This is a follow up to a recent post discussing the keys to generating more power in your golf swing. In the first installment, I discussed the importance of a good set up with balance. In this post, the focus is on the shoulder turn.
What I have noticed in most average players is the lack of a good shoulder turn. This may be the result of a physical issue, but in most cases, it is due to a swing flaw, such as a reverse pivot. Most golfers that learn the game as adults have difficulty developing a big shoulder turn since they are primarily focused on trying to either just make contact with the ball, or keep it in play. Junior golfers and those that learn the game at an early age rarely have this problem.
However, generating a powerful golf swing requires that full shoulder turn, since when you combine that with a smaller hip turn, you generate significant torque. When this torque is unwound, significant clubhead speed is generated.
If flexibility is your issue in trying to generate a full shoulder turn, I suggest you learn some basic stretching exercises that will help to loosen up your upper body. My ebook, "How to Improve Your Golf Swing Power" provides a number of such exercises along with strength training routines you can perform at home with no equipment.
If you have a swing flaw such as a reverse pivot, you are losing significant power in that regard. Seek a qualified golf instructor to help you deal with that issue.
Scott Cole www.powergolftraining.net
I did a little bit of research, as usual, in recent weeks, and came to the realization that there is one muscle group that most golfers do not work on much, but it is definitely a key to achieving distance potential. This group is the lats, the muscles of the upper and middle back. Women in particular tend to have much smaller lat muscles than men.
The reason this muscle group is important is that it is very involved in the winding and unwinding of the golf swing. The stronger these muscles are, the more torque you can put into the golf swing.
The best way to work out these muscles without much in the way of equipment, is the pull up. Unfortunately, pull-ups can be quite difficult, and most people, especially people who are a bit over weight, find it difficult to perform just one repetition. However, by simply using a chair to support some of your weight, you can still do pull-ups and increase your strength.
We do this by setting one foot on the chair. This takes away some of the body weight, which makes it a little easier to do a pull up. Doing our best not to push up with that foot, we pull ourselves up until our chin as even or slightly above the bar. If you lower yourself back down slowly, you will continue to work the muscles.
You can try a variety of grips on the pull up bar. First, try an overlapping grip with the hands shoulder width apart. A more difficult version would be to place the hands outside of shoulder width apart. Or you can also try a very narrow grip, with the hands just a few inches apart. You can also do a chin up, which is done by grabbing the bar so that palms face toward you.
Since the pull up hits the back and arms, and the shoulders to an extent, it is a great exercise for the golfer seeking to add some distance without spending hours in the gym.
Scott Cole www.powergolftraining.net
I’ve been a golfer for over 30 years, and a student of Pai Lum Kung Fu for the past eight years, achieving the rank of 1st Degree Blackbelt. Although these are obviously radically different activities, to excel in either one, you must develop similar characteristics. Both golf and Kung Fu are total body activities that also engage the mind.
First we will focus on flexibility. The more flexible you are, the more potential your golf swing will have, as you will be able to generate a longer golf swing with a wider arc, one of the major keys to increased power. Obviously, flexibility is very important to the martial artist. Again, the greater the flexibility in your technique, the greater the range of motion you may have, and thus, the greater potential for power. Also, greater flexibility helps prevent injury.
Next is strength. In both golf and the martial arts, you do NOT need to be super strong to have significant power. Huge muscles typically are not important to either activity. However, a decent amount of strength is clearly important. Traditional martial artists tend to work out the body in more traditional ways, without the use of heavy weights. This results in a lean and hard body, rather than a big and bulky body. A less bulky body allows the martial artist to maintain greater flexibility. This is also important to the golfer. We don’t often see 250 pound linebackers who have a good golf game, but it is not uncommon to see a quarterback play golf well, not to mention a hockey player.
It is also important for the golfer and martial artist to be strong mentally. When in a fight, the martial artist must maintain his cool and composure at all times. By doing so, he will make few mistakes that his opponent may capitalize upon.
I am reminded of the early days of the UFC when Royce Gracie dominated that sport. He was often matched against opponents much larger than he (he usually weighed in at about 170 pounds). Typically, he would wait until his opponent would charge in and try to kick him to the head or body. This type of technique often results in less balance for a martial artist and Gracie would capitalize on this by moving in quickly to take his opponent down, then work into a position where he could choke out his opponent, or put him in a joint lock, forcing a tap out or a broken limb.
There is no other sport that requires you to be more mentally tough than in golf. That is why Tiger Woods is the best. He is simply much stronger mentally than any of his competitors, and that is why he often wins even when he is off his game.
