Hello valuable readers, Dee here, and I’m about to off on a rant, so if you are sensitive, don’t like to be challenged, don’t like to hear the truth and don’t like to be called out, then now would be a good time to go to facebook or something and waste some time!
Part of me is pissed and part of me is sad, so for now I’m both…”pissad” (new word for the day!).
I’m “pissad” because as I was out on my road bike today, I passed two golf courses with about four holes visable from the path I was on. And at both courses, I stopped to watch some swings, but become struck by the fact that of 32 golfers (4 holes x four foursomes on each course = 32 golfers), ALL OF THEM WERE OVERWEIGHT OR OBESE, and ALL OF THEM WERE STRUGGLING WITH THEIR GAME because of their weight.
Of course while I was thinking this, I was reminded of the newest overwt and obese numbers that came out about three weeks ago (see the blog that I posted) that stated that more people (~32%) are now obese, and (~31%) are now overweight with kids following behind at close to 25% each obese and overwieght.
As much as what I was seeing is a true representitive of our population here in the United States, I got mad at how people have just “given up” on themselves, and that’s when I got sad.
As my “thought flood” continued, I started thinking about why so many, men in particular, end up playing golf as their “sport of choice,” and I think part of the reason is that it’s easy! Seriously…if you ride a cart, there isn’t much exercise at all! So it still seems that to the public, golf is an easy sport to play and doesn’t take much fitness to play like many other sports do.
Think about how golf is viewed for the most part, especially from a “male” point of view:
1. We try to hit it as far as we can to make ourselves look better or bigger than our opponents = insecurity
2. We miss a putt and cuss and blame the putter = immaturity
3. We move the ball a little bit or change our score = cheating
4. We think our “state of the art” clubs are better than our opponents (even though they don’t equate to lower scores!) = show off
5. We blame our back pain as the reason as to why our game sucks = laziness
6. Then we get hot dogs and a soda at the turn and cocktails afterward, and then players wonder why they have a hard time with the game and life in general!
I mean how pathetic is that! But, if you think about it, those adjectives above describe alot of people and how the run their lives…and that is probably the biggest reason why I think people have just given up.
Golf is a sport of integrity, honesty, precision, patience, skill, talent, love, hate, and athleticism! These are the values we promote, and will always do our best to help you with any of those that you struggle with!
Really my friends, that is why Tyler and I created Golf Fitness Guys, and why we talk about everything in life that could play a role in being a great golfer, because in our opinion, golf just isn’t a sport, it really is a lifestyle and speak a ton about how you look at life. Our goal is to provide you with the latest, most solid- research backed information you can get on:
1. Golf Fitness
2. Body therapy
3. Muscle Activation Techniques
4. Mobility, Stability
5. Strength, Power
6. Nutrition
7. Supplementation
8. Life issues- hydration, sleep, stress reduction, disease prevention, etc.
You see, we see golf and golf fitness as a lifestyle. Our golf fitness programs we make for our clients, including our PGA Tour winners, benefit their lives first, and they get better at golf because there lives begin to change for the better! Like I always say, “Golf fitness is Life fitness!”
So PLEASE, get off your butt, get outiside or into a gym; go to Whole Foods or at least buy as much organic food as you can; and make a change for not just yourself and your game, but for your kids and legacy after them! God gave you a healthy body the day you were born, and the only thing that has made it different since you’ve been old enough to make decisions for your health and fitness is YOU!
Thanks for listening, and I hope that it has stirred some feelings in you that will make you want to make a difference in your life.
You had the power to get where you are now and ONLY YOU HAVE THE POWER TO GET OUT!
If this is you, and you are hopefully not offended, and want come coaching on how to be better, then PLEASE contact us, and we’d be happy to help you get your life and game back!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Aug 26th, 2009. Comment. 
Dee here…Tyler and I want to know if there is anything that you have questions about that we can answer to help improve your fitness, body, or game?
Now’s your chance for free advice!
Ask away!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Aug 17th, 2009. Comment.
Hi everyone, Dee here with another video to help you “finish off those hips” and make them completely mobile!
Remember, these 3 videos when combined, can help reduce or eliminate low back pain, hip pain, knee pain, and definately allow you to rotate more…so do them everyday till you work out all of your sore spots, and then go practice and play with your new ability to rotate!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jul 16th, 2009. Comment.
