Golf Your Best

Here is a quick guide to help you take it to the next level.

If You Shoot Over 100

If you currently shoot over 100 you are probably new to the game. Golf is game that takes plenty of practice and understanding. At your level, you’re probably very excited to just get out to play. You always have a big grin on your face because you’ve found a new hobby that gives you a little exercise and gets you breathing some fresh air. Unfortunately, shooting over 100 will get old very quickly especially if you’re a competitive person by nature. So your smile will start to turn into a frown and you may end up giving the game up. It is quite easy to break 100 if you know what to do.

What to Do To Break 100

If you’re new to the game you have not ingrained any bad habits yet, so before you do, take some lessons from a qualified pro. It’s usually quite easy to teach you the proper fundamentals of the golf swing because you’re eager to learn and never second guesses the teacher. If the relationship between the student and teacher is good, the speed at which you will see results is very quick. Usually within a month or two the “over 100″ shooter can easily take 10 – 20 shots off of their game. Once you break 100 on a regular basis you’ll start to see the game differently. Although shooting in the 70′s is a few years into the future it may be attainable because taking lessons initially has given you a great start on the game.

If You Shoot Over 90

If you currently shoot over 90 you’re someone who has to play more often. You’re probably playing about 20 – 30 rounds a year and most of these rounds are in corporate tournaments. Corporate tournaments are a definite game wrecker. The usual scramble format leads you to just bashing the ball as hard as you can trying to get that one drive that helps your team. Unfortunately this leads to a HUGE slice with the driver which doesn’t help your team at all. I know it’s fun to try and hit the ball as hard as you can but If wailing away at it was the way to play good golf, everyone would be a pro. You will also find the short game very difficult. Although the short shots around the green look easy they quickly become a nightmare to you because of the amount of touch that’s required.

What to Do To Break 90

For starters, you have to get out to the course more often. You can still play in corporate events but you have to do so with a new attitude. You have to quit trying to be the hero and start actually helping your team. This can be done by swinging easy and trying to get the ball in the fairway or the middle of the green. If you swing easier and try to become more accurate you will be amazed at how many of your shots the team actually uses. You would greatly benefit from weekly lessons. The lessons would not only give you a better swing but they would get you out to the range and course on a regular basis. Finally, you have to take at least one short game lesson to see how easy it can be. This will create a better understanding of the short game which will then make practicing it more enjoyable.

If You Shoot Over 80

You’re the kind of person the major club manufacturers love. You think that you can “buy your game” so every opportunity you get to try the latest and greatest clubs you take it because you don’t think that your swing is the problem. So you buy that new driver and for a while you hit it great. A few weeks later that great new club isn’t so great anymore and it’s back to your old game. This leaves you scratching your head because you thought you had it and now it’s gone. At some point in your golf career you probably have taken 1 – 3 lessons and you always try every golf tip you hear about. Because of these constant changes in both your swing and your clubs you never really have the opportunity to get used to anything so you are left in a state of limbo always thinking that the elusive 70′s are just around the corner.

What to Do To Break 80

In order to break 80, you have to admit that it’s not the clubs. It’s about developing a repeatable swing and a great short game. To create this repeatable swing and great short game, you have to work with a qualified teacher on a weekly basis. You’re going to forget trying different tips and quick fixes because you will destroy the changes the teacher is trying to make. This whole process is not going to be easy because you basically have to re-learn the swing (making changes to your swing may cause you to hit some very poor shots at first because you’re not used to it and you’re in between swings). If you stay determined, you’ll start to hit some shots that will totally amaze you. These amazing shots are telling you that your hard work is paying off and pretty soon you will be playing in the 70′s.

If You Shoot Over 72

You have a great swing. It’ll still go astray on them from time to time but you can usually get it back rather quickly. You usually make a few mistakes in a round that you just can’t seem to let go of. This creates stress and pressure that effects the rest of your game. Your short game may not be as good it could be. You know this but actually finding time to practice it is sometimes a challenge. Finally, you may be taking the game a little too seriously causing you to try to hit every shot perfectly. This may lead to second guessing your swing which is definitely trouble when you are on the course.