In Kung Fu, we generate power by maintaining proper balance and being rooted to the ground. In the movies, you will see fighters leaving the ground and performing those fancy, jumping, spinning kicks. But, once you leave the ground, you lose power. If you watch any of the old Bruce Lee movies, you did not often see him leaving the ground when he finished off a kick or a punch. Occasionally, but not often.
In golf, the best players will keep their balance. This is the most important factor to having a powerful golf swing and consistent ball striking ability. That is why even when they swing hard, they maintain good balance.
Finally, both activities require you to remain relaxed to perform at the best of your ability. If there is any excess tension, you lose power, flexibility and touch. That is why breathing and relaxation techniques play a crucial role in the mastery of both.
So, if you have the opportunity, go learn a little Kung Fu! I guarantee it will help your golf game!
Scott Cole www.powergolftraining.net
I’ve been a golfer for over 30 years, and a student of Pai Lum Kung Fu for the past eight years, achieving the rank of 1st Degree Blackbelt. Although these are obviously radically different activities, to excel in either one, you must develop similar characteristics. Both golf and Kung Fu are total body activities that also engage the mind.
First we will focus on flexibility. The more flexible you are, the more potential your golf swing will have, as you will be able to generate a longer golf swing with a wider arc, one of the major keys to increased power. Obviously, flexibility is very important to the martial artist. Again, the greater the flexibility in your technique, the greater the range of motion you may have, and thus, the greater potential for power. Also, greater flexibility helps prevent injury.
Next is strength. In both golf and the martial arts, you do NOT need to be super strong to have significant power. Huge muscles typically are not important to either activity. However, a decent amount of strength is clearly important. Traditional martial artists tend to work out the body in more traditional ways, without the use of heavy weights. This results in a lean and hard body, rather than a big and bulky body. A less bulky body allows the martial artist to maintain greater flexibility. This is also important to the golfer. We don’t often see 250 pound linebackers who have a good golf game, but it is not uncommon to see a quarterback play golf well, not to mention a hockey player.
It is also important for the golfer and martial artist to be strong mentally. When in a fight, the martial artist must maintain his cool and composure at all times. By doing so, he will make few mistakes that his opponent may capitalize upon.
I am reminded of the early days of the UFC when Royce Gracie dominated that sport. He was often matched against opponents much larger than he (he usually weighed in at about 170 pounds). Typically, he would wait until his opponent would charge in and try to kick him to the head or body. This type of technique often results in less balance for a martial artist and Gracie would capitalize on this by moving in quickly to take his opponent down, then work into a position where he could choke out his opponent, or put him in a joint lock, forcing a tap out or a broken limb.
There is no other sport that requires you to be more mentally tough than in golf. That is why Tiger Woods is the best. He is simply much stronger mentally than any of his competitors, and that is why he often wins even when he is off his game.
In Kung Fu, we generate power by maintaining proper balance and being rooted to the ground. In the movies, you will see fighters leaving the ground and performing those fancy, jumping, spinning kicks. But, once you leave the ground, you lose power. If you watch any of the old Bruce Lee movies, you did not often see him leaving the ground when he finished off a kick or a punch. Occasionally, but not often.
In golf, the best players will keep their balance. This is the most important factor to having a powerful golf swing and consistent ball striking ability. That is why even when they swing hard, they maintain good balance.
Finally, both activities require you to remain relaxed to perform at the best of your ability. If there is any excess tension, you lose power, flexibility and touch. That is why breathing and relaxation techniques play a crucial role in the mastery of both.
So, if you have the opportunity, go learn a little Kung Fu! I guarantee it will help your golf game!
Scott Cole www.powergolftraining.net
As is my custom, I started my New Year workout routine on the first Monday of the New Year. Now, keep in mind, I worked out more consistently in 2008 than any year in the last 15. But, as the holidays approached, and I tried to get a lot of my other work completed so I could relax for a couple weeks, I slacked off.
Today, I started my new routine. As someone who is experienced with working out, I knew I needed to not go all out today, or I would be in serious pain on Tuesday, since I had not worked out for three weeks. I warmed up as I always do by jumping rope for a few minutes along with some light stretching. Unfortunately, my "gym" is in my garage, although these days I do not do heavy lifting. So, since I live in Pennsylvania, it is a little cold in there in the mornings in January.
I went through my entire 45 minute workout consisting of a variety of pushups and pullups, but may not have been loose enough. Near the end, I felt the familiar twinge in my upper back, under my shoulder blade, that indicates the onset of a muscle spasm. As the day wore on, the spasm became more painful, and now it will be difficult to get through all of my routines the rest of the week.
