Greetings loyal readers. Tyler here, following up on Dee’s post to put in my 2 cents on the sway and possibly adding to that “other causes” section.
For me the sway is a funny move. We are taught at TPI school that sway is a sequence (and consistency killer). It definitely makes it harder to control the bottom of the swing. It definitely makes it harder to release the club the way Ben Hogan described it. And it definitely contributes to a reverse spine angle – the number 2 cause of back pain. So where am I going with this, all of these things sound bad, right?
Camilo Villegas and Vijay Singh both sway in their golf swing. You can look at some swings on YouTube and see it, but 3D motion analysis has confirmed it. They sway. Camillo is top 5 in ball striking this year and Vijay is known for being one of the best ball strikers of all time. So 2 great ball strikers sway, in my book that means that it can’t be all bad. But if we evaluate them further we can see a little bit of what makes it work.
In order to sway you must practice non-stop. Camilo has toned it down according to an interview he gave in January, but early on in his career he was a range rat – always working on it. He would work on it, but he was not very technical. He has said before that he sees his swing coach a couple times a year and gets stuff to work on, but it is mostly feel. So warning number one, unless you are willing to hit balls everyday you are going to struggle with a sway.
In order to sway you must have a scoopy release. Yes you heard me. A scoopy release. Both Camilo and Vijay have very active lower bodies and a release where the right hand works more under the left not as much around the left as is more common. In order to lean the shaft towards the target, that means they must slide their lower bodies forward to get in front. A slide with a scoop is hard to maximize distance with. Unless you are a strong athletic guy, don’t sway or you’ll have trouble compressing the ball and getting distance.
In staying with the scoop, I want to bring up one last point. If you feel/see/think that the club should be released in a scoopy fashion then a sway will help you and don’t try to correct the sway until you correct the release. If you do, you will instantly start hitting the ball worse and won’t commit to not swaying long enough to make it automatic so that you can go after the scoop. Scoop first, then sway. Got it?
In closing, there are lots of reasons that a golfer will sway so attack them in this order. First, clear the body. Dee is right, if you can’t internally rotate your trail hip, if you can’t separate, if you have ankle problems then fix that stuff first. Secondly, decide if you need to fix the sway. If you sway and have contact issues (lots of fat and topped shots) then you should fix the sway. This is easier to do on grass then inside because the contact will be one of your best forms of biofeedback. Hitting on mats will let you be sloppy with contact AND with release, be careful with this issue. Thirdly, if you are going to fix the sway, then look at the release first. If you know what you want to do with your hands, it will make a lot more sense to not sway with your body.
Good luck golfers, and stay tuned for tomorrow’s post by Dee about the chicken wing.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 9th, 2009. Comment. 
“Sway”
35.55% Lead arm line doesn’t match lead arm- bent
64.45% Lead arm line matches lead arm- straight
Defined-
A sway is any excessive lower body lateral movement away from the target during the backswing that forces the weight to the outside of the back foot. This fault makes it very difficult to develop a proper weight shift during transition and the downswing. If there is no stable platform to drive their weight off of during transition, golfers will lose power and inadvertently try to develop speed in an inefficient manner.
Causes-
1. Right Hip Internal rotation- is paramount for full rotation into the right hip without any lateral sway for a right handed golfer. If the body is unable to rotate around the right hip due to joint or muscular restriction, lateral movements will dominate the pattern.
2. Separation of Lower and Upper body- Separation of lower and upper body allows the lower body to laterally stabilize while rotating during a large shoulder turn. Limited trunk to pelvis separation is usually caused by reducing spinal mobility and shortened lat flexibility.
(tests- Torso Rotation, Seated Trunk Rotation, Half kneeling Rotation)
3. Glute Strength. The ability to stabilize the right leg during the backswing is directly proportional to the strength and stability of the glute muscles (your booty!) When it comes to lower body lateral stabilization, the glute medius is the king! It helps the right hip from elevating and shifting laterally during an aggressive coil into the right hip (tests- Hip Rotation, Single leg balance)
Other causes-
1. Lack of understanding of proper technique
2. Injury to the hip, knee or ankle
3. Ball too far back in the stance
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 5th, 2009. Comment.
