All too often, golfers will purchase golf clubs, including putters, straight off the shelves of your local sporting goods store, their local retail outlets, or from a fellow golfer.These purchases are made with no thought as to if that particular putter is even a proper fit to them or their game. Just like a fine suit is tailored to every inch of your body for exact fit your putter and every other club in your bag should be tailored to not only your body but your game as well. Everybody is different and unique.
There is no one off the shelf set of clubs designed to fit every single golfer, or even the majority of golfers. If you took the putter measurements of 10 professional golfers, you would find that all 10 had in someway, different measurements including length, lie angle, loft, offset, weight, and design. All blended together with one single purpose in mind: to help the golfer make more putts!
Can you imagine the frustration the pros would go through if they had to change their putting stroke to accommodate a different putter every time they decided to change their clubs? Yet 99% of all recreational golfers go about purchasing new clubs this way. They buy a club straight off the rack and then make the adjustments with their body to compensate for this new putter.
Lets take a look at the biggest factor in putter fitting and how to correct it:
Putter Length
The length of your putter has a direct effect on how you set up to your putt. If you are like the majority of recreational golfers, your playing with a putter that's either too long or too short for your natural stroke. Using a putter that's too long for you will set the ball too far away from your body. This affects how your eyes are positioned over the ball, having your eyes not over the target line, but inside of it. This will also cause your arms and hands to be much closer than you want to your body, not allowing your arms to hang naturally. This causes you to manipulate your hands and arms through the stroke to compensate for the length.
Putters that are too short have the opposite effect. The ball is set too close to your body, causing your eyes to be well outside of your target line. Two short of putter will also cause you to have to extend your arms out further from your body causing to have to "reach" out to the ball during the stroke. To find your ideal putter length you can use a very simple method right from your own home.
Without a putter in your hands, set up to address over a ball as if you were going to putt. Let your arms hang naturally in front of you as you reach out and grip an imaginary putter in the most comfortable and natural feeling manner. This will set your hands in their most natural position without being influenced by gripping an actual putter.
Now without moving your hands or arms from this position, have a friend or spouse place your putter back in your hands. Notice where your hands are on the club NOW compared to where you gripped it in the past. You'll probably be a bit surprised at where your hands end up on the putter. This is the correct length you should be playing with. Now with a piece of tape, mark one half-inch above the hand closest to your body on the putter grip, if your grip is now lower than before. If your new grip is higher up on the grip wrap the tape ½ in. below the bottom hand. This is how long of a putter you should be playing with.
Your local Golf Outlet or Pro Shop can take this information and make the necessary adjustments for you at a very minimal cost.
Scott Myers has helped hundreds of below-average and "horrible" putters start shooting the best scores of their life by teaching a new step-by-step putting formula designed to drop 7-to-9 stroke from the average golfers score in just 4 ½ minutes. To learn more about his breakthrough method, visit www.puttingsecretsrevealed.com
Friday, February 1, 2013
Things you can do with a soccer ball
The things you can do with a soccer ball. There are many, many things that you can do with a soccer ball. It's almost human nature to want to play with a ball. One of the first words kids learn to pronounce is "ball," and it seems like young kids, from the earliest age can keep themselves, endlessly entertained, just by playing with a ball. They try to bite it as it slips out of their hands. They push it around on the floor and then crawl after it. They get so excited over it for some reason.
This love for a ball doesn't seem to go away with age. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. People play soccer
in every nation and country. It's a universal sport. It has simple rules and requires little equipment, but can still take a lot of skill to play it well. The entertainment of playing with a ball doesn't go away. Soccer players just kick a ball around for hours every game. They can't use their hands, so they kick it around with their feet, their heads and other parts of their bodies.
Some people like to juggle their soccer balls. You juggle a soccer ball by kicking it up and down in the air without letting it hit the ground. You can kick it up with your feet, your knees, your head, or any part of the body. Just don't let it hit the ground. It might take a while to learn how to do this well, but it's nice once you get good at it. It is one of those skills you can show off to all of your friends and might make you more attractive.