What to Do To Break Par

You have to find the time to do some serious work on the short game. If it’s difficult to make it out to the course you can always chip and pitch balls in your backyard and putt on an indoor carpet every night. This dedication to the short game is what will allow you to still shoot good numbers when your swing is not at it’s best. It will also reduce pressure on your approach shots because if you can get the ball up and down regularly it’s not that big of a deal if you miss the odd green. When you do work on your full swing try to work on the weaker clubs in your bag and hitting the ball from poor lies. Also, forget distance. At your level you are probably long enough. Concentrate on never swinging over 80% of your ability. If you can resist the temptation to hit the ball too hard your miss hits will not stray to far off line eliminating the need for that miraculous shot to get you back it the game. Finally, have fun out there. If you lighten up a little you will reduce your stress levels allowing you to switch into automatic mode instead of having to grind it out all of the time.

Until next time,

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“I have been working on my golf swing ever since I received your Power Pack. Every morning when I wake up the first thing I do is play my mind movie. I go through each frame of my golf swing the way you say in the book.”

“My local driving range do a special ‘off-peak’ offer of a hundred balls for the price of thirty from 07.30 to 09.00 Mondays to Fridays. So I drop by on the way to work and hit a few balls.”

“The other morning when I got to the driving range I did my warm-up exercises the way you say in the book, then I played my mind movie, addressed my ball and fired off a six iron. There’s a small mound like a golf green with a flag on it 160 yards from the tee. My six iron screamed off the face of the club and landed right by that flag. It felt so good I just couldn’t wait to play another shot.”

“It went on and on; just about every six iron I hit landed on that small green. My golf swing felt absolutely right. I didn’t want to hit another club. I must have hit fourty balls and only two or three missed the green.”

“When I eventually persuaded myself to try my rescue club the results weren’t quite so good. They were still better than normal, but they weren’t all clean strikes like the six iron shots I’d been hitting.”

“So I was not feeling as confident when I plucked my five wood from the bag. It didn’t matter, the first one flew right to the end of the range. I’m here to tell you that every single shot I hit with that club went straight as an arrow.”

“By then I couldn’t wait to get the driver out. I knew that this would be the acid test. If the driver went straight then I’d know for sure that my golf swing had moved up to a whole new level. The first drive went arrow straight.”

“I took a break and just stood there resting on my club. I felt so good inside I wanted to enjoy the moment. Part of me could hardly believe that I could hit so many good shots one after the other. I kept telling myself over and over, “you’ve got a proper golf swing, at last.”

“Now I have to tell you that I did pull a couple of shots with the driver. They still flew straight but they would have finished in the semi-rough on the left of the fairway. The rest just honed in on the flag I was aiming at. What a great feeling!”

“After that I didn’t want to go to work. I just wanted to go out and play golf because I know that from now on it’s going to be greatest fun every time I play.”

“If you ask me what I think now, I think that every golfer who wants a good golf swing, and you’ve got to have a good swing if you want to hit the ball straight and true, should get themselves a copy of The Golf Mind-Movies Power Pack.”

This article is taken from an e-mail sent in by a delighted golfer who had been playing for 12 years before he purchased The Golf Mind-Movies Power Pack.

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It’s often said that you shouldn’t have any tension in your swing. This isn’t true. You need tension, the thing you don’t need is strength. There’s a big difference between the two, and if you can’t distinguish between them, it may be stopping you from reaching your potential.

To get the feeling of both tension and strength, simply stand up and hang your arms at your side. To feel tension, extend your arms downward to the ground as far as they go. As you do this, you will feel tension in your arms because they are stretched to their longest point. Now to feel strength, make two fists and squeeze as hard as you can. These are two totally different feelings that have two totally different affects on your swing.

