Holding a golf club like ringing a church bell?!?!

Lovely conversation with a teacher during a play day. She asked “do I need to show them how to hold it correctly?” A question we are often asked. 

The answer I often give is “if you want to, but you don’t really need to” 

Our play day experiences are about the children experiencing golf and exploring the idea of moving the ball from point A (the tee) to point B (the flag/hole) We are keen to see how they go about the task, and with children this can vary tremendously!!! 

As I said this to the lady she suddenly said “so it’s like ringing a church bell? I teach that also” she then went on to tell me how she always shows beginners how to hold the rope “correctly” 

What followed was a lovely conversation around the idea that if we impose a “correct” way on children/beginners might that then stifle their creativity, independence, self discovery and learning for themselves. She then said “so no different to letting them figure out how to hold a pen then?” And it looked like a lightbulb went on in her head. 

In school there is a curriculum to follow and we have to move children academically from one place at the beginning of term to another at the end of it. In the many different ways that teachers know how, but outside of school (in golf & church bell ringing) we surely do not have to rush??? 

Maybe we should give children the time to explore the task and the tools before we begin imposing the “correct” technique on them???