You can dribble a soccer ball. Just kick it around on the ground, kicking it back and forth between your feet as you run. Once you get good at dribbling, you can show it off in your game, cutting around people with awesome tricks. One of my favorite tricks is to roll the ball up the back of one of my legs and then kick it up and over my head with the back of my foot. It makes me look like a good soccer player, even though I can't do much else. It's the intimidation factor.
You can do a bicycle where you jump up in the air and kick the soccer balls while you are in the air, and then land on your back, or sort of land on your back. You have to land so that you can roll, keeping yourself from being injured to badly. You may have to try this one a few times before you can do it well, and might knock the wind out of yourself the first couple times or hit your head on the ground if you rotate too much on your back. But it feels pretty cool, once you can do it.
Similar to the bicycle, you can do a sidekick, where you jump in the air and kick the soccer ball, sideways, then fall on your side, instead of on your back. The cool thing about this soccer move is it makes you feel like a ninja while you are jump kicking it. It is also a little easier to land then the bicycle where you kick it over your head. With this soccer ball kick you can catch yourself with your hands when you fall sideways.
One more, nice thing about a soccer ball is that you can play with a soccer ball by yourself or with friends. I had one friend once who would go to the park and keep himself entertained for hours, just kicking a soccer ball around. He probably fantasized the whole time he was kicking the soccer ball around about attaining some sort of soccer glory, with the crowd yelling and cheering. You can play soccer with other people, one-on-one or with a large group. I myself enjoy more playing with a large group, then a small one, because soccer requires a lot of running and I have recently become a lazy, lazy man. But for those who are not lazy, you may like less people where you run the whole field.
Finally, one fun thing to do with a soccer ball is to just kick at as hard and as far as you can. It feels pretty cool as a kid to boot that thing and send it soaring away into the sky. So go get yourself a soccer ball today and start kicking away! The fun will never end with your soccer ball.
This article was written by Peter Jay, owner, president, and CEO of Variety Access, Your Online Hobby Store and More. You can find soccer balls at Variety Access Sports. Just go to VarietyAccess.com/soccer-balls.php.
This love for a ball doesn't seem to go away with age. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. People play soccer
in every nation and country. It's a universal sport. It has simple rules and requires little equipment, but can still take a lot of skill to play it well. The entertainment of playing with a ball doesn't go away. Soccer players just kick a ball around for hours every game. They can't use their hands, so they kick it around with their feet, their heads and other parts of their bodies.
Some people like to juggle their soccer balls. You juggle a soccer ball by kicking it up and down in the air without letting it hit the ground. You can kick it up with your feet, your knees, your head, or any part of the body. Just don't let it hit the ground. It might take a while to learn how to do this well, but it's nice once you get good at it. It is one of those skills you can show off to all of your friends and might make you more attractive.
You can dribble a soccer ball. Just kick it around on the ground, kicking it back and forth between your feet as you run. Once you get good at dribbling, you can show it off in your game, cutting around people with awesome tricks. One of my favorite tricks is to roll the ball up the back of one of my legs and then kick it up and over my head with the back of my foot. It makes me look like a good soccer player, even though I can't do much else. It's the intimidation factor.
You can do a bicycle where you jump up in the air and kick the soccer balls while you are in the air, and then land on your back, or sort of land on your back. You have to land so that you can roll, keeping yourself from being injured to badly. You may have to try this one a few times before you can do it well, and might knock the wind out of yourself the first couple times or hit your head on the ground if you rotate too much on your back. But it feels pretty cool, once you can do it.
Similar to the bicycle, you can do a sidekick, where you jump in the air and kick the soccer ball, sideways, then fall on your side, instead of on your back. The cool thing about this soccer move is it makes you feel like a ninja while you are jump kicking it. It is also a little easier to land then the bicycle where you kick it over your head. With this soccer ball kick you can catch yourself with your hands when you fall sideways.
One more, nice thing about a soccer ball is that you can play with a soccer ball by yourself or with friends. I had one friend once who would go to the park and keep himself entertained for hours, just kicking a soccer ball around. He probably fantasized the whole time he was kicking the soccer ball around about attaining some sort of soccer glory, with the crowd yelling and cheering. You can play soccer with other people, one-on-one or with a large group. I myself enjoy more playing with a large group, then a small one, because soccer requires a lot of running and I have recently become a lazy, lazy man. But for those who are not lazy, you may like less people where you run the whole field.