This feeling of strength is what most inexperienced players feel when they hit the ball and they mistake it for tension. They get this feeling because they’re trying to hit the ball so hard that their arm muscles lock up. This feeling of strength is deceiving though because it also gives the person the feeling of power. If this feeling of strength is removed, the inexperienced player then thinks that they are not going hit the ball as far so, they immediately they tighten up again.

This feeling of strength in your arms will do two things to destroy your swing:

1. It will narrow your swing arc because the feeling of strength makes your arm muscles contract or buckle through and past impact. The narrower your swing arc, the slower the club will swing.

2. It will inhibit the hinging and re-hinging of your wrists also resulting in a slower clubhead speed. The harder you hit, the tighter your wrists will which will also slow the club down.

So how is the clubhead speed increased if you feel tension?

1. To achieve the tension I am talking about, you must allow the arms to be stretched out to their fullest through and past impact. To stretch them out means your muscles cannot be turned on. You have to keep them loose. To understand the increase in arc width, imagine that your golf swing is like picking up a weight and swinging it in a circle on a piece of string. The weight represents your club, the string is your arms, and your body is your hand that is twirling it. As the weight swings, the piece of string will get tense. This is because the weight is stretching it to its longest point. This maximizes its arc. It’s this wide arc that allows the weight to swing its fastest. Remember, feeling strength in your arms pulls the clubhead closer to you because it contracts your arm muscles. If your arm muscles contract, it would be like the piece of string getting shorter as you spin the weight not longer. The shorter the piece of string, the slower it will swing.

2. Loosening up the arms, and keeping the muscles turn off, will also loosen up your wrists. To understand how the wrist hinge will help to create clubhead speed, imagine opening a door with rusty hinges and one with well oiled hinges. Obviously, the well oiled hinges will allow the door swing open and closed faster. If your wrists were “well oiled” it would result in more clubhead speed as well. To get the feeling of wrists that are too tight (rusty hinges), try clenching your fists again. This time pay attention to your wrists and how locked up they become when you feel strength in your arms. So allowing the arms to stretch out through and past impact not only maximizes the arc width, but it also loosens your wrists.

Now that you know how detrimental strength is to your swing as opposed to tension, take a look at a few areas where you are likely to feel it:

1. The first area is your grip. Your grip pressure at set up should be 2 out of 10 where 10 is the tightest.

2. In your set up you should feel like your arms are just hanging and there is no strength in them. If you don’t start with them stretched out how are they going to stretch out through and past impact?

3. The takeaway is the next area to check. If you take the club away fast, you are turning on your arm muscles. You should take the club away slow and smooth to avoid this arm strength. To feel this, just flip the club upside down so you are gripping the club where the clubhead is (flipping the club this way makes it really light). Now as you take a few practice swings, you can immediately tell if your arms are tightening. Make sure you take the club back slow enough that you don’t feel your arms turn on then apply this same feeling to your actual takeaway (once you flip the club around to the correct position).

4. The next area is just as you are going to start your downswing. Remember, human nature is telling you to hit the ball hard. If you follow you instincts, you are guaranteed to feel strength in your arms. So from now on, don’t think about hitting anything. A great way to achieve this is to imagine you have a magic marker taped to your clubhead and there’s a huge piece of paper you are swinging against. Your objective is to draw the widest circle you can on the piece of paper as you swing down and through past impact. If you can think of this image you will definitely increase the width of your arc and feel the tension in your arms from the club pulling them out.

5. The final area is just before contact. People feel they have to give the shot just that little extra help to get it in the air. In doing so, they also turn on their arms. Remember to keep the image of the weight swinging on a piece of string in your mind as you swing your club. The weight swings freely around an axis pulling the string to its longest point. Your club should be allowed to swing freely around your body so it too, is allowed to swing to its widest point. You don’t have to help the ball get in the air.

