Hi kids!
Dee here with your next video…
Watch this video to find out how to make your shoulders more mobile which will allow you to hit it farther without pain!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 23rd, 2009. Comment. 
Tyler here adding my 2 cents concerning the dreaded chicken wing. I don’t think this one is as controversial as the sway topic but I think there are some other factors to consider anytime you are addressing chicken wings.
Rotation is one of the big keys to the golf swing. If you don’t rotate your chest through the ball then you are more than likely going to chicken wing. This is one of those, don’t try to fix the chicken wing without fixing the rotation first type of things. One of your goals in the golf swing is to swing the club out toward the target after you hit the ball. You know this, I know it, and the brain knows it. If you don’t have your chest open as you strike the ball then the left arm should bend to keep the club moving toward the target (if it stayed straight then the club would swing out to the right). The one exception for this is if you are able to side bend like crazy. I’ve only witnessed one person who was good at this, and his body is paying for it.
The reason I pick on this distinction is that rotation should happen first and if it doesn’t the chicken wing is going to show up. I give lots of lessons where the golfer sees the chicken wing and immediately interrupts me with, “see, I’m bending my arm again.” I always counter with, “did you rotate?” Unless that is a yes, then I don’t care about the chicken wing, it is a cause and not the effect. Fix something earlier in the swing and the chicken wing will usually disappear…that is of course, if you are physically capable of it.
Good luck golfers, enjoy the U.S. Open this week and see what you can learn from them.
Tyler
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 18th, 2009. Comment.
Greetings loyal readers. Tyler here, giving you some insight into some of my experiences with the dreaded sway.
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.
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 hit a laser 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 focused 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 again. Dee is still having trouble posting because he has a windows computer. But hey, lucky for you all, my Mac is unaffected by this recent virus so let’s press on.
Today I’m going to shed some light on what makes a good golf workout for me. This post is in response a conversation I had with a client of mine about wanting to be sore the next day following a workout.
Do you have any idea how much trouble Arnold Schwarzenegger has caused me in my career? Ok, it’s not just Arnold, the whole body building community that has brainwashed the average athlete into thinking that no pain no gain is the only way to train. It’s not! Here are, in no real apparent order, my thoughts on the effects of muscle soreness as it relates to golfers.
When I am referring to traditional weight lifting techniques, I am referring to 3 sets of 10-12 reps of 60-70% of your 1RM, performing each set, resting 30-60 seconds, then completing the second set of the same exercise all while fighting for those last couple reps. If your trainer has you doing any of the above and calling it golf fitness ask for your money back.
Traditional weight training techniques do not help golfers (with the rare exception of an ultra elite golfer needing a hypertrophy phase in a periodized plan but even then I would recommend only during one microcycle during the early offseason). Why does the average golfer want to train differently? Lets start with your purpose of working out.
Body builders are training for aesthetics while athletes are training for performance. So if we have different goals then we should train differently, right? Golfers need power, stability, flexibility, and balance in a much greater demand than they need strength. I can hear the strength coaches cringing. Yes at the elite level you will reach a power plateau until you add strength. So lets say we do need strength. Is that what 3 sets of 10 will get you? It’s not. 3 sets of 10 will make you bigger, slower, and sorer. Talk about your lose-lose.
So most of our weighted golf exercises fall into categories and this is how the set reps adjust for each:
• Power or maximum strength – we are looking at maximum of 5 reps leaving a couple good reps out there (not training to fatigue) and aiming for more sets 3 – 8 depending on phase of cycle.
• Stability – we are looking at 10-15 reps usually around 30% or less of 1RM. Tyler you just said you don’t train 10-15 reps didn’t you? Look at the percentage, we are usually challenging the stabilizers and putting the weight in a range that won’t over tax the brain. These are more for activation and coordination then they are for strength.
The other tip I can recommend when it comes to avoiding soreness is the circuit the exercises. You want to be fresh when you come to the physically demanding exercises. If you put in some fun “fluff” exercises you will avoid wasting your time will still not exhausting any particular muscle. By fluff, I mean the stuff that doesn’t seem hard, muscularly, but is great for your golf game. Single leg activities, stretching, and swing drills make great fluff in between your heavy sets.
When I think of golf exercise, I like to think of my good friend John Novosel Jr.s. He is a competitive long drive guy. Check him out in the gym by watching the videos from May 5th, 2009 and May 6th, 2009. Golf Strong
He bench presses like a girl, but he hits the ball out near 400 yards.
Good luck golfers. Keep your pain to the golf course, not after the gym.
Filed under Uncategorized by on May 8th, 2009. Comment.
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!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Apr 13th, 2009. Comment.
Tyler again, this time to help you with a metaphor for why golfers have such a tough time making swing changes. I see golfers take lessons and come back with the same swing week after week; not my students of course, but I’ve seen it. Here is what I think takes place in a golfer’s mind.
Here is how us modern instructors try to present a task.
Me: Alright Jimmy, I need you to go to San Diego, California. Are you scared by that request?
Jimmy: Uh, no. I’ve been there before.
Me: How long will it take you to get there?
Jimmy: Uh, 6 hours by plane.
Me: So when you go over Phoenix you won’t freak out?
Jimmy: No. What does this have to do with anything?
I think that most people are willing to commit to journey’s (that’s what changing a golf swing is, just ask Charles) as long as they know details about the journey. For whatever reason, golf pro’s typically don’t paint clear journeys. This would be analogous to me telling you that your goal is west. And you are simply waiting for the next instruction via walkie-talkie. Without knowing where you are heading, I’m pretty sure that most reasonable people would start freaking out around St. Louis.
It is important to explain to students – and students, it is important for you to ask if you don’t know – the big picture of what you are doing and how this small change is apart of it. I try to give all my students guidelines for practice, think of these as backup plans. You should have a backup plan for the following:
If I hit it fat, then I should try this.
If I hit it thin, then I should try this.
If I hit it left, then I should try this.
If I hit it right, then I should try this.
That is my minimum for full swing lessons. You will be much more committed to a program if you have some form of plan like above.
I’m impressed by people who can commit to running in a triathlon…just like I’m impressed by people who go through medical school to become a surgeon. It’s a daunting task either way, but they aren’t told just do this forever and eventually you should get there. Furthermore, they know the big picture of why they are doing it and how each part fits in. So if you don’t know the big picture of what you’re working on then ask your pro. Here are a couple questions you could try:
“Why am I keeping my arm straight again? O.K. got it. And if I get this down, then what are we going to work on next week?”
Remember, it is one thing to commit to running a marathon, but don’t be one of those blind fools that started running back and forth across the US in Forest Gump. When it was all said and done, they had no clue what to do next. They just followed Forest. Unlike that movie, in golf you should always know your next move.
Good luck golfers, and if you don’t have a road map for golf, check out our free downloads.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Apr 11th, 2009. Comment.