Finally, one fun thing to do with a soccer ball is to just kick at as hard and as far as you can. It feels pretty cool as a kid to boot that thing and send it soaring away into the sky. So go get yourself a soccer ball today and start kicking away! The fun will never end with your soccer ball.
This article was written by Peter Jay, owner, president, and CEO of Variety Access, Your Online Hobby Store and More. You can find soccer balls at Variety Access Sports. Just go to VarietyAccess.com/soccer-balls.php.
FootPower for Golf
Although the ankle is the most injured body part of an athlete, very little is ever done to strengthen the stabilizing muscles that prevent rolling in and out. golfers are no exception in neglecting ankle strengthening. They seldom sprain their ankle swinging the golf club, but strength of ankle muscles is very significant to maintaining positions that establish balance, and create a powerful and efficient golf swing.
During the backswing, the moment a golfer allows body weight to move outside the neutral position of the ankle that was established at address a power leak is created. It then becomes a challenge to transfer weight in the forward swing with any consistency.
Although this lateral displacement of weight often occurs as a compensatory move due to hip inflexibility, it may be accentuated (or even caused) by weakness of the ankle evertors (or muscles that tilt your ankle up on the little toe side).
The ankle position of the forward foot (closest to your target) is a major factor in successful delivery of power at impact. At this “moment of truth” when tremendous force is created from the feet upward your ankle should hold fast to its neutral position. Strength of the ankle evertors becomes a major factor at this point as the body mass is quickly rotating and moving toward the target.
If your weight has moved outside the “power zone” and your ankle has rolled to the outside, you have once again created a power leak. The stronger and better trained your ankles are:
- The more power you can deliver at impact
- The better your ability to maintain proper spine angles
- You can more effectively resist compensatory moves in the swing
Perform this as an exercise and hitting drill. You will gain strength, improve footwork, establish better golf balance and increase swing power as you move from the backswing, into your forward swing, to impact and to the finish position.
The exercise---
Take your normal address position. Contract the outside muscles of each lower leg in order to flare up the outside of each foot slightly. Strive to maintain this “flared up” position with each foot as you hit a golf ball with a shortened half swing. As you move toward impact the back foot ( R foot of right handed golfer ) will naturally move out of the starting position as the heel leaves the ground to establish the normal follow through position. Just beyond impact the forward foot (L foot of right handed golfer ) will flatten but do not allow your weight to transfer to the outside of the foot. Your follow through is shortened to parallel to the ground for this drill/exercise. Repeat with 10 to 20 swings or until your leg muscles fatigue to the point of not being able to adequately hold your feet in the proper flared positions.
Remember: During your swing keep proper spine angles, maintain a good solid position of the back knee during your backswing, rotate your center of gravity within the balance zone, and accelerate through impact just as you would in a normal swing.
Sponsoring a Charity Golf Tournament
Sponsoring a golf tournament is an excellent way to raise money for an organization or cause. Golf tournaments have wide appeal, and avid golfers usually jump at the chance to play the game and benefit a charity at the same time. Even non-golfers enjoy brandishing a 9-iron for a good cause. It takes careful planning, but it's possible to raise thousands of dollars or more if your group is prepared for a little bit of hard work.
A lot goes into planning a charity golf tournament, from securing a venue, to recruiting volunteers, to garnering prizes. Before you set the wheels in motion, consider some of these planning tips:
*Enlist a good team of helpers. Planning and executing a charity golf tournament is not a one-man or woman job. A lot of work goes into pulling off a successful and profitable golf
tournament. Make sure that you have a good team of volunteers behind you. Don't just limit yourself to volunteers from within your own organization though. Recruit volunteers from like-minded groups, from the community and from the beneficiary group/organization. The more hands on deck, the more efficiently it will run from planning to the final putt. More importantly, the more diverse your group of core volunteers, the more contacts you'll be able to make. More helpers means greater access to resources within the community.
*Plan well in advance. It usually takes several months to one year to pull off a successful charity golf tournament. If you try to push through too quickly, you may be sacrificing the sanity of your volunteers and missing out on prime sponsorship opportunities.