Defined-
A sway is any excessive lower body lateral movement away from the target during the backswing that forces the weight to the outside of the back foot. This fault makes it very difficult to develop a proper weight shift during transition and the downswing. If there is no stable platform to drive their weight off of during transition, golfers will lose power and inadvertently try to develop speed in an inefficient manner.
Causes-
1. Right Hip Internal rotation- is paramount for full rotation into the right hip without any lateral sway for a right handed golfer. If the body is unable to rotate around the right hip due to joint or muscular restriction, lateral movements will dominate the pattern.
2. Separation of Lower and Upper body- Separation of lower and upper body allows the lower body to laterally stabilize while rotating during a large shoulder turn. Limited trunk to pelvis separation is usually caused by reducing spinal mobility and shortened lat flexibility.
3. Glute Strength. The ability to stabilize the right leg during the backswing is directly proportional to the strength and stability of the glute muscles (your booty!) When it comes to lower body lateral stabilization, the glute medius is the king! It helps the right hip from elevating and shifting laterally during an aggressive coil into the right hip
Other causes-
1. Lack of understanding of proper technique
2. Injury to the hip, knee or ankle
3. Ball too far back in the stance
Sign up in the right hand corner for our Golf Starter Kit and you’ll find a golf fitness program that will help you correct these issues!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 5th, 2009. Comment.
Dee here…and it looks like I can post again without my computer shutting down!
Stay tuned, cause I’m back on track!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 5th, 2009. Comment.
Tyler here with a golf fitness question and answer segment that you might enjoy.
Here was the recent email that we received regarding the golf fitness demands of a good backswing.
Fitness Guys,
My name is ____and I am an assistant golf pro in Phoenix and I am having minor issues with my golf swing and I believe they both have to do with fitness/flexibility. I constantly work on posture and I am an avid weight lifter. My two issues are, one, when i get to the top of my backswing i notice two things. One, my head actually drops (dips) a few inches during my backswing. I have studied pro swings and noticed that most will actually move a little away from the ball and then, on the down swing they swat (like tiger) or drive towards the ball. However, with my position I have to come out of my posture, which causes issues. The second problems I feel is related to the first. I can’t get my hand high at the top of my swing. They are not flat, but definitely not in the position like Tiger or Ernie. I think I developed that dip thinking that if I could turn under the ball more then i can get my hands higher, but both moves just suck. What can you recommend?
Well, thanks for the Golf Fitness question. Let me see what I can do. I’m sure you are not alone with your problem of losing posture at the top of the swing. I normally only change a back swing position if it is directly influencing the poor move on the downswing, in this case it appears to be. The most likely issue facing you is that you probably have developed tight lats. As a weight lifter, I’m sure you know how important lat strength is, but for golfers an even bigger factor is lat flexibility. The lat connects the arm to the the pelvis and is highly involved in rotation and in elevating the arm height in the back swing. To test if your lats are tight, stand with your entire back up against a wall or door and try to raise your arms straight up over your shoulders. If you cannot touch the wall with your thumbs while keeping your lower back up against the wall and keeping your arms straight then you most likely have tight lats and this will influence your golf swing.
Usually the golfer with tight lats will keep the left shoulder closer to the left hip by dipping the head down (and sometimes toward the ball) in an attempt to make a larger swing than the body will allow. We have a saying in golf fitness, “shorten your swing or lengthen your lats.” Now, because the lat connects on the upper arm, when it is tight it can also limit the amount of arm height you can achieve.
So assuming you have tight lats here are a few things you can do.
1. Foam roll your lats to remove trigger points
2. Perform lat stretches such as twisted lat stretch found in our free program.
3. Perform core activation exercises.
I have found that often times tight lats will not resolve themselves until you start integrating your abs into movements. Often the lats are overworked because of their ability to act as a core stabilizer in lieu of the deep core.
