told story about a young student who sought out a Master in one of the Martial Arts.Each time the Master made a suggestion to the young student, he resisted trying the new suggestion. His reasons were, “I‘ve already tried that……I don’t think that will work…..that doesn’t fit with what I’ve always heard, ect.”The Old Master turned and walked away. The young student called after him, “Master, where are you going?” The Old Master responded, “Your cup is full, there is no room for my suggestions. Come back when you can bring me an empty cup.”
Four kinds of cups represent the four basic types of students that teachers encounter. One is the full cup as described above. This student’s mind is already so full there is no more room for information. Suggestions bounce off without getting inside.
Next is the cup with a hole in the bottom. Information goes in but, goes straight through. Nothing is retained because of a lack of effort to absorb any new information. Students in this category are usually highly distracted and not really concentrating on the instruction they are receiving. Nothing is really accomplished during the lesson and the cup (the student), doesn’t contain any more information than before the lesson.
Then there’s the dirty cup. When the fresh, clear instruction goes into this type of cup, it becomes cloudy and useless because of pre-existing “dirt”. No matter how great the instructional information is, once contaminated by bad information already in the cup, it becomes useless.
Finally there’s the student that’s like the clean, empty cup with no leaks. Pure instruction goes in, remains pure and is stored for ongoing use. These types of student usually make continuous progress and benefit greatly from time with the teacher.The message? Bring your teacher a clean, empty cup with no leaks!!!! This will let you get the most out of your golf lessons.

Hank Johnson, PGANovember 17, 2008