Although I don't believe I over did it, as the rest of my upper body is a little sore, but not too sore, I probably should have eased into the routine a bit more.
The moral to this story is...if you have not worked out for a couple weeks or more, don't over do it the first few workouts, especially if you are starting a routine once the golf season is underway. Sore muscles on the golf course tend to inhibit good scoring!
Scott Cole www.powergolftraining.net
One of the most overlooked keys to a powerful golf swing is proper balance in your golf swing. Quite often, most students are told that one of the keys to a good golf swing is to maintain good balance, and to try and keep your balance somewhere near the balls of your feet. Unfortunately, that is where the discussion ends.
I trained for eight years in the martial art of Pai Lum Kung Fu, and proper balance was stressed throughout my training, from my days as a beginner student, and even beyond when I attained 1st Degree Black Belt. However, in our training, we focused on every possible detail regarding balance, from the feet, to proper stance width, posture and center of gravity. These are all important keys to developing power in our Kung Fu techniques, and they are important keys to helping golfers develop more power in their golf swings as well.
In describing the swing of J.B. Holmes, noted golf instructor David Leadbetter has this to say…” Starting down, his legs get into a squat position, which lets him use the ground as resistance and create an unbelievable energy flow from his legs, up through his shoulders and down into his arms and the club.”
Using the ground as resistance and the creation of energy flow from the legs are two important components we focused on for generating power in our techniques at the kung fu school.
One of the things my teacher stressed often was to focus on getting our feet rooted into the ground to help generate power, particularly in our punching techniques. We devote an entire breathing exercise that lasts about five minutes to this concept of rooting. Later in our training, we were taught to focus on a specific spot on the bottom of our foot where our balance will be rooted into the ground. This spot will also draw energy from the earth into our body, and then we learn how to transfer this energy into our technique. When you develop this ability, you become capable of generating incredible bower with minimal movement.
To locate this specific spot on the bottom of your foot, take a moment to sit down, and take off your shoes and socks. On the bottom of your feet you will notice thick pads, that are often described as the balls of the feet. The biggest of these pads is under the area beneath the big toe. Next to this large pad is an area that looks like a small hollow. Take your thumb and push into this hollow firmly. If you feel a nice jolt of pain, you have found the right spot! If not, keep searching until you feel that bit of pain. In Chinese medicine, this spot is known as Kidney Point 1, and it is viewed as a very significant healing point, even for a heart attack victim.
Now that we have identified this point, we want to take this information and transfer it into our golf swing. So, with your shoes off, find a spot on a hard floor and get into your golf stance (without a club of course). When you set up into your stance to hit a golf ball, focus very hard on these points in the bottom of your feet. These are the points where you should focus your balance.
Now I want you to feel a sort of corkscrewing motion, starting with that spot in the bottom of your feet, then feel it up into your knees, then into your hips. You should feel as if you are trying to screw the bottom of your foot into the ground, and then the hips tuck under your torso, and maybe move forward a little bit (we also refer to this as a curling of the hips). Practice a few times at home with your shoes off, then try getting that same feeling with your golf shoes on (preferably not indoors or you will have some damaged floors!). You see, it is absolutely critical that you engage the hips in your golf swing, particularly at the start of your downswing. Engaging the hips in this manner will help them clear out the path for the golf club more quickly, generating more power.
Posture also plays a significant role in developing proper balance. Although we want to feel as if we are rooted into the ground like a tree, we certainly do not want to stand straight up in our golf stance, nor do we want to be bent over too far in our stance. Generally speaking, if we draw a straight line up from the ground to the sky at the back our hips, we then want to be bent at the hips so that our spine is angled about 30 degrees from that straight line. Find a photo of Tiger Woods’ stance and you have a perfect picture of what I describe. This stance allows the arms plenty of room to swing freely in the golf swing.
Finally, it is important to maintain a low center of gravity throughout your golf swing. You will often hear football announcers describe how a running back is difficult to tackle because he has a low center of gravity. The martial artist looks to develop that low center of gravity as well, in order to generate power in his punches. The golfer will lose power by rising up in his/her golf swing.
To make sure you keep your center of gravity as low as possible, it is important to learn how to relax your abdomen during the golf swing. In other words, let your gut sag instead of sucking it in! This will require you to learn how to breathe so that you fill up all three levels of your lungs (lower, middle, upper), rather than just the upper level of your lungs. By learning how to breathe in this manner, you will learn how to maintain a low center of gravity even while holding your breath at the beginning of the swing (you should learn how to exhale during the downswing).
If you can learn how to develop proper posture and balance in this manner, you will have success in improving the power of your golf swing.
Scott Cole www.powergolftraining.net