The next time you go to the practice range, try to get this new feeling of tension that I have described. If you’re doing it properly, you can tell because you will probably hit the ground behind the ball a few times. Don’t avoid these fat shots. If you try to avoid them, you will do so by tightening your arms again. Just keep hitting shots (even if the club hits the ground behind the ball). Within 20 balls, you’ll get used to your new, wider swing arc and start to hit some of the most solid shots of your life!

Until next time,

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If peak performance is what you are after then you need to learn how to do a proper golf ball comparison. Just like choosing the right golf clubs, picking the correct ball for you is just a matter of matching the different types of balls with your swing and how you play golf. Golf balls are all the same, aren’t they? They may be small, but they are one of the most engineered pieces of golfing equipment.

Have you ever taken a really close look at a golf ball? They have different feels, different densities and different spins resulting in a different action, depending on how you play the game. To get the best out of your game and your golf ball, you need to match each section of the golf ball with your level of skill and style,

First off, you need to chose the correct golf ball compression. The compression is the measurement of how tightly wound the ball is. Depending on your swing speed, depends on how the compression comes into play. If you’re swing speed is quite slow, then you will want a lower compression. Therefore, the faster the speed, the higher the golf ball compression that you will need.

In total, the compression ratings are broken down into three seperate groups.

The first group is the 80 compression golf balls. They tend to be the softest and produce what essentially results in a sling shot effect when they are hit. They fly farther after being hit but they are much hard to control and hit accurately. They are the most popular type of golf ball amongst women, senior and junior players for their distance alone.

The next group is the 90 compression rating golf balls. Due to their middle of the road standing, soft enough to provide good distance on a slower swing but hard enough to provide a good degree of control, these are a good match for most male players in a golf ball comparison. They also prove to be a great choice for the more advanced female players.

The final group is the 100 compression rating golf balls. Fast swing speeds are needed for top performance due to these being the hardest balls. These type of balls are most popular amongest the low handicap and scratch players due to the faster swing speeds and the higher level of control.

Of course the only real way for you to know which is the best fit golf ball compression for your game is to do your own golf ball comparison. So, why not take a few of each of the golf ball compressions out to the driving range and find out which ones work best for you.

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What’s your idea of a perfect round of golf? If you were to shoot 72, would that be a perfect round to you? The best players in the world only hit approximately 70% of their fairways and 12 – 13 of their greens in regulation when they play, and yet, they can still shoot 72 or better. So if the pros aren’t perfect, and they still shoot great numbers, what should your idea of perfect be? You’re idea of perfect is should be that you can never achieve it. Why’s it so important to understand that you’ll never be perfect? It’s so important, because at your level, trying to be perfect puts added pressure on your game. The game of golf has enough pressure already without you adding more. So if you stop trying to be perfect, you can lighten up a little and have more fun playing this game.

Give Yourself Permission to Make Mistakes

If you can understand that you’ll never be perfect while playing this game, you can finally give yourself permission to make mistakes when you go to play instead of getting down on yourself. You can stop scratching your head in disbelief after you hook that drive or miss the green because even the best players aren’t perfect. Permission to make mistakes will also allow you to focus on your future shots, instead of dwelling on the past. Before your next round, tell yourself that you’re going to hit some bad shots and there’s nothing you can do about it. If you tell yourself this, you’ll reduce the pressure you are putting on yourself allowing you to have a more enjoyable round.

Pitching, Chipping and Greenside Bunkers

These can be some of the most difficult shots in golf. Because these shots are so difficult, and because people rarely practice them, it should be obvious that you’re not going to hit all of these shots within 3 feet of the hole. The next time you’re faced with a tough little pitch shot, a long chip or tough bunker shot, instead of hoping to get the ball close, why not think about just getting the ball on the green? If you just try to get the ball on the green, you are not pressuring yourself to hit a perfect shot. If you take this new approach you might be surprised at how close these short shots will end up.