*Garner business support. Businesses are usually happy help a good cause. It helps them to raise their own profile in the community and gives them the chance for some inexpensive advertising and exposure. Recruit business sponsors to donate cash, prizes, giveaways, food, and just about anything else that you require to pull off your charity golf tournament.
*Offer advertising opportunities. Charity golf tournaments are give and take affairs. When a business agrees to donate to your event, provide the business with a way to advertise before, during or after the event. You can print the logos of your major sponsor(s) on your fliers and newspaper ads. Get one or two businesses to sponsor golf trophies and have their logos on embossed on them. Distribute prizes and giveaways like water bottles, golf balls, tees and golf bags with sponsors' logos on them. Print banners listing the names of business sponsors.
Publish their names in your program. Literally hundreds of creative ways exist to offer advertising in exchange for the support of business sponsors.
*Flood the community with advertising. Make sure that you give plenty of advance notice to the community about your charity golf tournament. Newspaper advertising should typically begin 4-6 weeks before registration for the event ends. Other types of advertising can begin sooner, such as passing out fliers and hanging up posters. Take advantage of all of the free advertising that you can get. Hang up posters anywhere and everywhere that you can get permission to do so. If your charity golf tournament has a website, flood the Internet with links to it well in advance of the event, even up to one year before. Besides local newspapers, seek out other publications to advertise in. Many communities have free daily, weekly and/or monthly alternative publications, and some may even publicize your event for free.
The great thing about sponsoring a charity golf tournament is that the event is mutually beneficial. First, it provides financial support and raises awareness for a particular cause. Second, it
gives local businesses the opportunity to promote themselves and to show their philanthropic side. It's also an excellent vehicle for fostering team and community spirit, and if profitable,
may even become a well-anticipated annual event.
A lot goes into planning a charity golf tournament, from securing a venue, to recruiting volunteers, to garnering prizes. Before you set the wheels in motion, consider some of these planning tips:
*Enlist a good team of helpers. Planning and executing a charity golf tournament is not a one-man or woman job. A lot of work goes into pulling off a successful and profitable golf
tournament. Make sure that you have a good team of volunteers behind you. Don't just limit yourself to volunteers from within your own organization though. Recruit volunteers from like-minded groups, from the community and from the beneficiary group/organization. The more hands on deck, the more efficiently it will run from planning to the final putt. More importantly, the more diverse your group of core volunteers, the more contacts you'll be able to make. More helpers means greater access to resources within the community.
*Plan well in advance. It usually takes several months to one year to pull off a successful charity golf tournament. If you try to push through too quickly, you may be sacrificing the sanity of your volunteers and missing out on prime sponsorship opportunities.
*Garner business support. Businesses are usually happy help a good cause. It helps them to raise their own profile in the community and gives them the chance for some inexpensive advertising and exposure. Recruit business sponsors to donate cash, prizes, giveaways, food, and just about anything else that you require to pull off your charity golf tournament.
*Offer advertising opportunities. Charity golf tournaments are give and take affairs. When a business agrees to donate to your event, provide the business with a way to advertise before, during or after the event. You can print the logos of your major sponsor(s) on your fliers and newspaper ads. Get one or two businesses to sponsor golf trophies and have their logos on embossed on them. Distribute prizes and giveaways like water bottles, golf balls, tees and golf bags with sponsors' logos on them. Print banners listing the names of business sponsors.
Publish their names in your program. Literally hundreds of creative ways exist to offer advertising in exchange for the support of business sponsors.
*Flood the community with advertising. Make sure that you give plenty of advance notice to the community about your charity golf tournament. Newspaper advertising should typically begin 4-6 weeks before registration for the event ends. Other types of advertising can begin sooner, such as passing out fliers and hanging up posters. Take advantage of all of the free advertising that you can get. Hang up posters anywhere and everywhere that you can get permission to do so. If your charity golf tournament has a website, flood the Internet with links to it well in advance of the event, even up to one year before. Besides local newspapers, seek out other publications to advertise in. Many communities have free daily, weekly and/or monthly alternative publications, and some may even publicize your event for free.