One final thought. I am not in the business of telling people what to enjoy, but I do like to educate – and you need to know that bench press (any form), pull ups, lat pull downs and any other internal rotation exercise can make your tight lat situation harder to correct. The shoulder external rotators (primarily infraspinatus) are very small compared to the size of the internal rotators (chest and lat). If you constantly stress the internal rotators in the gym it will be very tough to get the flexibility (turn and arm height) that you are looking for.
The top of the back swing only needs to be managed so that it doesn’t lead to problems on the downswing. Good luck golfers and keep sending us those questions.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 2nd, 2009. Comment.
Dee here talking today to parents of junior golfers.
Do you want your child to play good golf, maybe even get a scholarship and go to college?
Then do both yourselves a favor and make sure you fully develop your child before making them exclusively play golf!
Here’s what I mean…there are many parents these days who want to create, ”the next Tiger.”
So they think that starting their kid as early as possible will lead to a successful career like Tigers. Well…that’s a bunch of BULL!
Tiger didn’t just play golf his entire young athletic career! He played soccer, track, golf and dabbled in other sports! He also had a golf fitness program along the way!
Let me provide you with some important tidbits of info to think about:
- Growth changes do not equal developmental gain!
- Juniors under-train, over-compete and no clue about recovery, oh, and it’s the same with the parents!
- From a developmental stand point, a 12yr old can be 4 years apart!
- Juniors need to learn to train and then train to train
- For the boys, you will not be able tell how good a player he will be until his “nutts drop!” So in other words, until he matures 16+, you cannot make assumptions as to how good they will be, so don’t do it!
- And lastly, boys will get strong several months after their growth spurt!
So here’s what you need to think about with your junior golfer (or any young athlete!), Let them play at least 4 sports till they are 16 yrs old, then if they are committed, then it is appropriate to be a golf exclusive athlete only.
Focus on “long term athletic development” (aka, a golf fitness program) starting at age 6 playing as many sports and activities as possible. This will fully develop the child’s neurological, neuromuscular, musculo-skeletal, emotional and cognitive skills required to become a good athlete who plays golf, instead of a golfer who has no physically strong characteristics, which will lead to a short golfing career!
Parents, PLEASE don’t make the mistake of thinking you know what is best for your child…you are not an expert! Consult those who are (like us), so your child will fully develop, play what they want, and so your relationship with them is still a great one, and not one that is being pushed by you!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 1st, 2009. Comment.
Tyler here on Long Island enjoying lots of bar-b-que’s on this long weekend. Before we head out to church, I thought I’d give a quick post for the die hard GFG readers.
I got a lot of positive feedback from my report on my first round this year. So here is my report from round number two. I played in a scramble at Worthington Mannor with my boss, his wife, and his brother-in-law. I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that I can still drive the ball as well as anyone. The bad news is that my putting is rusty – and when I say rusty I mean that I started ONLY one putt on my line over 18 holes. That’s pretty much unacceptable and will take a little practice this week, but all-in-all I was happy.
So we started on 13, a par 5. I let everyone hit their drives and then stepped up remembering how it went last round. If you can’t remember the struggles I had the first round out this year, then flip back to my older posts. Anyway, I stepped up knowing that I had no swing thought because of my lack of play. Somewhere in my takeaway I decided, left shoulder down. The ball finished 320 yards just in the first cut of rough – and I had my swing thought for the day. I am very analytical and have numerous mental tests done (if you want to take my favorite test, then leave me a message on facebook). Anyway, I play better with one clear swing thought than with no thought. It’s how I work and I go with it. I usually like to pick a thought during warm up to be my “feel” for the day – good thoughts can last me a week or month and I won’t have to find one before I play. But on Tuesday I didn’t really get to warm up my swing because I was doing a clinic for the event. Basically I made a mistake of not having a clear thought process walking to the ball; and I got away with it. Not only did I get away with it, I had my thought for the rest of the day.