Putting

If you think you are going to make every 6 foot putt you’re mistaken. Putting guru, Dave Pelz, figured out that the pros only make 50% from 6 feet, 20% from 10 feet and 10% from 15 feet. Once you realize these stats, you’ll stop getting mad at yourself for missing putts. If you miss a six footer and whack your foot with your putter in disgust, not only will you have a hard time walking to the next hole, but it will be more difficult maintaining your composure on the next tee shot. So the best thing you can do when you miss a putt, is to tell yourself that it’s no big deal. The stats prove that even the best players in the world, only make a small number of putts.

The Practice Range is for Practicing

In teaching golf for over 15 years, I have been exposed to all types of golfers. The main thing I see on the practice range, is that people care more about where their ball is going than they do about what they are working on. Because of this, they often get angry when they hit bad shots. If this sounds familiar, you have to realize that the practice range is the place you should be practicing. You should be working on something in your game that needs to be worked on. It is not a place where you should be trying to hit every shot perfectly. If you’re working on a swing position or change, there’s no way you’re going to master it in 5 minutes. This means you should be hitting bad shots when you practice. Make sure that the next time you go to the range, you use this time to work on something. Forget about trying to hit perfect shots and think about perfecting the positions you’re working on. The faster you make the changes, the closer to perfect your shots will become.

How Perfect Are You?

If you really want to see how perfect you are all you have to do is put yourself to the test. Go out on a quiet Sunday afternoon and hit 2 balls playing the best shot with each ball. Keep your score and see how you make out at the end of the round. Once you add up your score, you’ll truly see how close to perfect you really are.

Until next time,

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Golf is becoming a very popular sport. There are more and more people getting interested in this sport. This is not a sport that you can do if you do not practice. It is a good idea to get as much training as you can so that you can become a good player and have more fun. Golf dust training is one of the most effective ways to increase golf swing and power. You cannot get any better help than at one of these training events.

There are many golf dust-training clubs on the market and new ones that are becoming available all the time. When you use a weighted golf dust training club you can better your athletic movement with resistance and this will make the best improvement in your game.

The impact that a golfer has with their swing using golf dust training will be doing some thing to better their game. The goal of most of the coaches and trainer is to start up new exercises that will closely resemble an athletic movement. You should practice with hand weights, medicine balls, and other weights.

The impact of your golf swing will be better with golf dust training and will be an almost immediate increase in the driving distance. This is because you are getting the training that your muscles need for the movement. With hard work and many repetitions, you can improve your gold swing and muscle tone as well.

You will also improve your back swing with golf dust training. You will find that you can follow through with your range of motion better. This will give you more power at impact and be better for your game. There are many golfers that are always trying to improve their flexibility and power. This is defiantly a great way to do this. www.bestgolf-training.com

Using a good, golf dust training routine will give a person a better game and a better outlook on the green. You will improve your score and get a better workout at the same time. You will find that here are many places that you can turn to for this type of help. You can join a golfing club and they sometimes offer great golf dust training help. You will be surprised at how you can have more power and be more flexible with just a few lessons.

This effective way of getting a better form on the golf course will empower you to have more fun while playing. You will find that you get more offers to play and more people will want to partner up with you for a lot of different golfing events. The golf dust training procedure will get you more excited about playing too.

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The best golf exercises are not complicated; you don’t need to be a member of a gym; and you don’t need thousands of dollars in equipment. Yes…there are new golf fitness machines coming out in the market that look respectable, but they want an arm and a leg for them.

When you think of the best golf exercises, you’ve got to think like an athlete for a minute. Golf is an athletic sport, and thanks to guys like Tiger Woods, golfers are realizing they need to train like an athlete to see improvement.

Most athletes don’t ever use machines. Machines guide you through certain ranges of motion that don’t benefit the golf swing. The golf swing is a very dynamic movement, that is not like other movements.