The great thing about sponsoring a charity golf tournament is that the event is mutually beneficial. First, it provides financial support and raises awareness for a particular cause. Second, it
gives local businesses the opportunity to promote themselves and to show their philanthropic side. It's also an excellent vehicle for fostering team and community spirit, and if profitable,
may even become a well-anticipated annual event.
North Carolina Golf Club Communities: The Finest Places To Reside
North Carolina’s golf communities are as good (or better) than most other state’s offerings.
If you love golf, the best places as a retiree or to relocate in North Carolina are its golf paradises of Aberdeen, Pinehurst and Southern Pines. Should you choose to reside in the Pinewild Country Club community, you are within striking distance of all three. It is where you can play forty eight holes of golf of the highest quality. There are 2 full courses, the first planned by Gene Hamm and the 2nd by the legendary Gary Player, a nine-hole par three course, and 3 holes just tfor practice within the Pinewild Golf Academy. Enjoy some tennis or the pool, social events such as Fall Fest & Jazz Fest, and the cuisine at the clubhouse.
The most recent Zagat’s Golf Guide judged the Tiger’s Eye course at this Carolina golf club community of Ocean Ridge Plantation one of the most excellent in North Carolina. The community comprises over 3,000 acres and approximately 2,800 homes, a majority of them are single family homes. Five clubhouses are there with restaurants and conference rooms and over 50 clubs and organizations including book clubs, card games and bible study groups, indoor or outdoor pools, tennis courts, and a gymnasium providing Pilates, aerobics lessons and yoga.
Up the hills, you have the Trillium North Carolina golf club community. It offers an 18-hole course, designed by Morris Hatalsky with a pro-shop, classes and workshops. Enjoy a round of “Garden Golf,” (hike, chip, putt course), trek, play tennis inside or outside, go to the fitness center, sauna or massage studio. There are weekly classes from fly fishing to watercolor painting and gardening. You may go fishing or for a boat-ride on Lake Glenville’s fifteen hundred acres, or enjoy an evening cocktail and hors d’oeuvres cruise, the epicurean delights of the clubhouse, or grilled food. Inhabitants of this community have complementary facilities at Chinquapin, which is 10 miles away.
Situated just south of Wilmington is the Winding River Plantation. It mixes fantastic surrounding, living opportunities and inexpensive golf. This North Carolina golf club's joining fees are $6,000, with all the amenities you would expect for far more. They include tennis courts, walking and biking trails, bridge games, a clubhouse with informal dining, exercise classes, pools, a Fred Couples designed 27 hole course, gym, an exclusive beach club with a walkway to Holden Beach, a pro shop, putting green and practice area.
Another North Carolina golf club community near the coast is Cypress Landing, located in Chocowinity. Using the 222 slip marina on the Pamlico River, you may gain entry to the Pamlico Sound and Atlantic Ocean. Bill Love designed the community’s eighteen-hole course, driving range, putting green, pro-shop and practice area. The facilities comprise an eighteen thousand square foot gym, pool, grill style restaurant, bar, library, lounge and patio. You’ll also have craft lessons, card games and book and garden clubs.
In North Carolina, “Zagat’s 2007-2008 guide to America’s Top Golf Courses,” ranks Pinehurst No. 2, Pinehurst No. 8, Pine Needles Lodge, Tiger’s Eye, and Oyster Bay the five best golf courses in the state.
To get a FREE REPORT on “Affordable Best Places In The Carolinas”, and find the best place for you visit: http://www.PlacesOfValue.com/page/best_places.php
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Magic Golf Move - The Early Backward Wrist Break
A couple of years back my brother in law Steve told me how one simple golf move he employed early in his backswing totally changed his golf game. He went on to say this one "magic move" is so suttle, he couldn't believe what a difference it made in his golf swing.
Steve told me he had been sitting at an 8 handicap for about 4 years and was getting very frustrated at his lack of improvement. He practiced diligently however he had truly reached a plateau in his golf game.
He went through about 4 golf pros during this time and every one of them told him there was nothing wrong with his golf swing. Eventually he started playing less and less golf and was about ready to give it up altogether.