With that thought in mind I drove the ball amazingly well. On 14 (340 yard downhill par 4) I was in the greenside bunker. On 7 (315 yard par 4) I was on the fringe. On 10 (310 yard par 4) I hat a lazer to sneak the ball past the water and was a foot off the green. Then on 11 (303 yard par 4) I was pin high just off the fringe. I had a bunch of other good drives, but those 4 required distance and direction to get near the green. What’s really cool, is that I could have told you that I was going to hit the ball well after the second hole. So no, this wasn’t just a boastful post about how I am the greatest driver of the golf ball alive, it is pointed to help you analyze your own game.
I know my game and swing at this point and I know what it takes for me to play well. I try my best to recreate that situation every time I play. For me it is having a clear swing thought from my list. I have about 10-15 acceptable swing thoughts that all help me control my tendency to early extend/slide. My swing thoughts don’t jump around for no reason. I have never worried about my arm or club position at the top of the swing. It doesn’t fit within my game and it’s requirements. Take a second and think about how well you know your game.
Do you play better when you care/take it seriously? Or are you better when you joke around? Do you play better in the morning or the afternoon? Do you play better when you have a caddy or when you are helping someone else by telling them your thought process? Do you do better with a 30 or 90 minute warm up? Knowing where you stand or taking it shot by shot?
For me, golf fitness is all about being self-aware and attacking your weaknesses. Greg Rose wrote a quick article a few years ago that I completely agree with. In the gym you should attack your weaknesses with everything you got. If you are strong, then take yoga. If you are gumby then do some deadlifts and get on a strength program. However, on the golf course I think the opposite is true. You should continually develope your strengths and simply manage your weeknesses. There is room to be a great golfer with great ball striking or great short game. Or you can be an average golfer with good ball striking and a good short game. Re-read that last sentence, the words were chosen carefully.
Work on your strengths and manage your weaknesses. I am not going to allow myself to only get one putt online for a round, but I can manage it to where I start 50% online and let my ball striking score for me. What is going to score for you and what are you just going to manage?
Know your body and know your game and you will be able to reach any goal you want in golf. Good luck golfers.
Filed under Uncategorized by on May 24th, 2009. Comment.
Dee’s back!
So after a wonderful family vacation in Italy for 10 days, I am back and am irritated and embarrassed!
If you remember a awhile back on one of my posts, I shared my frustration with you about the sad state of America and our obesity problem that exists. I reported the latest numbers that said that 40% of Americans are now overweight and 20% are now considered obese. That is a whopping total of 60% of American adults!
Well, if any of you have been to Italy, you know that the populous as a whole is not overweight and consume large amounts of oils, fats, fish, wine and carbs.
But here’s the deal, they walk everywhere and consume food that is as natural as possible! Most all their foods are fresh and not processed like ours!
I did a personal experiment. For 10 days, I enjoyed wine, olive oil, pasta, meat, yummy coffee and of course, gelato every night! I did approx 2-3 miles of walking to all of the fabulous sites, about 50 push ups everyday, and I honestly can say I didn’t gain any weight!
Now, don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to get back to the gym right after I post this, but my over all point is that “fat” isn’t our problem! It’s lack of protein in our diets, over loading on the white foods/ fast foods/ dairy products/ sugar and not enough exercise that is our problem!
My proof? Besides all of the research I have that backs it up…it was the airport, yes the airport!
Seeing otherwise “fit and healthy” Italians all week and not very many Americans made it exceptionally shocking to stand in line at our US Airways ticket counter and see nothing but overweight and obese Americans…seriously…like 95% of the entire line (and it was long!) was this way! It was sad and frustrating, BUT, it made me more vigilant to speak the truth to you our loyal readers, the young people and golfers across this great country.
That is why we frequently use the phrase, “Golf Fitness is Life Fitness.” Not only will your game improve if you exercise regularly, but you will do your country a favor by staying one of the 40% who aren’t overweight or obese and you will also tend toward promoting a healthy lifestyle to your kids and grandkids, and that, my friends, is how we change golf and lives forever!
Filed under Uncategorized by on May 20th, 2009. 1 Comment.
