Learning and Teaching Experience #6

Learning #6

I learned how to make hobo dinners while I was camping in Zion this past weekend.  I didn't have any seasoning or salt and pepper but ketchup with the potatoes, carrots, and beef tasted just great. First I got the ingredients and necessary materials: potatoes, carrots, beef, knives, peeler, and tinfoil. Luckily a friend on the trip had made hobo dinners before and she knew to wait for the wood to burn down to coals and then place the tinfoil wrapped meal on the wood. My friends pitched in and helped peel and cut the potatoes and I cut the carrots and made the hamburger paddies. We did this all by flashlight. I learned that making something like hobo dinners is a good source of protein and energy, which is especially important if you are hiking while you are camping. It helped to have someone teach me who had cooked hobo dinners before. I like models or hands on teachers who can guide me in person. I have realized that making crockpot dinners from recipes online are difficult when I have a question or don't understand something because I can't ask someone. With my experienced friend Erica, I had a better cooking experience and probably learned more than I do when I just follow a recipe from online.

Teaching #6

After working on lag putting, I taught Siri the basics to chipping. "Chipping is an art form," I told her, mostly because all of my teachers have told me this, but I have come to believe that the aspects of golf are so personal and really are acquired by practice and personal preference. I explained to her that you can use every single club in your bag for any kind of shot. That is a cool aspect of golf because there are so many options. However, to gain consistency, it is best to practice with the same clubs for the same shots or choose one or two clubs and practice several shots with those. A chip is when you have more green to work with and less fringe or rough to carry. So the idea of the shot is to keep it as low as possible, more like a long putt. You can bounce chips on the fringe, but the fringe can be inconsistent and cause errant bounces. After explaining the aspects of a chip I showed Siri how to position her feet and hands in relation to the ball. Then I described the swingmotion as being slightly larger than a lag putt motion. After watching her hit a few balls I noticed that she was trying to "pick" the ball up. I gave her feedback explaining that to hit the ball consistently or to make good consistent contact with the ball, the club must come down and "pinch" the ball then take some grass. I repeated the swing and caused a divot in the ground which made a thud pinching sound. I told her that if she heard that sound, and could practice that motion and hit the same spot repeatedly, she would gain better consistent contact. She practiced after I gave her this feedback and understood the concept of chipping better.