Steve said while on vacation with his family he was browsing through an old book store on Martha's Vineyard when he came across a used copy of Joe Dante's "Four Magic Moves to Winning Golf" written in 1972. He said he couldn't put the book down so out of courtesy to the store owner he bought it.
Steve showed me the book and as I leafed through it I was amazed at all the beautifully drawn illustrations showing how to swing a golf club properly. Andy Brown has since revised this book for the 21st century and offers many media formats to read or listen to the book.
Steve turned to the chapter that explains "the early backward wrist break" and told me this one magic move has totally transformed his golf game! "You know John", my brother in law said, "golf teachers don't tell you anything about how to break the wrists in the golf swing". Steve believes the first 18 inches of the backswing are the most critical.
The majority of amatuer golfers turn their wrists in a way that opens or closes the clubface when they first start their backswing...This fatal move immediately puts your golf swing off the proper plane. Golfers then usually spend the rest of the golf swing trying to adjust so they can just make contact with the ball...not a good recipe for success!
This book explains how the clubhead should not open or close in the early part of the backswing...if you correctly perform the early backward wrist break your swing will be on plane early in the swing...Steve says he feels like the club is swinging itself...a truly effortless swing!
I am happy to say that my brother in law Steve is now a scratch golfer, thanks to this one magic move that has transformed his golf game!
When you make the backward wrist break perfectly - only one knuckle of your left hand (right handed golfers) and two knuckles of your right hand should be visible and the golf club should be parallel to your target line.
(Photo courtesy of The New Four Magic Moves to Winning Golf by Andy Brown and Joe Dante.)
You pay a lot of money to play this great game of golf...so why not enjoy it more by playing the golf you are capable of?
Try this golf swing takeaway tip and build the early backward wrist break into your golf swing and I promise you will halve your handicap in 2 weeks!
Hit 'em Long and Straight!
John Lynch
------
To learn more about this astounding break through in learning the golf swing, John recommends you visit: GolfSwingSecretsRevealed.com
Steve told me he had been sitting at an 8 handicap for about 4 years and was getting very frustrated at his lack of improvement. He practiced diligently however he had truly reached a plateau in his golf game.
He went through about 4 golf pros during this time and every one of them told him there was nothing wrong with his golf swing. Eventually he started playing less and less golf and was about ready to give it up altogether.
Steve said while on vacation with his family he was browsing through an old book store on Martha's Vineyard when he came across a used copy of Joe Dante's "Four Magic Moves to Winning Golf" written in 1972. He said he couldn't put the book down so out of courtesy to the store owner he bought it.
Steve showed me the book and as I leafed through it I was amazed at all the beautifully drawn illustrations showing how to swing a golf club properly. Andy Brown has since revised this book for the 21st century and offers many media formats to read or listen to the book.
Steve turned to the chapter that explains "the early backward wrist break" and told me this one magic move has totally transformed his golf game! "You know John", my brother in law said, "golf teachers don't tell you anything about how to break the wrists in the golf swing". Steve believes the first 18 inches of the backswing are the most critical.
The majority of amatuer golfers turn their wrists in a way that opens or closes the clubface when they first start their backswing...This fatal move immediately puts your golf swing off the proper plane. Golfers then usually spend the rest of the golf swing trying to adjust so they can just make contact with the ball...not a good recipe for success!
This book explains how the clubhead should not open or close in the early part of the backswing...if you correctly perform the early backward wrist break your swing will be on plane early in the swing...Steve says he feels like the club is swinging itself...a truly effortless swing!
I am happy to say that my brother in law Steve is now a scratch golfer, thanks to this one magic move that has transformed his golf game!
When you make the backward wrist break perfectly - only one knuckle of your left hand (right handed golfers) and two knuckles of your right hand should be visible and the golf club should be parallel to your target line.
(Photo courtesy of The New Four Magic Moves to Winning Golf by Andy Brown and Joe Dante.)
You pay a lot of money to play this great game of golf...so why not enjoy it more by playing the golf you are capable of?
Try this golf swing takeaway tip and build the early backward wrist break into your golf swing and I promise you will halve your handicap in 2 weeks!
Hit 'em Long and Straight!
