Yes, you read that correctly. The other day I played golf for the first time since Clubgolf’s company outing which was on September 29th and to make it more interesting I had a brand new set of Titleist clubs that I was fit for and got in October. I am not going to take you shot by shot, but I am going to summarize how my day went and my internal dialogue that matched.

I started on the first hole at Manor CC and proceeded to hit a 265 yard cut into the center of the fairway. “Can I go home now?” I thought to myself. I love golf again and can’t wait to start training again after my health situation recovers. But no, golf is a series of sprints part of a greater marathon and I needed to get to the runner’s high before the day would be a success.

My second shot from the center of the fairway never got above chest height and rolled through the green. “Didn’t this happen last year? After I was in Korea and had an extended break I hit the ball terribly with my irons for about a month. Is this going to happen again?” No No Tyler, you are wiser this year and can figure it out quicker. So I proceeded to hurry up and three putt from the fringe so I could get to the next tee.

It’s a short par 4 and so I only need three wood to find the right side of the fairway for position. What I didn’t need to do was top the ball and watch it tumble through the rough on it’s way to a creek. Let’s recap for a second. First shot was great-ish, next two swings were borderline disasters. I go into the normal state of mind amateurs face. What am I doing wrong? Luckily I knew by my history, ball flight, and feelings during my swing that I must have been early extending and sliding. Within two more holes I had the swing functional and went on to hit 4 out of the last 6 greens and card my first nine holes of the year as a 42. Not bad after the bogey-double-double start.

What is the real lesson here golfers? Well there are probably a bunch, but I think the big one is based on the nature of the golf swing and how everything comes and goes in cycles. Hitting it poorly gave me a chance to test a theory and having that theory worked strengthened my confidence in my game. Let me scare you for a second. Tour Pro’s are pretty inconsistent themselves. If you are playing this game in the hopes of reaching a level of perfect consistency then I suggest you try a repetitive distance sport like playing bridge or checkers. But in golf you are going to lose you game as many times as you find it. It is in losing your game and finding it again that you are able to build confidence.

I always told my girlfriend that a relationship doesn’t begin until the first fight. I don’t think you own your swing until you lose it and get it back at least a couple different ways. Only then will your swing have a chance of holding up under pressure. I’m not advocating taking six months off if you want to be a scratch golfer, but I am saying that when you go through a slump, get help from your team (fitness pro, golf pro, or medical pro) and use it as an opportunity not a curse.

Good luck, tomorrow I’ll give you a couple ways to think about learning to play golf that will help you make the commitment easier. Enjoy the Masters.

Dee here to talk about your flabby, non-functioning booty!

We all know that the glutes are the king in most sports.

Tyler and I both know that the better functioning your glutes are, the farther you will hit it because they are powerful hip stabilizers, rotators and extenders.

Try this exercise to get that booty working better!
Golf Fitness Guys present- More hip turn for more distance!

Tyler here with a review of Phil’s new DVD program: Secrets of the Short Game. For those of you who don’t know my background. I am a great ball striker who has had periods where he struggled around the green. As a result, the short game has become one of my biggest passions within the big picture of swing mechanics. And when the best short game wizard comes out with a new DVD, assume that I have it pre-ordered.

My short game ideas have come from a few key sources. In the book world, I have read lots of the older books concerning wedge play. Tom Watson has a great one. Tom Kite has a great one. And most recently, Stan Utley reset the bar with his Art of the Short Game book blending technical and feel oriented instruction. In the techie world, I have had the privileged of seeing some 3D’s of some great short game artists. So I have an ok understanding of some of the different ways to do it. And no, contrary to what anyone says, it is NOT the same kinematic sequence as the full swing. The data backs it up. There can be similar shots, but as a whole, it is not the same. The other major source of my short game information is a great Baltimorian instructor named Bernie Najar. He is a very knowledgeable instructor and former Teacher of the Year for the section. Smart guy with a good website, www.parsavers.com if you want to check it out. Ok enough of that stuff, on to Phil’s DVD.

The two DVD set is very well put together. It starts with a great montage featuring some of his best short game shots in tournaments; set to a soundtrack that could have doubled for a major motion picture theme – it really reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean. It really got you in the mood to get up and down like a hero.

The DVD set has sections on putting, chipping, flop shots, bunker, and specialty shots. The real meat of this program is in the putting and chipping sections.

Phil recaps a bunch of standard putting principles, but with his own twists. He has a clear matter of fact way of stating his facts and gets confrontational about certain conventional wisdom. He clearly says there are many ways to putt and spends more time talking about reading greens and good putting drills. It is simple and clear and I think a good view for any beginner, anyone struggling with their putting, or anyone who loves Phil’s interviews and can’t get enough of the big “cheesy.”

