Didrickson Zaharias was a phenomenal athlete.

Texan born, she ran, jumped, rode horses and played baseball and basket ball with tremendous flair.

In the 1932 Olympic tryouts , she won five first places in track and field events and in the games of that year in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the women’s 80 meter hurdles, a gold medal in the javelin throw, and a silver medal in high jump.

 After the Olympics, Zaharias turned to golf.

Although she started from scratch, she won the National Women’s and the British Women’s Amateur metals.

The press hailed her a “natural athlete” and often referred to her as an “automatic champion.”

But the real story behind Zaharias fairy-tale success was her painstaking diligence and persistence!

Her successes came from studied repetition. In every sport she undertook, she was methodical, deliberate, and persistent.

But she was neither “natural” nor “automatic.”

When she played golf for the first time, for instance, she didn’t automatically master the game. Instead she studied golf carefully, covering all of its complex skill sets under the tutelage of the finest golf teacher she could find.

She looked at all of the elements of the golf swing, broke them down into component parts then put them all together.

Zaharias also locked all of that information into her motor nervous system through exhaustive practice.

She would spend as many as 12 hours a day on the golf course, hitting as many as a thousand balls. Her hands would often become painfully sore to the point where she could hardly grip her club but she stopped only long enough to tape up her hands before picking up the club again.

The lesson: Zaharias learned to play golf the right way.

She started out by hiring an exceptional teacher and analyzed each part of the golf swing then put them all together in one fluid motion.

She practiced for around 12 hours a day; she exercised self-discipline and self-sacrifice, and she never once doubted herself.

Her previous successes had created an enduring self-confidence. She believed that if she applied herself she would be a golf champion and proved this to be true.

Importantly, Zaharias took a risk. She risked her reputation as an athlete by trying out new tactics. She also risked the time and money it cost her to perfect her new sport.

Above all, she was methodical in the way she went about inventing and reinventing herself as a champion golfer.

Importantly, she chose a gifted teacher, studied all aspects of the game and put her new knowledge into practice converting theory into motor learning and coordination.