By Sean M. Cochran
Sean,
Jack, This is a great question that links the importance of training the body to developing a good swing. First think of the swing. Get a mental picture of a pro on Tour hitting a drive or maybe a long iron from the fairway. What do you see? Well, I see from address, to impact, to follow through, a body that is under control, balanced, and delivering great amounts of club head speed to the ball. What I don’t see is: A body moving back and forth, or a head that lifts during the swing, or knees that straighten during the swing. Are you getting the picture yet? The body is balanced (no moving around), under control and efficient. So what if you are not strong enough to keep your body under control and stable during the swing? Your body will sway during the swing, your head will probably move and who knows what might happen during the downswing? Balance from address to follow through is the foundation of the golf swing. We can enhance this component through balance training of our body. Think about it, if I train my body to become more stable, what do you think will happen to my golf swing? I will have a more stable golf swing. It becomes pretty easy if you don’t make it to hard.
Sean,
Bill, I think you know the reason as well as I do, the answer: You're tired! The body is fatigued, and it does not have the gas in the tank to swing the club on the correct path. The golf swing is a stressful activity requiring strength and endurance from your body. It’s quite simple: Once the body becomes fatigued, swinging the club on the correct path becomes more and more difficult. Once the body becomes tired, muscles start to get sore, and the soreness in your lower back is what we call a weak link. I would suggest implementing a golf fitness program and learn how to develop the strength, endurance, and power required for your swing. Also keep in mind that once the body starts to get tired, the mind also begins to get fatigued, and then every shot becomes even more difficult.
Sean,
Stephen, I bet a lot of people have the same question. The core is a buzzword these days in the golf industry. I hear many people mention it, but when you ask people for a definition, it becomes a difficult word to define. The core is an anatomical area of the body. It is comprised of all the muscles that attach the lower body to the upper body. It consists of all the muscles in the hips, lower back, abdominals, mid-back, and obliques (sides of the abdominals).
Let me add a little more: why is it important to golf? I imagine you probably have a pretty good idea, but I find the easiest way to think of the core as the engine of the body. This engine when it comes to the golf swing is responsible for the stability, strength, and power in the body for the golf swing.
Sean, I have begun to notice a pattern with my scoring and shot pattern. My rounds at the start of the week are great! I am striking the ball well, scoring well, and feeling good. The rounds later in the week are finding my scores to be much higher, my shot patterns much more sporadic, and obviously not feeling as good about my game. Any thoughts on what is going on and is there any way to fix it?
John, John, first off let me say I was rooting for the Seahawks and I thought they had a chance (maybe next year, but I think they have to re-sign Shaun Alexander). Anyways, on to your question, and I think I can give you a little advice. First off let me give you a little background info. The golf swing is classified as a repetitive movement, meaning in order to perform the golf swing correctly and successfully you must perform the same athletic movement over and over. In order for you to perform a repetitive movement such as the golf swing the body must have certain levels of muscular endurance. Muscular endurance can be defined as the ability of the body being able to perform the same activity over and over again without becoming fatigued. Once the body becomes fatigued, the ability to perform any athletic movement (golf swing included) becomes compromised. The golf swing is such a finite biomechanical movement that even the slightest amount of fatigue will have a direct affect on your swing! John, from your story this is what you are suffering from. Your golf swing is great until you body gets fatigued! Once it becomes fatigued (lack of muscular endurance) the golf swing starts to go bye-bye, and compensations in your swing results. I would suggest developing higher levels of muscular endurance in relation to your golf swing. This does not mean going out and running 5 miles a day (not that there is anything wrong with that), but we need to develop endurance in your muscles relative to your golf swing. This type of training is called cross-specificity training. Essentially this means training your body to the positions, movements, and requirements of your chosen sport (we talk more about this in my book “Your Body & Your Swing”). For you this is golf, and we need to develop Endurance in your muscles relative to the golf swing. This is done through a golf fitness program that contains golf endurance exercises. John, take a little time to implement some golf fitness exercises and I think you will see your rounds on the weekend be a much more enjoyable experience.
Sean, Any suggestions would be great, thanks.
Bill, I think we can all relate to how uphill, downhill, and the ball above or below our feet can create some difficulty. It sounds like in Bill’s case he is doing every thing correctly in terms of setting his body up for the swing, but during the execution of it something goes awry. From my perspective, I might suggest examining your golf fitness level. Remember, the body and the golf swing are intertwined. Uphill or downhill lies require you to set your shoulders and spine angle in line with the slope. As result, you are asking a little more out of your body’s balance capacities. Remember, balance is the ability of your body to maintain your center of gravity and control limb movement during any athletic movement, including the golf swing. Also, note the ability to maintain your balance is a responsibility of your body. The regulation and development of your balance capacities is directly related to your nervous and muscular system. It is the efficiency in which the nervous system operates and the strength/endurance of your muscles. The combination of these two systems working together determines how well you balance. Improve the efficiency in which your nervous system operates, and the strength of your muscular system will improve your balance capacities. Improvement in your balance capacities will have a direct effect on the efficiency in which you perform any athletic activity, including your golf swing. You can achieve this through a golf fitness program such as the programs found in my “Your Body & Your Swing” book. Shots off sidehill lies, uphill lies, and awkward stances will become easier if you improve your balance capacities, simply because your body operates more efficiently.