His chipping section is very good. It keeps the mechanics really simple – possibly too simple – and focuses a lot on the adjustments that need to be made for each shot. He demonstrates the significance of the “hinge-and-hold” method of chipping and how all good chippers do it. It is the ONLY method in his mind. One of his big keys is to accelerate through every shot – he goes so far as to say that the clock image of same distance back and through falls under the “what are you thinking??” category. Interesting considering his short game coach usually gets the credit for the image.

The rest of the DVD set show’s more situational adjustments that are good for novice and intermediate golfers to be aware of. I highly recommend this product if you are getting into learning how to score but if you are an overly technical golfer (like me) then you might find the instruction section somewhat lacking. If you want more technical stick with Stan Utley. But until Stan comes out with a DVD this is the best short game DVD available.

Dee had such a great post about pain that we took a few days off to celebrate, but I am back to point out one last cause of pain that we (Dee) forgot.  You could have a perfect golf swing, you could have a perfect body, and you could have the perfect diet, but if you don’t warm up, then you are at a great risk for injury – well, unless you are one of the rare hypermobile people in the world, but lets not talk about them.  What we are going to talk about today is a story I heard at my last trip to TPI-land from one of my fellow trainers.

He had a client who was an avid athlete and a newish golfer who started taking lessons at a high end club.  This athlete was used to getting a real warm up before playing so he pulled out his jump rope and started skipping on the driving range.  Within a few minutes of pulling out the rope, the general manager came by and told him that he was offending the members and had to stop…..I was speechless.  Kai Fusser, Annika Sorenstam’s trainer, said that Annika does 20 minutes of skipping rope before playing why can’t this trainer’s client?  Maybe he should have told the GM how it helps players deal with adrenalin and gets them in the right state of mind…I doubt that would have helped.

Dee brought up a great point about golf being a sport.  I wonder if I will ever see the general acceptance of golf being treated like other sports and seeing dynamic stretching, skipping rope or other useful means of getting warmed up as common place.  Until then, I will continue to do lunges, squats, step overs, and half of the Tom House shoulder routine every time I go to the golf course. Every time.  As one of our Clubgolf member’s saw this Friday when I was going to practice at Blue Mash Golf Course, I even do some form of warm up to putt.  I might get some pain for a variety of reasons, but failing to warm up is not usually one of them.

I’m off to skip rope.

Tyler’s back today to comment on a question that one of our readers emailed in.  He asked, “How do you react when the phrase muscle memory is used?”  This is how easy it is, if you have a question, send us an email or Facebook message or comment and we will get to it asap.  So here we go!

Muscle Memory explained

I am not too picky when it comes to proper usage of words, for me it has always been the idea communicated that is far more important.  So the idea of “muscle memory” is a key part of the motor learning process, the term muscle memory is sort of like how a millipede got it’s name – I imagine that process was something like this, “look at that thing?! it’s gotta have a million legs.”  Back to muscle memory.  The closest thing a muscle has to memory is a tendon reflex.  This is when the doctor hits you in the knee and then your leg bounces out and you laugh – well, at least I laugh every time that happens.  Muscles are contractile tissues that do as they are told, and this is where the importance of the idea comes in.  When most people refer to muscle memory they are actually referring to a motor pattern.

Difference between muscle memory and a motor pattern

A motor pattern is stored in the brain and involves a movement.  Motor patterns can be broken down into two kinds: fine motor – just your hands like writing or using a fork; and gross motor – full body stuff like the golf swing or spinning and flailing when you come across a bee (hopefully you don’t have a great motor program for the latter).  The more repetitions of a motor pattern that you do the more repeatable it will be.  However, a motor program involves not just the muscles but every sense you have.  Let me repeat that another way, the motor pattern is dependent on the state of mind, the images you see, the adrenaline levels you posses, the sounds you hear, the level of saliva in your mouth and pretty much everything going on in you and around you when you build the pattern.  This has some very distinct differences from the image of muscle memory that need to be factored into training.