The baseball swing is very similar from a mechanical standpoint…but two distinct differences. In baseball you ‘react’ to a moving object (in golf the ball is not moving); and in baseball the ball is approximately waist high and in golf it’s on the ground.

So in order to incorporate the best golf exercises, you’ve got to take a look at your body position and the muscles involved to maintain that position.

What is it?

We know at address you have a tilt in your spine, a bend at the hips and knees. And even a little ankle flex. That’s a somewhat athletic position, similar to a squat, but not quite.

Now…not only are you in the position, but now you have to swing a long lever (club) at over 80 plus mph and stay in this position (posture).

Impossible if you have weak and stiff golf specific muscles!

Here’s is a quick test. When you are in your golf posture, just start touching the muscles in your body that are flexed. It will be the quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves and even the lower back muscles.

So we know that the best golf exercises will hit those muscle groups (and preferably in a standing position).

Now add the very powerful rotation of your upper body (backswing) and you’ve got the core involved. So you’ll need to do some golf exercises that incorporate core rotation and flexibility.

As you can see, the best golf exercises are NOT on machines and do not need to be done in a gym.

All you need is a pair of dumbbells, some inexpensive exercise tubing and maybe a weighted medicine ball and you can dramatically improve your golf swing right in your home in less than 30 minutes a day!

Hopefully you are motivated to take this approach to your golf improvement and you have a better understanding of what the best golf exercises are.

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Strength training for golf is viewed by golfers as a lot of work, time-consuming, boring and you need a gym membership to do it. None of the above is true, and if you read this article, I’ll explain why.

You see… strength training for golf isn’t on machines anyways…so that eliminates the requirement of a gym. All you need is a pair of handweights, exercise tubing and a stability ball and you’ve got your entire “in-home” golf fitness gym.

It’s not a lot of work, if you pick and choose the area you want to focus on. It’s not time-consuming if you do it in the convenience of your home, and have a plan of action. And lastly, it can be a lot of fun, when you use bands, exercise balls and training equipment specific to golf.

There many “so-called” strength training for golf programs, but when you take a look at them, you’ll see pictures of golfers sitting on their butts in a machine. I don’t know about you, but I think golf is done “on your feet”, right?

Strength training for golf is becoming “mainstream” with the golfing community. We see and hear all the pros doing it and playing their best golf; so why wouldn’t we amateurs do it also?

There are so many reasons why to participate in a strength training for golf program, that you can’t overlook it and say you don’t need it.

Lacking power in your swing? It’s because your body can’t produce any stored energy from a full backswing with torque in your core. That’s a ‘physical’ issue, not mechanical.

Is your golf swing inconsistent from one swing to the next? Swing faults originate from some deeper physical limitation that’s not allowing you to make a mechanically sound and repeatable swing. How many times have you taken a lesson and heard your pro say, “you need to make a full backswing”, but you just can’t physically do it? That’s a ‘physical’ issue, not mechanical.

How about injuries? Do you have one at the moment? The golf swing is physically damaging to the body if you don’t have enough strength and flexibility to withstand the force the golf swing puts on it. Swinging a 3 foot long lever (club) at up to 90 mph is unbelievably stressful on the joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles of the body. That’s a ‘physical’ issue, not mechanical.

I could go on and on, but I think you might get the idea by now.

Strength training for golf may be your “missing link” to your best game ever! If you’ve tried all the ‘other’ methods, this is the ONLY one left. Why wouldn’t you explore the possibilities a little more?

If you’re looking to add power to your golf swing; improve your consistency; and prevent golf injuries, then you’ve got to consider strength training for golf.

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Stretching for golf is critical to slowing down the rapid decline senior golfers experience, as well as reducing the stress on the muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints. The golf swing puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the body, and unless you are participating in a consistent stretching for golf program, you will be a statistic.

The statistic I’m talking about is being one of the millions of golfers who aren’t improving and who are injured at some point every season you play. Does this sound like you? If so, keep reading to find out how you avoid being a statistic, and instead be one of the very few who actually improve and play their best golf.