Ok obsessed golfers! Here is another way to get better shoulder turn which will allow you to separate better, creating more club head speed and distance.
Add this to you golf fitness program and warm up asap!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jul 10th, 2009. Comment.
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.
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.
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 here with some candid talk about pain.
Do you know that as a male golfer, 53% of you will have back pain at some point during the season. And if you are a female, 48% of you will.
Sad thing about that is that those numbers are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to golf related injuries!
Yes, there are many variables that inevitably lead to pain or injury, but here are the five most common mechanisms that cause injury:
1. Poor body mechanics- These are the body mechanical issues that create compensation in your swing. These compensations show up as swing faults that every singe amatuer golfer has! Got body issues, then you will have swing issues…period!
2. Poor swing biomechanics- This one is easy…if you have swing faults, then your game will suck, and it’s this repetitive “suckiness” that will contribute to pain somewhere in your body!
3. Excessive practice (overuse)- Here’s a great piece of free info, STOP beating balls! Since when has the game of golf become sitting at a driving range hitting balls with the same club? You don’t do it during a round, so hitting 30-50 five irons certainly isn’t a very smart idea! As a player you should spend about 30% of your time on the driving range in “block” style practice, which is working on weaknesses in your game. The other 70% should be “random” practice where you are “visualizing shots” in your head and playing a course like you normally would, except you are at the driving range.
4. No regular exercise program- THIS ONE IS OUR BIGGEST GRIPE OF COURSE! Golf is one of the few sports where a majority of the players don’t have some sort of “physical foundation” upon which to use when they participate in their sport! A recent study still showed that most amatuer golfers don’t think golf is an athletic sport! HUH? ARE YOU CRAZY!? So when did swinging a weighted object around your body at over 90+ MPH not an athletic event? Get over it…golf is a highly athletic event, so stop making excuses as to why your so lazy and your game is so average! 
5. Poor nutrition- That’s right, you eat like crap, you’re going to perform and feel like crap! Like they always say, “You are what you eat.” If you’d like to be a big mac and fries, then go ahead…just don’t expect any great outcomes in life or in golf! If you need help with nutrition, contact us and we can put a cellular specific program together for you.
6. Improper club fitting- Try this- get your body right first, THEN go and spend a thousand dollars on clubs, cause at least you will be more properly fit than if you went in and gof fit while your body “was a wreck!”
Remember, today’s equipment cannot live up to their factory expectations when the body that is swinging it is swinging it improperly! Example- Charles Barkley or Tiger Woods swinging the same club…who’s going to get the most potential out of the technology…Hmmm, kind of a no brainer, eh?
So in the end, realize that pain is an indicator. It means you have physical issues that are creating it, now just find someone qualified to fix those issues and watch your game go to the next level!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Apr 17th, 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.
This picture courtesy of www.mytpi.com.
Defined-
Over the top is perhaps the most common swing fault among high handicap golfers. It usually occurs due to an overuse or over-dominance of the upper body on the downswing. As a result the club is thrown outside of the intended swing plane, with the club-head approaching the ball from the outside in. This creates a pull if the clubface is square or a slice if the clubface is open.
This fault can rob a golfer of power and limit their ability to control the ball flight as they add or decrease loft to the club and additional spin to the ball through impact. By changing the path, they will create a more solid strike and increase their distance and accuracy.
Causes-
1. The ability to disassociate the lower body from the upper body to lead the downswing. Limited pelvis to trunk separation is usually caused by reduced spinal and hip mobility.
2. Core stability to help maintain posture and trunk stability is essential. Any loss in posture (flat shoulder plane or reverse spinal angle) can force the torso and arms to fire first in transition to help re-position the body for rotation.
3. Good Balance on each leg, especially the lead leg, is paramount for proper weight shift. Limited weight shift toward the lead leg can reduce the lower body’s contribution to power generation in the swing. Therefore, players will try to produce excessive power in their upper body by chopping down or throwing the club-over-top.
This is probably the most common swing fault of all amatuer golfers! It is the cause of slices, shanks, loss of power and one of the reasons players get so many shoulder, elbow and wrist issues.
If you have any questions on how to get rid of this swing fault, let us know, we’d be happy to create a program just for you and your issues that will help you get rid of over the top forever!
Filed under Uncategorized by on Mar 30th, 2009. Comment.