May
30
As a golfer and coach, I’ve been thrilled to watch the U.S. Open golf championship this week. I love the game, and have been privileged to coach some great players, so this tournament holds a special attraction for me. As many of you know, this is one of the few world championships that is literally open to all comers. If you can play golf, you can enter. Entering, however, does not guarantee victory!
You will do 3 sets of 20 repetitions to get the full benefit of the exercise. Again, this is just ONE exercise of many that will strengthen your rotational muscles of your core.
Secondly, do it very, very well! And, that brings us back to hard work. Great golfers work incredibly hard. There’s an ad on TV that talks about Steve Elkington getting up before sunrise every single morning to hit 100 balls from the tee, 100 from the fairway, 100 from the sand, and 100 putts, before he goes to work “playing” golf! If the first rule for greatness is “follow your talents”, the second is, “become incredibly skilled”.
Start rotating side to side, only with your upper body. Try keeping your lower body as stable as possible.
For more and more of us, the challenge is to hone our skills and show up, play a practice round, and then we get two days to show our stuff. If we aren’t one of the best by Friday afternoon, we go home. No paycheck, no win, no glory! It’s a wonderfully free, individualistic and exciting world, but it can also be brutally honest and ruthlessly humbling.
Stretching on the course will keep your body nice and loose to make that FULL backswing, generating high clubhead speed and consistently LONG drives. There are just a few KEY stretches specific to your swing, that can keep your body relaxed for 18 holes.
Tip #3
All you do is get in your golf posture, with your arms hanging naturally in front of you. For a right-handed golfer, you would take your right hand underneath your left, so the back of both hands are touching each other.
Fortunately, golfers have taught me a few tricks to increase the chances of being around for the weekend, getting that paycheck and the glory, on Sunday afternoon!
To alleviate this pain and quickly improve your distance takes strength and stretching, specific to your body and your golf swing.
And that means we have to be at the top of our game all the time! That has never been necessary before. In the past, most people either worked on the farm or worked for a corporation where it was possible to have a bad month, or even a slow year, and still get by. Today, almost none of us have that luxury.
Since the simple golf swing is a turn back and a turn through, it is rotational in nature. Then why wouldn’t you do many exercises to improve your rotational strength and flexibility?
First, follow your talents! There has never been a time when it’s been easier, or more important, to do what you love and what you are designed to do! My grandfather was a wonderful, remarkable man, who spent most of his working years as a laborer in a lumber yard. In many ways, I like to think those years of humbling, difficult work added to his greatness. But most of us no longer have to do work we are not suited for. Some golfers are born with incredible talent, while others earn their game with extraordinary dedication and hard work. And some should consider doing something else.
One simple golf exercise is the Seated Twist with a dumbbell. It’s very easy and can be done with a 5 or 8 pound dumbbell.
Tip #2
There is no substitute for skill. In any profession, and in almost any situation, the top 20% will do well. If you know what you’re doing, if you show up, if you get the job done, (and if you have a great coach!), sooner or later you’ll win. If you don’t love what you do enough to practice and develop your skills, ask yourself, “What’s wrong?”
One stretch I’ll tell you is the backswing/shoulder stretch. It’s a very simple stretch that will maintain a full and fluid backswing.
Finally, super achievement involves the mystery we call “luck”. I think it’s important to say that out loud! Many motivational speakers focus only on their “secrets of success”, claiming they have the “law” of money or the “law” of success on their side. Well. This week, Payne Stewart has had talent, skill, patience, and tons of incredible luck! His ball goes in the rough, but sits up! He hits a wild shot into a tree, and it bounces into the fairway! At the same time, Colin Montgomery, who many rank as the best player in the world, hits a great shot that lands in the worst divot on the fairway. Go figure.
A Simple Warm-Up could be some arm circles, toe touches, squats with your club, and standing twists holding the club out in front of you chest high.
At the start of a new century, more and more of us are functioning like professional golfers. Very few of us will spend our careers as a “team player” for a large corporation. More and more of us will be “free agents”, competing from one contest to another, or contracting our services for the length of a project, to solve a problem, or for a limited period of time.
Any golf tips you hear to improve distance should somehow be directly or indirectly related to the physical side of the golf swing. I mean…don’t you think the swing puts a tremendous amount of pressure on your body, especially your lower back?
I am absolutely convinced that the road to greatness, wealth, and personal satisfaction lies in taking the path of least resistance. Follow your talents! Do what brings you joy! If you won the lottery, what would you do for fun? What are you passionate about? Do that.
Perform a dynamic warm-up prior to the first tee. Don’t ever skip it. It is more important than hitting balls before you play. How many times do you see a professional athlete go on the field and start playing? Never. That’s my point.
That’s it! Simple yet very effective to prepare your body for that LONG drive on the first tee.
So let’s get to these simple, yet valuable tips.
Now gently apply pressure from the back of your right hand against your left and pull your upper body all the way in your backswing and hold. Hold it for 15 seconds and repeat once more.
While sitting on the ground, grab a single dumbbell with both hands and hold it out in front of you.
The third component is patience. During this U.S. Open competition, two people have caught the imagination of the crowds, Payne Stewart and Matt Kuchar. Payne has been around the PGA Tour for years. He won the Open and started strong a few years ago, but has had 7 dry years of traveling the world, practicing and waiting for his time to come again. And, he’s done it all with a smile, a balance of cockiness and humility, and with patience. Now, “out of nowhere”, he leads the Open! Think about those years in motel rooms, of missing cuts, of catching airplanes and eating restaurant food. Whether he wins or not, Payne has made an extraordinary statement these past several years that has been punctuated with a huge exclamation point this week!
So the quick fixes (band aides) you hear in all the magazines and on the golf channel are short-term fixes. You won’t be able to consistently duplicate it until you improve your physical limitations.
The other name the crowds are chanting is, “Kuch!” for Matt Kuchar, the 20 year old amateur with the great smile. This kid has talent, skill, and while he’s too young to really know about patience, he has the wisdom to know about humility. He’s “just glad to be here!” Under the pressure, he missed some putts, but he’s learning and he keeps on smiling. Talent, skill, and the patience to learn. This kid will do well!
If you’re serious about your game, you will now!
Tip #1:
Now lean back putting tension on the abs. Your legs will be bent at a 90 degree angle in the knee, and together.
Improve your core strength and rotational speed. This one is done “off the course”, and can even be done in your home with minimal equipment. Now this is just one tip (exercise) of many you can do to dramatically explode your drives “on the course”.
This stretch should be done on almost every hole to get the most out of it.
I’ve just showed you 3 quick and easy golf tips to dramatically increase your distance. Now go out and make it happen