Instruction

Selin: A new way to improve mobility

Published

11 years ago

Aug 19, 2013

In the years when I played a lot of golf tournaments, I often had problems with my back and left hip. These problems increased in magnitude after the first 36 holes of the competition. Sometimes, it was so bad that I had to use my “backup” swing so I could play passably golf that day. The “backup” swing also saved me many times when I lost trust in my normal swing.

Like me, I think many regular golfers have noticed that their range of motion has changed after a long break or an intensive period of golfing.

Most golfers arrive 30 to 35 minutes before their tee time. So during that time, they have to loosen up, hit some range balls and putts, and find a swing that works for their mobility that day. In my opinion, it is very difficult to figure all that out in such short period of time (even less when you consider the time it takes to pay for the round, get a cart, drive to the tee, etc.).

Most golfers will make themselves nervous trying to “figure it out” before the round, which doesn’t help them reach the ultimate goal — getting better every time they play.

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Conclusion: Most golfers will never play at their best if they cannot adapt to the “new” mobility limitations for that day. Often these limitations are directly connected to shorter backswing and follow through. Related common swing faults are:

Early extension
Loss of posture
Chicken wing
Flying elbow

Solution: During my years playing a lot of tournaments, I made a specific sequence of stretching exercises. When I had done this sequence I was ready to go. The down side was that it took quite long time and it was not that efficient.

Since 2004, I have used another warm up called “Olympic Mobility,” which has helped me and also my clients a lot. The foundation for this warm-up drill is a series of movements called “Olympic Mobility.” Its origin comes from the MAQ (Muscle Action Quality). I learned this from the creator of this model, Pierre Johansson, at the Swedish Sports Confederation on Bosön, Stockholm. The MAQ is a training model for strength, flexibility, balance and control.

During the sequence, you will need to activate your abdominal muscles to maintain your posture through the squats and the final back bend. In the pictures and video, you will recognize that they are using a broomstick, but a golf club is also alright to use. The hard part is to keep the broomstick inside the green area (Steps 1 to 13) seen in the gif below (click on it to see the motions). Step 14 is the final back bend, and here the broomstick leaves the green area (hopefully).

If you have trouble following the sequence or you feel pain or illness, then I suggest that you stop the warm up and talk to physiotherapist or a doctor.

I usually only need to do this sequence 10 times until I feel that I can start to hit some golf balls on the range. Of course, this will be a challenging exercise for some of you. But the main purpose of this warm up is that you will monitor your mobility and you will also see patterns with your golf results a lot easier. With that I mean you will always have the same mobility before you teeing off on the first tee. Then you will know that your mobility was not the problem that day at the golf course. The better you are on eliminating avoidable error sources, the better your worst golf shot of the day will be.

As Ben Hogan once said, “Golf is not a game of good shots. It’s a game of bad shots.”

In every beginner’s course I have had since 2004, I have used this sequence to figure out what the golfers swing should look like and feel. Of the beginners, ages 20 to 64, only 15 percent could do this sequence correct, and 30 percent had problem to raise the broomstick over their head without bending the elbows on either left or right arm.

If you like to see the video of this warm up drill, visit my Google+ page or homepage.

You can also send me your video clips from when you are trying to perform this warm-up exercise. When I have time I can give you some hints on what you would do to increase your mobility.

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Instruction

Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?

Published

2 days ago

Apr 24, 2024

Shawn Clement

Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

Published

4 weeks ago

Mar 29, 2024

Terry Koehler

My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Published

2 months ago

Mar 4, 2024

Shawn Clement

Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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