One way of looking at the learning process is to divide it into four stages.

Unconscious Incompetence

The beginning golfer usually has very little idea of what it takes to successfully lay the golf club blade on the ball and control the flight and distance of the shot. 

A person might be excused for thinking that it doesn’t look too complicated. Having watched golf on TV, the person might think that they will be playing like Rory McIlroy in a day or two. However it soon becomes obvious that golf is harder than it looks. Frustration mounts as the club slams into the ground inches before the ball. Covered in mud the ball skitters 50 feet down the fairway, into the trees or a pond. Stubbornly, the beginner puts more effort into the swing, and, determined not to dig any more trenches, misses the ball completely.

Without golf instruction a beginner is unconscious of the What, When, Why and How of swinging a golf club. Without practice, they are incompetent at executing the movement.

Conscious Incompetence

The wise beginner seeks help to learn the basic techniques of Putting, Chipping and the Full Swing. They become consciously aware of the need for rythymn, balance, tempo, and finesse instead of raw power. 

Despite being called a club, it is not a Caveman’s weapon. It is a finely designed tool to absorb energy from the body and deliver it to the ball. The golf club controls the distance, direction, curvature, and angle of descent of the ball’s flight. It then affects the movement of the ball after landing using spin motion. It is a surgeon’s scalpel or a swordsman epée

Knowing what to do isn’t the end of the story. The beginner must also train the muscles and nervous system to execute the kinematic sequence (1) of movements. They learn to combine strength, flexibility and timing. They discover the muscles to create power and the ones to create control. They are not very good in the beginning and require coaching, practice and playing repetition.

Conscious Competence

In the golf teaching system called Operation 36 (2), golfers are taken through twelve different technical skills, each with six levels of instruction. There are also five non-technical skill categories. Beginners learn Putting and Chipping technique first. They are expected to play a real golf course from the start and try to score par from twenty-five yards away from the hole over a nine-hole course, for a total of 36 strokes or better. When successful, the learner moves back to fifty yards and works to score par or better. This continues in stages until the golfer is able to pay from the regular tee boxes.

With proper instruction, coaching and practice, the golfer both knows what they must do, and are competent at playing the game at a decent level. Frequent training sessions are required to practice all of the skills. Backsliding does occur after long layoffs such as are typical in northern climates. 

Before each game, the golfer prepares on the practice area the shots that they will be required to play during the game. Muscle memory is refreshed and the body is prepared for the physical activity of playing golf.

Unconscious Competence

A skilled golfer prepares for a game by reviewing strategy and familiarizing themselves with the details of the course layout. Their opponent is the golf course architect that placed hazards and challenging obstacles along the course to trap unprepared players. 

They will warm up their bodies with stretches before going to the course. They will go through the bag of clubs to check that the equipment is clean and ready to play golf. On the course the skilled golfer uses visualization techniques before each shot to imagine the flight of the ball and how it reacts in the air and on the ground after landing. Winds are evaluated to judge whether they will help or hinder carry distance or carry the ball sideways. Greens are studied for contours that might pull a Putt off-line and slopes that could stop the roll of the ball too quickly or allow it to roll too far. 

They do not think about swing technique. This is ingrained in the nerves and muscles of the body and is triggered unconsciously by the shot visualization process. A warm feeling of competence and confidence assures the golfer that all is ready to go. They commit to the shot and swing the club.

They do not try out new swing thoughts during the game. They avoid challenges that require shots beyond their ability to reliably make. Those activities are reserved for coaching sessions off the course and hours of practice to make them unconsciously available during a game.