Tyler reporting from paradise again on the eve of another great potential learning experience. Tomorrow I am attending a two day seminar on JR training and I just found out that 14 of the TPI advisory board members are going to be there. I’m pumped and I’ll set goals for what I want to accomplish this weekend, but let’s start with what you are going to try and accomplish this year.
It is amazing to me how quickly my clients forget everything they have done successfully when they start focusing on golf. One of the area’s that I see the biggest deficit is in goal setting. That could be for a lesson, a tournament, a season – whatever it is, you need to have a plan before you take that first step. Here are some quick keys for setting goals and how we can apply this to golf.
Tip #1: Make your goals S.M.A.R.T
I learned this one in my undergrad and have stuck with it anytime I want to accomplish something. Your goals must be S.M.A.R.T.
Specific – this means you are going to address all those W questions. Who, What, When, Where, Why, Which?
A bad example is “I want to hit the ball farther.” A better, not great, goal would be, “I want to hit the ball in the air 245 yards at my driving range by September 15th.”
Measurable – figure out the right scale to monitor your progress. I have had clients say that they want to hit the ball further, only to be disappointing when they are hitting it further yet still scoring the same. This one is easy to ensure, just make sure you can answer the question, “How would anyone know when I’ve accomplished this goal.”
Attainable – I always thought this was thrown in because they didn’t want the acronym to be S.M.R.T. Attainability helps shape your mind to look for opportunities to help make this goal a reality. Don’t set a goal that you don’t truly believe you could achieve.
Realistic – to be realistic, the goal most represent something that you are able and willing to do. That willing is the key phrase. Don’t say that you want to lose 10 pounds if you are not willing to make any sacrifices and don’t say you want to be a scratch golfer if you are not willing to practice more than once per week. There are lots of happy 10 handicaps in the world, set a goal to be one of those if you are not going to take it seriously.
Timely – this one is easy. By when? If you are a 15 handicap and you tell my that the big goal is to be a 5 handicap I will say by when. You will get frustrated and look at me crossly, but I will insist that I will treat you differently if this is by the end of the month compared to if it is by the end of the year. By when?
Tip # 2: Have a goal sheet including short term and long term goals
The best example for this is weight loss goals. I want to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year is a good long term goal (there are better as you’ll see in the next step). A good short term goal would be I want to lose 2 pounds this week. Take your long term goals and lay them out with a series of short term goals and it will be a lot easier for you to stay committed.
Tip # 3: Make your goal Process not Outcome focused
I usually get compliance on tip number one and have to fight a little bit harder on tip number two. This is where goals can either be lost to the land of “wouldn’t it be nice” versus “I can do this.”
I have deliberately thrown in some bad examples because I didn’t want to complicate the flow and I’m sure a lot of you have poorly organized goals that are too general to ever work. Here are some examples of outcome goals that I don’t like as short term goals.
- I want to hit the ball 10 yards farther
- I want to be a 5 handicap
- I want to have less than 30 putts per round
- I want to hit the ball straight
These goals are great as long term goals but as short term goals they are way too outcome focussed. Good short term goals have actions tied to them. Some examples of GOOD short term goals would be
- I will practice putting 3 times this week for 30 minutes
- I will go to the gym 3 times this week and do my personal fitness routine
- I will avoid watching the golf channel or reading a golf magazine and stay focused on what my coach has told me to do
- I will read 1 chapter in Zen Putting each night instead of American Idol
Can you see the big difference between process and outcome goals. It is no different than in your job setting. You can say I want to earn 1 million dollars next year. But that won’t make someone give it to you. If you stick to the process goals that are S.M.A.R.T and have both short and long term goals then just staying on the path will get you there.
Good luck golfers. Try and set a good process goal for this weekend and tell me on Facebook if it worked out.
Filed under Uncategorized by on May 15th, 2009. Comment.
Tyler reporting to you from gloomy San Diego. Yes, gloomy. In May and June they have this cloud they call the “marine layer” that in from the ocean every morning and then goes back out to see as the day warms up. So don’t worry, the sun will be back later. Enough meteorology. Let’s get on to the post.