John Lynch
------
To learn more about this astounding break through in learning the golf swing, John recommends you visit: GolfSwingSecretsRevealed.com
Become a More Athletic Golfer to Improve Your Golf Game
As a personal trainer and avid golfer, the relationship between fitness and golf is a natural one to maintain, but it wasn't that way when I started playing the game as a junior. I first picked up clubs when I was about 5, then started playing seriously by about the seventh grade. By seriously I mean it had become the obsession that many golfers feel when they realize they would rather be golfing than just about anything else. A group of friends and I played regularly, and by high school, we were not only on our golf team together, we were some of the best players in our entire small town.
I was never able to hit the ball as far as my friends on the team, and one thing they told me over and over was that I should lift weights and get stronger, which at the time they did because they also played on the basketball team in the winter. As a skinny cross country runner at the time, I saw no need nor had any interest in lifting, as the weight room intimidated me in high school. I look back almost 30 years later as a much stronger, longer and better player than I was then (because I lift weights!) and wonder what might have been had I listened to them.
What my friends on the golf team did in the high school weight room in the early 80's was primitive to the workout science and programs that are available to golfers now, but they were definitely on to something. One way to look at it was that before it became popular, they were athletes who happened to play golf, and it showed in the length they had off the tee. This athletic approach can be applied to any golfer's game in the present day and immediately improve their ability to play better. With some examination, it is easy to see why.
The golf swing itself is actually an incredibly complex movement that combines virtually every muscle in the body into one coordinated action. The requirements of balance, coordination, flexibility, stability, strength and power all come into play in just one swing. Over the course of a practice session or round, endurance becomes a factor as well. Having some physical fitness in all of these areas can make for a much more effective swing. It is a bit ironic that golf itself does not require you to be in shape to play (unlike running a 10 k race, for example, which needs a level of fitness to even be attempted), nor will it really get you in shape by playing regularly (unless you walk rather than ride a cart). Yet working out overall dramatically increases the ability to perform the golf swing itself. So many players look to the next big expensive driver to add yardage off the tee. Well, what it they could hit it harder by being in better shape, and straighter, too?
Getting into the specifics of golf fitness, flexibility is paramount in the modern golf swing. The ability to turn the body through the trunk away from the ball, storing potential energy on the backswing, while maintaining an anchored, solid stance through the legs and hips, is what has been shown to generate the most power. Tiger Woods has a tremendous shoulder turn on his backswing which sets him up to uncoil with great speed through the ball on the downswing.
A person taking golf lessons and attempting to emulate Tiger's shoulder turn typically doesn't even have a body physically capable of doing that motion effectively! They may be taking lessons, yet are prevented from practicing the motion that they are learning by a lack of flexibility and fitness in the muscles of the trunk and back. Only by improving their fitness in these areas through proper training can they then expect to perform the proper motion.
In addition to flexibility, core strength and stability throughout the body are essential as well. These fitness terms refer to the body's strength in the trunk and the ability of the muscles of the entire body to operate in a coordinated, athletic way, which provide a stable "platform" in the body for hitting the golf ball. The more coordinated and stable the body is, the less motion is wasted during the swing and the more effort goes straight into hitting the ball where it is meant to go.
After flexibility is attained and a good amount of core strength and stability as well, more basic strength can then be added into a fitness routine. This could be along the lines of the classic term "lifting weights" that my high school buddies wanted me to do. A flexible and stable body that gets stronger, as long as the flexibility is not lost, can add significantly more effort to the golf swing, especially in situations where the ball may be in the rough or have a lie that requires more effort than the typical swing. If you watched Tiger Woods during the US Open in June, 2007, his physique from his fitness routine looked more muscular than ever, yet was very flexible. There were comments from the TV announcers many times on the level of his fitness and how it played out in making his game more effective. He is quite capable of hitting shots no one else on earth can because of his fitness level. As a result, he has more shots available to him to help him score.
So we know now how fitness has changed the game of golf and what is available to the player who chooses to add more fitness to their routine and golf game. Anyone can benefit from some exercise that is golf specific, and can participate at the level that they want. A person doesn't have to workout like Tiger Woods to get better. Sometimes even just working out regularly itself can make all the difference.
Copyright (c) 2007 Charles Carter
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