5 Ways to Dramatically Improve Your Golf Game!
Whether you are playing competitively or socially there are some important fundamentals that will not only imrprove your game but also alleviate general aches and pains and make your game far more enjoyable. Below are 5 Areas that when focused on with good technique and professional guidance are guaranteed to improve your game and state of wellbeing.
1. CORE STRENGTH - Core strength provides the ground work for both stability and smooth movement. Your deep core muscles are like a physical corset that contracts around your spine and internal organs providing protection and support, a natural brace that when activated properly, supports you whether you are sitting, standing, or taking a golf swing. These muscles are not strengthened by thousands of sit ups or ab curls but by specific exercises that focus on awareness activation and mindful movement. As these muscles need to work throughout your day they do not fire at 100% as they would fatigue too quickly. Unlike a bicep curl which uses the muscles maximal effort to lift the weight a short distance your deep core muscles work at a reduced rate (about 30%) over a longer period of time. For this reason they are not always initially easy to locate and activate and it helps to have someone work with you to ensure effectiveness. When these muscles are active our torso is lifted from our hips and the load is suddenly lighter on our spinal discs, pelvis and legs, freeing us up to move with less strain.
2. GOOD POSTURE - Core strength provides the foundation for good posture and it is then about aligning the shoulders spine and hips so that weight is evenly distributed throughout the body to minimise strain. Posture can be likened to the suspension in your car. When the suspension of your car is out of alignment (poor posture), the weight of the car is unevenly distributed across the surfaces of the tires (weight bearing joints). Some parts of the tires (joints) receive more weight than other parts and this causes the tires (joints) to wear unevenly resulting in reduced performance and injury to our bodies. Strengthening the stabilising muscles around our joints will reduce the stress on your joints and enable your body to perform far more efficiently. Poor posture has many different sources. Sitting hunched over your desk for hours at a time with your core inactive can result in tightness across your chest, shoulders rolling forward, your chin jutting out (see you've just caught yourself ) a weakening in the back muscles and of course further weakening in your core. You might carry a shoulder bag for many years which results in an uneveness in your shoulder height and a shortening one side of the torso. Whatever the deviation, it can be ammended firstly with an awareness what you need to ammend and secondly with series of targeted corrective exercises performed regularly over a period of time. Remember that if it took your 40 years to create this poor habit it is going to take a certain level of commitment to regular training to ammend it.
3. PELVIC STABILITY Strong pelvic stability is crucial to performing a good golf swing. A golf swing leads from the hips so if your pelvis and hips are not stable your swing is not likely to be and you will compensate using other less efficient areas such as trying to overuse your upper body. When you are playing golf you are repeatedly transferring your weight over one leg. How strong that leg is at the hip will have a huge impact on how long you stay injury free. When was the last time you balance on one leg and felt perfectly balanced from ankle, knee to hip and through the torso? When was the last time you peformed a single leg squat with good technique? We often do a lot of our training on two legs yet we spend much of our time moving from one to the other. If we are specific with the way that we train our bodies for sport we get the results that we are ultimately looking for whilst minimising unneccessary injury.
4. MOBILITY Amazingly enough limited mobility will also limit your golf swing. Stop for a moment and whilst seated at your desk rotate your upper body one way, notice how far you can rotate. Now go in the opposite direction. Are you moving the same distance in both directions? If the answer is no, then there is an imbalance in the strength/flexibility of the muscles rotating your upper body, this can have an impact on your game. How much you are able to rotate your hips and shoulders will directly effect your golf and how well you can dissaccociate one area from the other will also have an impact. Mobility is key! Areas to look at include, torso rotation, pelvic rotation, hip rotation, shoulder mobility and spinal mobility. Any limitation of these areas will have an effect on your swing. By warming up efficiently and performing mobility exercises daily targeting those areas which you have weaknesses and stiffness in you can have a fantastic impact on your overall performance. You still have to work on your technique and skill but this will remove restrictions in movement that cause a physical barrier to your game.
5. STRENGTH TRAINING
I am not necesserily talking about lifting heavy weights here. Sports specific training will look at movements that relate to golf and help you to strengthen your body to perform these efficiently. For many female golfers, a lack in upper body strength becomes a limiting factor. By incorporating even basic body weight exercises to improve her upper body strength a golfer can have a postive impact on her game. By incorporating a personalised functional strength training routine that focuses on your specific needs you will find you will have a lot more energy and get far more enjoyment out of your game.