Last time I talked to you about Kenny G and that basketball player who’s name I won’t be mentioning for a while out of respect. In doing my research for that post I came across an interesting interview with Kenny G before the Honda Classic this year. If you want to read the whole article, Here it is, but I’m going to comment on the one comment that I found most interesting.
Kenny G is part of a select group. There are probably only a small group of people who have been able to experience immense pressure in more than one venue. Kenny has played concerts for tens-of-thousands of people and played in golf pro ams for tens-of-thousands of golfers. When asked about this, he responded.
Q. How do the nerves of playing in a Pro-Am, whether it’s people lining in the fairway, compare to a packed arena?
KENNY G: The golf is a lot tougher, way tougher. I mean, on the saxophone, you know, if you practice — here is the thing about golf. You can practice and not get better. (Laughter) You really can. If you practice a musical instrument, you’re going to get better. It almost doesn’t matter how you practice, but just practice. But golf, if you practice golf incorrectly, you can make yourself worse.So when I step up on a stage in front of a crowd, and I grab my saxophone, I kind of know that if I put my fingers like this, I’m going to hit an E. It’s going to happen. If I hold a golf club and try to hit I draw starting on the right side of the fairway and bring it to the middle, I don’t know if it’s really going to happen.
. But that’s the difference. So you’re a little more nervous playing golf. I am, anyway.
Ok, it’s no news that Kenny G could get nervous playing in a pro-am. He is supposed to, he is the am. But he has a great insight about practicing and not getting better. I see players all the time who tell me that they practice 4 hours a week and play twice a week and it doesn’t always carry over. My next comment is always the same, “how are you practicing?” I usually get a less than idea answer.
Kenny G is right, you can practice and practice and practice and get worse at this game if you are not careful. But how can we avoid that? Well, Pia and Lynn have a great book called, “The Game Before the Game” that talks about some practice strategies, but here are some general guidelines to make sure what you are doing sticks.
There are 2 ways worth practicing: Block and Random. Both are valuable but both must be included to have success. Think of it this way, block is practicing your jump shot, while random is playing in a scrimmage. Let’s apply it to golf.
Block Practice
Block practice is good for working on swing mechanics, shot shaping, and pre-shot routines. If you are practicing the mechanics of your swing, make sure you have a VERY specific goal with a way of measuring success. If that is a shaft in the way to keep you on plane, then success is not hitting it. If you hit for an hour and I come over and ask you how your practice session went and you respond with something like, “I got it, if I just relax my index finger on my right hand I hit it great” then consider this practice session a waste. What you did was find a rhythm to help make your mechanics work today. Those rarely carry over day to day, and usually result in solidifying your swing faults.
Random Practice
This is where your money is made on Sunday. When a golfer is learning to compete, not just play, the recommended breakdown is 30 percent block practice and 70 percent random. Do the math really quickly. Let’s say you go to the course for an hour. That means if you are training to score 18 minutes of that hour would be spent hitting the same club in succession, at the same target. This applies to the whole practice session and includes putting, chipping, pitching, bunker etc. I see far too many golfers virtually skip this part of practice and then wonder why their swings get better but the scores don’t drop. If you want your scores to drop, make random practice a priority.
A quick way to make random practice part of your routine is to play holes on the driving range. Here is how you play. Let’s say the first hole at the course you are playing this weekend is a par 4, that means the first shot you will hit will be your driver. If you hit a good drive, then guess how much you will have left into the green, pull that club and pick a new target. If you miss hit that iron shot, then hit a pitch shot. Consider the wasted ball to the driving range a penalty for miss hitting your shot. Go through your preshot routine on every ball and give yourself 2 putts for every green hit and 1 putt for a well struck chip/pitch. I would do this for weeks before important tournaments and found great success in the comfort it provided me.
To quote my mentor, Greg Rose, “Try it at home for a better golf game.”
Filed under Uncategorized by on May 13th, 2009. Comment.