How To Prevent Your Golf Swing From Breaking Down With Golf
Fitness Exercises
by Sean Cochran
It happens to all of us. We loose our golf swing, make some
type of unknown modification in how we swing the club, and
everything falls apart. What can we do to prevent our golf
swing from leaving us?
Remember this saying as you continue to read this article;
"Proper Preparation Precedes Success and Confidence". Think
about this phrase for a moment and then keep reading.
I write about this subject because of an e-mail I received
from a fellow golfer. The e-mail read:
"Sean, while out practicing I appear to have injured a muscle(s)
in my back just below my left shoulder, and also around the
outside of my left side rib cage. I have tried to continue
to play golf through this injury, hoping it would get better
but I had to stop. Hitting down and through the ball proved
to very difficult and I seemed to be pulling out of shots
early and topping the ball on my iron shots a lot. Do you
have any golf fitness exercises in your book which will heal
the injury and prevent a re-occurrence?"
Absolutely! I do have golf fitness exercises to help you
with the prevention of such an injury occurring. But let's
get back onto the topic of this article and that is the loss
of our golf swing. "Loosing" your golf swing can occur for
a number of reasons.
Typically, they fall into one of 3 categories:
1) Mechanical
2) Physical
3) Mental
A loss of your golf swing on the mechanical side of the equation
is pretty simple to understand. Essentially, you have made
an adjustment in the mechanics of your golf swing causing
compensations to occur. These compensations result in poor
shots and possibly a great deal of frustration, if you do
not know what is happening.
Often times the amateur is completely unaware of the changes
they have made wreaking havoc on their golf swing. How do
you go about solving such a situation?
Through proper instruction from a qualified teacher is the
first part of this equation. A qualified teaching pro will
be able to diagnose the problem and provide you guidance on
how to fix it. The ball is then in your court, meaning you
must use this information and go practice (remember, proper
preparation precedes success or confidence).
The second reason for the "loss" of your golf swing is a
publicized matter, and it is your body.
Remember it is your body that swings the golf club. If your
body is unable to swing the golf club properly, the ability
to swing it without compensations will occur.
The e-mail above is an example of such a problem. The amateur
golfer has incurred an injury as a result of the body not
being flexible, strong, or powerful enough to swing the golf
club properly over a period of time.
Keep in mind the golf swing requires certain levels of flexibility,
balance, strength, endurance, and power to swing the golf
club correctly. If any one of these facets within your body
is not up to par (no pun intended, but it fits real well doesn't
it?), the swing will suffer.
Often times body impairments causing you to "loose" your
swing are not as severe as an injury (they will get that way
if ignored), but rather they are a slight discomfort, muscle
pull, or fatigue. Which cause compensations to occur in your
golf swing.
Again, we can go back to the phrase "proper preparation precedes
success and confidence". You must properly prepare your body
for the golf swing. This is where golf fitness exercises are
beneficial. Golf fitness exercises develop the levels of flexibility,
balance, endurance, strength, and power within the body to
swing the golf club properly.
Golf fitness exercises prepare the body to swing the golf
club just as practice ingrains the mechanics of the golf swing.
We finally come to the third category, the mental aspect of
golf and fitness. Mental blocks, certain thought processes,
or a lack of confidence can directly affect your golf swing.
I have found through my work over the years with professional
athletes the development of a sound mental approach to golf
begins with the body and progresses from this point to swing
mechanics.
If you develop a strong foundation in your body, it provides
you confidence that you can perform the mechanics of the golf
swing correctly. Once the physical foundation is developed,
you can create the optimal swing mechanics on top of this
foundation.
Once these two "building blocks" are in place. The mental
approach towards the game is confident, relaxed, and focused.
Again, let's go back to the phrase; "proper preparation precedes
success and confidence." Confidence in your golf game can
only occur if the physical foundation and fundamentals of
the golf swing are in place.
To summarize, "loosing" your golf swing can be attributable
to essentially 3 different categories. These categories are
your golf swing mechanics, your body, and your mental approach
to the game. To minimize the possibility of "loosing" your
golf swing, develop a flexible, strong, and powerful body
to support your golf swing mechanics. On top of this body,
develop an efficient golf swing. This will allow your mental
approach to be focused, relaxed, and confident.
If you are confident in your body's' ability to swing the
golf club, the mechanics of your swing to execute the shot,
the ability to mentally focus will be much easier. This is
what separates good golf shots from bad golf shots on the
golf course.
About the Author
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors
in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly with
2005 PGA & 2004 Masters Champion Phil Mickelson. He has made
many of his golf tips, golf instruction and golf swing improvement
techniques available to amateur golfers on the website http://www.bioforcegolf.com.
To contact Sean, you can email him at support@bioforcegolf.com.
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