You spend enough money investing into the sports you love, why not invest into the enjoyment and performance of the game you love? If you have found this article interesting and want to know how training can assist your game personally CLICK HERE to get in touch and book your Postural Analysis and Initial session today.
1. CORE STRENGTH - Core strength provides the ground work for both stability and smooth movement. Your deep core muscles are like a physical corset that contracts around your spine and internal organs providing protection and support, a natural brace that when activated properly, supports you whether you are sitting, standing, or taking a golf swing. These muscles are not strengthened by thousands of sit ups or ab curls but by specific exercises that focus on awareness activation and mindful movement. As these muscles need to work throughout your day they do not fire at 100% as they would fatigue too quickly. Unlike a bicep curl which uses the muscles maximal effort to lift the weight a short distance your deep core muscles work at a reduced rate (about 30%) over a longer period of time. For this reason they are not always initially easy to locate and activate and it helps to have someone work with you to ensure effectiveness. When these muscles are active our torso is lifted from our hips and the load is suddenly lighter on our spinal discs, pelvis and legs, freeing us up to move with less strain.
2. GOOD POSTURE - Core strength provides the foundation for good posture and it is then about aligning the shoulders spine and hips so that weight is evenly distributed throughout the body to minimise strain. Posture can be likened to the suspension in your car. When the suspension of your car is out of alignment (poor posture), the weight of the car is unevenly distributed across the surfaces of the tires (weight bearing joints). Some parts of the tires (joints) receive more weight than other parts and this causes the tires (joints) to wear unevenly resulting in reduced performance and injury to our bodies. Strengthening the stabilising muscles around our joints will reduce the stress on your joints and enable your body to perform far more efficiently. Poor posture has many different sources. Sitting hunched over your desk for hours at a time with your core inactive can result in tightness across your chest, shoulders rolling forward, your chin jutting out (see you've just caught yourself ) a weakening in the back muscles and of course further weakening in your core. You might carry a shoulder bag for many years which results in an uneveness in your shoulder height and a shortening one side of the torso. Whatever the deviation, it can be ammended firstly with an awareness what you need to ammend and secondly with series of targeted corrective exercises performed regularly over a period of time. Remember that if it took your 40 years to create this poor habit it is going to take a certain level of commitment to regular training to ammend it.
3. PELVIC STABILITY Strong pelvic stability is crucial to performing a good golf swing. A golf swing leads from the hips so if your pelvis and hips are not stable your swing is not likely to be and you will compensate using other less efficient areas such as trying to overuse your upper body. When you are playing golf you are repeatedly transferring your weight over one leg. How strong that leg is at the hip will have a huge impact on how long you stay injury free. When was the last time you balance on one leg and felt perfectly balanced from ankle, knee to hip and through the torso? When was the last time you peformed a single leg squat with good technique? We often do a lot of our training on two legs yet we spend much of our time moving from one to the other. If we are specific with the way that we train our bodies for sport we get the results that we are ultimately looking for whilst minimising unneccessary injury.
4. MOBILITY Amazingly enough limited mobility will also limit your golf swing. Stop for a moment and whilst seated at your desk rotate your upper body one way, notice how far you can rotate. Now go in the opposite direction. Are you moving the same distance in both directions? If the answer is no, then there is an imbalance in the strength/flexibility of the muscles rotating your upper body, this can have an impact on your game. How much you are able to rotate your hips and shoulders will directly effect your golf and how well you can dissaccociate one area from the other will also have an impact. Mobility is key! Areas to look at include, torso rotation, pelvic rotation, hip rotation, shoulder mobility and spinal mobility. Any limitation of these areas will have an effect on your swing. By warming up efficiently and performing mobility exercises daily targeting those areas which you have weaknesses and stiffness in you can have a fantastic impact on your overall performance. You still have to work on your technique and skill but this will remove restrictions in movement that cause a physical barrier to your game.
5. STRENGTH TRAINING
I am not necesserily talking about lifting heavy weights here. Sports specific training will look at movements that relate to golf and help you to strengthen your body to perform these efficiently. For many female golfers, a lack in upper body strength becomes a limiting factor. By incorporating even basic body weight exercises to improve her upper body strength a golfer can have a postive impact on her game. By incorporating a personalised functional strength training routine that focuses on your specific needs you will find you will have a lot more energy and get far more enjoyment out of your game.
You spend enough money investing into the sports you love, why not invest into the enjoyment and performance of the game you love? If you have found this article interesting and want to know how training can assist your game personally CLICK HERE to get in touch and book your Postural Analysis and Initial session today.