The golf swing is dynamic. What I mean is it involves motion. This motion needs to be fluid, tension-less, and powerful. The only way to accomplish this is with dynamic strength and stretching drills aimed specifically at your golf swing faults.

This approach to golf improvement is not utilized among most amateur golfers, but if done correctly will take your game to the highest level in the quickest amount of time.

In most of the golf fitness books, videos and articles you read, you will see the golfer holding a particular stretch for up to 60 seconds.

Let me ask you this!

Do you ever hold any part of your golf swing when you’re playing or hitting balls? I don’t think so. So why would you train your body in this fashion? You wouldn’t! You would look at certain positions in the golf swing and incorporate dynamic (movement) stretches to improve those positions in an efficient manner.

For example, let’s say you are having a tough time making a full backswing. The backswing is a fluid and tension-less movement that is destroyed when you add tension or restriction to it.

Instead, you would make some backswing moves, going as far as you can, then a little farther and releasing it. Doing this 8-10 times throughout the day. You can do this in your office or at home. No need for a gym or workout gear.

Grab a short iron, stand tall with your arms extended straight out in front of you. The club will be horizontal to the ground at about chest height. Now rotate back as far as you can without too much hip rotation, then rotate through as far as you can with more hip rotation just like your golf swing.

Now this is a dynamic movement that will greatly improve your body’s ability to turn back fully and through to a complete finish for maximum power and distance.

In closing, don’t get me wrong!

You can definitely do static stretches and not hurt your golf swing. But the emphasis should be on more dynamic stretches, and less holding stretches to maximize your golfing potential.

As you can see, this is a much different approach to stretching for golf.

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Is your backswing too long? The majority of inexperienced players I see have too long of a backswing. So why would so many people have such long swings? It all boils down to Human Nature. Human Nature says that the longer you swing the farther you will hit the ball. If this were true, why is it that I can hit a ball 300 yards with a 3/4 swing but I can’t hit it 400 yards with a long swing?

When you watch the Pros on TV, you do see varying lengths of backswings. On one hand, you have a player like Jeff Sluman who has shorter swing and then you have a player like John Daly who has a longer swing. Even though they look different are there any similarities between their backswings.

1. Pros hinge their wrists to their maximum. This means that the angle between the left arm and the golf club at the top of the swing is 90 degrees or less.

The average player tends to be locked up in their wrists because they try to hit the ball too hard. If you try to hit the ball too hard, your wrists will lock up and your left elbow will break causing the club to go back too far. You have to allow the wrists to stay loose throughout the swing. The looser wrists will give you more power without having to take the club back too far.

2. The shoulder rotation in a Pros’ swing determines the amount the left arm goes back.

The shorter backswings and the longer ones are both relative to the amount of shoulder rotation each one creates. John Daly can turn his shoulders back more than 90 degrees. Because of this superhuman shoulder rotation, his swing appears longer than others. You should have a shoulder rotation of 90 degrees. Some people feel tight and they are not capable of turning their shoulders back this far. If you feel tight when you turn back, it’s not a bad thing. This tightness is a good thing because it tells you that you have created torque in your swing. Think of your body like a giant spring. If you were to wind up a giant spring it would get tight. Then, if you let go, it would want to snap back the other way. Most people avoid this tight feeling by over-rotating the hips on the way back. What they don’t realize it that when they rotate the hips more than 45 degrees they lose this torque that is necessary for creating consistency in the swing. So don’t avoid this tight feeling. Only turn back as much as your body will allow.

The next time you go to the range keep your lower body stable and turn your shoulders back as much as you can, until you feel tight. This tightness tells you that you have created the necessary torque in your backswing. Also, make sure your wrists are loose enough to allow the club to hinge to atleast 90 degrees in your wrists. This will give you maximum power without having to swing back too far.

Until next time,

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