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By Sean Cochran
Special to PGATOUR.com

The inaugural PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup are complete and the PGA TOUR season is into its Fall Series. This is also the time of the year for many of you where your golf season is winding down. As a result I find this to be an ideal time of the year to do what many TOUR players do and reassess the strengths, weaknesses, positives and the unfortunate negatives of the past season.

GET TO KNOW SEAN COCHRAN

Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA TOUR regularly and works with TOUR professionals, most notably Masters and PGA Champion Phil Mickelson.   He has been involved in the production of numerous golf fitness videos and books including Core Golf Fitness. He has authored numerous articles with publication credits in Golf Digest, Sports Illustrated, and Golf Magazine.   In addition to working with Mickelson, Cochran has worked with LPGA Champion Hee Won Han, U.S. Open Champion Corey Pavin, world-renowned golf instructor Rick Smith and short game expert Dave Pelz.   Cochran continues to speak at seminars and clinics around the country on golf fitness. In his free time he enjoys golf and surfing. He resides in Del Mar, Calif.   To learn more about Sean and his golf fitness programs,  click here • Training tips archive,  click here • Off-season workout,  click here • Set-up exercises,  Click here • Tightness?  Here's your help

The thought process behind such an "inventory" is to determine both the areas of your golf swing and game that may be improved upon during the coming off-season. The information we gain from this assessment will assist in determining what areas of your game requires more practice, where compensations are occurring within your golf swing, what are the swing drills to utilize this off-season, and, from my position, what aspects physically could be improved through golf fitness training.

To assist you in this process we are going to take the next series of articles and lay out the process of assessing your golf game, swing, and body for the purpose of improving your golf game during this upcoming off-season. This will also allow you to set up some specific goals to be achieved during this approaching time of the year.

To begin the process of assessing your game I find it best to take a pad of paper and delineate out your golf game. First break your game down into phases such as putting, short game, mid-iron play, long irons, and tee shots. If you like, you can even break down your game even further into more specific categories such as 3-footers, downhill, uphill, lag putts, so on and so forth. The choice is ultimately up to you as to how detailed this assessment process becomes. The goal is to get onto paper the strengths and weaknesses of your current golf game.

The second step of this assessment is breaking down the phases of your golf swing. This is a simple process of listing the phases of the golf swing: address, take-away, backswing, transition, downswing, impact, and follow through. Once the phases of the swing are in your mind it is a process of determining what phases and aspects of your swing require improvement. I might suggest getting input from your swing instructor and utilizing the Golf Academy section of PGATOUR.com for this part of the assessment. Often you will find within your swing compensations occurring in one or more phases, which results in less than optimal swing mechanics. This is usually the culprit behind a loss of distance on your tee shots, decreased accuracy with your irons, or even errors in the short game.

Once you have determined the areas within the swing requiring attention, we can now turn to your body. Remember it is your body executing the mechanics of the golf swing. As a result certain physical parameters are required of your body to execute the golf swing correctly. If your body is lacking the minimal requirements in any one or a number of these physical parameters, executing each phase of the golf swing correctly can be compromised. This can results in a chain reaction-like sequence relative to your golf game.

For example, if your body lacks the flexibility to make a full shoulder turn this can cause problems with your backswing. Problems with your backswing can then result in compensations developing in your swing. This then can to lead to problems on the course. Overall, it is important to assess every aspect of your golf game, body included.

To begin the assessment process of your body we will begin looking at your flexibility parameters. The golf swing requires you to draw the club through a large range of motion. This ultimately requires a certain level of flexibility in the muscles utilized by the golf swing. A lack of flexibility in any of these muscles can result in compensations developing within the mechanics of your swing.

The first assessment we will look at is your shoulder turn. I call this assessment the mirror drill. Simply stand in front of a full-length mirror. Take a normal address position, place a club on top of your shoulders, cross the arms, and place your hands on top of the shoulders, securing the golf club.

Slowly perform the shoulder turn of your golf swing and note the amount of rotation in your torso and shoulders. An ideal shoulder turn in the swing occurs when your back is facing the target. During the mirror drill assessment, if you are unable to make a full shoulder turn without manipulation of your spine angle this is an indicator of an area of the body we need to address in the upcoming off-season.

Remember, an assessment of your golf game, golf swing, and body gives you a great road map for improvement this upcoming off-season.