I have an injury in my shoulder from hockey 3 or 4 months ago -- inflamed rotator cuff and tendon. I’m doing exercises prescribed by my doctor and physiotherapist but it is very slow repairing itself. And I’m 70 years old (it happened in a 55 and over men’s ice hockey league) My question is do you know anything I could do to speed up the healing process? I am a right-handed golfer and when I’m in my back swing at about the 2/3 point the shoulder joint gets quite painful. Mind you a shorter backswing for awhile might improve my accuracy, but I need to focus on the golf swing and not the pain. Any ideas?
Bill, Before I provide any guidance, I am going to tip my hat to Bryan. Any 70-year-old still playing ice hockey deserves some applause. I used to play ice hockey in high school. It’s a great sport and one of my favorites. Now let’s discuss this situation. First and foremost with any injury seek professional medical attention. Professional medical attention will diagnose the injury and get you on the correct treatment track. Bryan is doing just that, it appears he has had the injury diagnosed and is receiving treatment by a professional for the injury. Bottom line this is the best and quickest way to recover from an injury. I have seen it more than I would like to mention: Individuals and athletes not receiving proper medical attention for an injury. Over time, the injury gets worse and debilitates them even more. A couple points of guidance for Bryan; the injury is obviously taking more time to heal than he would like. Unfortunately, as we age the recovering time for the body becomes longer. This is one situation that appears to be frustrating Bryan. His body is taking longer to recover than he would like. Not much that can be done about this situation. My suggestion is to stay consistent with your rehab and the joint will get better. I also noticed in Bryan’s e-mail that it appears he is swinging a golf club and is feeling pain during this activity. In my book this is a NO-NO. Swinging a golf club is obviously causing pain and exacerbating the injury. This results in the injury taking more time to heal. In the big picture, it will take you longer to get back onto the course. I am not one to suggest swinging a golf club if it is painful. Get the pain fixed and then return to the game. Finally, Brian asked if there is anything he can do to speed up the healing process. Unfortunately, the timetable for the injury to heal is an unknown. You can never say with great assurance of when the injury will heal or how long it will take. The best suggestion I have is to be consistent with your rehab exercises and do not do anything to increase the inflammation in the injured area of the body. The second part that can assist in the recovery of an injury is what you do before you get injured. Huh? Yes, it is called prehabilitation. Prehabilitation are exercises to develop areas of the body that are prone to injury before they get injured. Common prehabilitation exercises tend to focus on the joints of the body. Making them stronger and more flexible, thus more resilient to injury from sports. It is a common part of any sports-specific training program and golf is no different. Any golf fitness training program should include prehabilitation exercises to help strengthen areas of the body that are commonly injured. In golf these exercises tend to focus on the lower back, hips, and shoulders. To give you another example; a professional pitchers program would entail a lot of shoulder exercises for this same reason (shoulders are a common injury in pitching). Bottom line is once you are injured follow the prescribed rehabilitation program laid out by your physician. Work on the front side of the injury by using prehabilitation exercises in a golf fitness program. Bryan, best of luck with your recovery, stay focused with your rehabilitation, and once you are healthy implement a proven prehabilitation program into your training.
Sean, I continue to play golf with much pain. I’m on a weight loss program and workout in the gym doing light weights (25 reps per exercise). My flexibility is no longer what it once was. In college, I could hit a 300 yard drive, today I’m lucky if I hit it 200 to 220. I am trying to avoid surgery at least for now. I’m hoping with the weight loss and exercise I can prolong the need for awhile. What can I do to improve my length with all these problems.
Ray, Let me first say Ray you are not alone. I receive e-mails of similar content on a daily basis. It comes down to this: as you age, your body becomes less flexible, weaker, and less powerful. Surgeries even further exasperate this situation as a result of scar tissue forming, ranges of motion becoming limited, and a few other unfortunate incidents. You are taking the right steps in terms of working out and performing aerobic activities (this can only benefit your situation). Getting to your question of how to get some length back into your drives we must start at square one and that is flexibility training. Before we even talk about getting your body a little stronger and more powerful, we must look to increase your flexibility. Increasing your flexibility increases the ranges of motions in your joints. This should assist in the relief of some of the pain you’re experiencing. Secondly, increasing your flexibility will assist in performing the mechanics of the golf swing correctly. Improving your swing mechanics over time should lead to some added length off the tee. The flexibility exercises I would recommend to you are golf specific flexibility exercises. These types of exercises will improve your flexibility in relation to your golf swing. You can find these types of flexibility exercises in my book “Your Body & Your Swing.” As I said before, I would not worry at all about strength and power until we get some flexibility back in your body.
