Golfers: Are you Kenny G or Charles Barkley?

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.