Implications of training a motor pattern

Motor patterns actually involve, to some extent, all of the senses in the body.  The limbic system is the part of your brain responsible for emotions.  This is why if you perform in a different state of mind than you practice you will have trouble repeating the same motor pattern.  A motor pattern an electric message sent to all the parts of the body involved in producing that pattern, lets call it your HD channel.  The limbic system is responsible for analyzing millions of incoming data and can be thought of as static on this channel.  When you are doing block practicing, usually you are able to create a pretty clear picture.  But then you get on the first tee and all of this static starts appearing because the situation has changed.  Soon you can’t really hear who’s talking and you don’t know if you are watching ER or Scrubs (in my example, all you knew was it was a medical show).  When you don’t know what show your watching is when you fail to produce under pressure.  Many athletes have discussed being in “the zone” as a feeling of being deaf, being numb, and having tunnel vision.  All of these reflect clear motor patterns and explain how they are able to recreate the exact same movement time after time.  The stronger the picture (motor pattern) the better the performance will match that picture.

Practical Implications

Ok, so far this has been a lot of theory.  Here is what you need to practice now that you understand that it not just the Muscle Memory going on but really a motor pattern that needs to be trained.

1)  Muscles dont’ have memory, but a motor pattern will become clearer with more repetitions.  The current numbers are to do lots of repetitions: 350 to set a pattern and about 5000 to change a pattern <–this is my area of expertise.

2) There are two kinds of practice, as Dee mentioned earlier:

Block practicing where you repeat the same motion over and over in succession.   Think of this as normal practice.
Random practicing where you vary the criteria required.  Think of this as playing on the course.

3)  When you are building a pattern try to practice in the same state of mind as you will be performing.  I had a psyche teacher who said, “If you are going to study high then you better come to the test high.”  I don’t think this is the best practice (study sober kids), but this does mean that if you are going to be under pressure on the course you need to find ways to putt yourself under pressure when you practice.  Competitions and a practice companion help this out a lot.

4)  I could go on talking about HOW to practice forever, but here is a big key.  Vision is one of your strongest sense and provides your brain with a lot of information.  When you are trying to change a swing, make sure you understand when and how the ball or club will look different in the motion.  Your muscles only respond to pictures that the brain sends them, if you can’t envision a movement, then you will not be able to manifest it in movement.  Use the eyes to help retrain your swing and you will have a better chance of making changes.  I always ask my students, “how does this look different” when I put them at a different top of back swing, delivery, or impact position – and now you know why.

I’ll say it again, if you have any topics that you would like Dee or I to cover, don’t hessitate to ask.  Now it’s Friday and my day off from work, time to go work on my motor patterns at Blue Mash.

I know, I know…when are we going to stop picking on poor Charles.  But this isn’t picking on poor Charles, this is about one of the key parts of a golf lesson that I have been playing around with lately.  Doctors make thier assessment in part by taking a history, and this is a very key part in the diagnosis in the medical world but is still very primative in the golf world.

I have recently been taking some extra time looking at a player’s history.  I usually ask, “What sports did you play or activities did you do growing up?”  I usually would listen for key words and phraises.  If I heard “tennis” I knew we were in danger of reverse spine angle/early extension.  I knew if “I didn’t pay much sports growing up” then I knew that we were in for a bumpy road, but I am now looking at it in a slightly different way.  Check this out.

I had a client who was a “good athlete” and was struggling with golf for a while.  Upon investigation I realized that he played lots and lots of basketball, football, and some baseball – but not pitching.  I did some quick calculations in my head and realized that most of his activities were simple hand sports and complicated body awareness sports…

My VERY next client was also struggling with something similar but he wasn’t a good athlete.  In fact, he was the complete oposite end of the spectrum.  He didn’t really play sports as a kid, but was active in music and the arts.  Music, that sounds pretty demanding on the hands.  “He was able to make lots of hand adjustments quickly wasn’t he?”  Hmm….

This got me thinking.

I have spent some time now, teaching the athlete how to use his hands with gentle guidance on the body and the musician is getting lots of body awareness work with only minimal attention to the hands.

I’m now working on trying to categorize sports as body awareness or hand awareness and adjust my teaching accordingly.

Some examples of Body Sports are:

• Basketball,
• Football (except QB)
• Baseball (except pitcher)
• Track
• Swimming
• Weight Lifting
• Soccer

Some examples of Hand Sports are:

• Lacrosse
• Football (QB)
• Baseball ( pitcher)
• Ping Pong
• Music (except singer)
• Golf

Now this is totally primitive, and based on a few people, but it is something that I have had a lot of initial success with and something you should think about.  What part of your golf fitness needs more fine tuning?  Are you more prone to have hand problems or body problems?

Good things for you to know.  For me it is like knowing that your family genetics are prone to diabetes.  If you know that, then you can easily adjust.  If you know that your past is filled with body sports, then you should probably start training your hands in practice and make most of your short term adjustments with the body.

Just a quick thought to get you thinking before the weekend.  Oh and don’t send me hate mail, I will try to leave Charles alone starting now.