Sean,
Irwin, I have to admit when you are playing with your buddies it is always a good feeling to be the long ball of the tee. First and foremost, it is not fun being the shortest driver out of your foursome every time out (it can be changed, trust me). Secondly, an attempt to adjust your swing to hitting a fade or draw will probably cause more problems than solve. It sounds as though you have a natural cut. Every golfer has some type of ball flight that is natural to their swing, even the pros. I would suggest sticking with your current swing and let’s make some adjustments where they will really make a difference. We all need to fully understand the aging process. Yes, the dreaded aging process. It can really kick your butt! Bottom line, as we get older our flexibility, strength, endurance, and power outputs of our body decreases. This has a direct affect on our golf swing, and unfortunately, this affect is a bad one. Remember, the golf swing requires certain levels of flexibility, strength, endurance, and power to perform correctly. The aging process robs our bodies of these needed entities for our golf swing, resulting in less distance, less accuracy, and less consistency on the golf course. What we need to do to combat this situation is implement golf fitness exercises into your training program. Now it is very important to understand that any old exercise will not get the results in our golf game we are looking to achieve. What is required are flexibility, strength, endurance and power exercises that are specific to the positions and movement of the golf swing. This will induce a transfer of training effect onto your golf swing. These types of exercises, over time, will get the power back in your swing, through increasing your flexibility, strength, and power. Remember, as we age the body becomes weaker and less flexible. Both negatives in relation to power in our golf swing. We must battle this situation with golf fitness exercises.
Sean,
Tom, Great question! What we must look at in regards to exercises beneficial to your golf swing is if they are cross-specific? Essentially it means you need to train the positions, movements, and requirements of the golf swing. This will result in a transfer of training effect into your game. I can tell you that crunches are only one of many exercises you need to be doing to drive the ball longer, more accurately, and consistently. It comes down to a combination of many exercises that develop the body around your swing.
Sean,
Nick, Well my friend, the answer to your question is what separates the pros from the amateurs. It comes down to two things: 1) efficiency of movement, and 2) weak links. First off the pros have very efficient swings. Hitting a golf ball is the transfer of energy from the feet, up through the body, into the club. The pros are very efficient at this where the amateur is not. That is why we take lessons and practice: to become more efficient with our swings. The second part of the answer relates to the physical parameters of the body. Your body has to have the required flexibility, balance, strength, and power to efficiently transfer energy from your feet to the club. Think of the example of a garden hose with a lot of little holes in it. When you turn the water on how much water comes out the end of the hose? Not too much! The same thing happens with your golf swing. If your muscles in the body are not flexible, don’t have enough strength, and can’t create large amounts of torque. You are going to have a lot of energy leaks. My suggestions to you are to continue to practice your swing at the range, and fix those weak links in your body by utilizing a golf fitness program.
Sean,
John You really want to know the answer to this question? Because I imagine that you are not going to like it. Well regardless of your thoughts here it is: The majority of the machines in your gym are not beneficial to your golf swing. Let me tell you why. The golf swing is a movement that occurs in three-dimensional space, meaning that your body is moving through space in multiple directions without any structure supporting it. For example, imagine yourself swinging your driver on the first tee. What does the picture look like? Well, you have the ball teed up, your feet are planted, club head behind the ball at address, you move through the back swing, accelerate towards the ball, and make contact. Now in that picture you saw you body moving in multiple directions to swing the club. Now first off, what do the majority of the machines at the gym do? They isolate a muscle and move it through a single directional movement. Is there any relation to the golf swing and the gym exercise we just explained? The answer no, in addition when swinging a golf club is your body supported by anything? Obviously no, but what do most of the machines at your club have you do? You are either lying down, sitting down, or being supported by some sort of bench. It comes down to the point that most of these exercises are not what we call cross-specific to the golf swing. They do not train the body to specific movements and requirements of the golf swing. I would suggest a golf-specific training program like we developed in our power golf conditioning program. This type of a program will give you an idea what type of training program is suitable to improving your golf game.
Sean,
Mark, The answer to your question is two fold: on one hand, yes it will help your swing and power. But on the other hand, it will not help your club head speed and power. I know, it’s a little confusing. So let’s clear this up. First off let us make sure we know what exactly a weighted club is used for? A weighted club is a swing tool that assists you in learning the mechanics of a swing. One of the keys, I have heard from swing coaches and professionals is you must be able to feel the club head when swinging. Most amateurs would laugh at the idea of being able to feel the club head, but that is one reason a weighted club is useful in learning the mechanics of the golf swing. Secondly, a weighted club essentially helps you get the club through impact and feel it. Overall, a weighted club can be a beneficial teaching tool. I am not a swing coach or teaching professional so I can only give you my opinion on it. I can tell you that a weighted club is a swing tool, and will not assist you in developing the body to add club head speed. It is device to assist you with working on the mechanics of your swing. You do need to develop an efficient swing and a body to support that swing. The combination of these two entities will enhance the power and club head speed in your swing. I would recommend develop the proper swing mechanics through instruction, and develop your body around the swing through a golf fitness program. The golf swing requires certain levels of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power to execute. These physical parameters are the foundation upon which the mechanics of the golf swing are developed. Once you create the physical foundation for the swing, the ability to refine your mechanics will be much easier. Additionally, increased levels of flexibility, strength, and power can lend themselves to more distance and better shots on the course. If, and only if, you have a handle on your swing mechanics, the point being both your body and swing work in unison to execute the golf swing. |
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