•           Joint dysfunction

•           Muscle imbalance

•           Static or dynamic postural stability problems

All the above are reasons why a player’s swing faults are hard to improve long term. Aside from blatant lack of skill, muscle imbalance is by far the most common source of altered neuromechanics and both poor and/or inconsistent swing mechanics.

A player with muscle imbalance is most easily identified by his/her poor posture. Altered spinal curvatures disrupt spinal mechanics, leading to compensatory movement at other joints. Increased thoracic kyphosis (flatness) restricts torso rotation causing faulty swing mechanics; no matter how well trained this player may be, there will always be neuromechanical distortion of his swing.

This is one reason that golfers play for five or even ten years with minimal improvement in their handicap; even though their understanding of the game is improving, their level of neuromechanical imbalance is of greater influence on their game!

One of the main reasons for muscle imbalance is the way our muscles are designed. The physiological reality of how these muscle types react to both physical and mental stress is what underlies many chronic swing faults that persist despite having spent large sums of money on elite coaching and high-tech clubs!

Today’s golfer will go to any extreme, spending unlimited amounts of money on high-tech equipment in hopes of gaining a few extra yards on his drive. What the teaching pro, and player must realize is that the club is only as good as the player holding it!

• Tonic muscles are ideally suited to postural duties such as holding an address posture and an optimal swing axis. They react to stress by shortening and tightening.

• Phasic muscles are more suited to dynamic movements such as actually swinging and accelerating the club. They react to stress by lengthening and weakening.

Additionally, as we age (beyond 40) our phasic abdominal and gluteal (butt) muscles tend to weaken, further encouraging muscle imbalance.

THERE IS A SOLUTION!

You can make significant gains toward a better swing by simply stretching the shortened tonic muscles just before you play. Using slow static stretching on the shortened tonic muscles only, you will get sufficient results to see an immediate change in swing mechanics. Don’t be surprised if you develop an unexpected swing response after stretching a few shortened tonic muscles. This is because you are now seeing a more accurate representation of the messages leaving your brain.

The good news is that as you restore normal muscle balance in either your body, the coaching you receive from that point on has a fighting chance of making long term changes in your swing!

(edited from an article by Paul Chek)

Author – Phil Cordell is an ex-serviceman, now a professional personal trainer to find out how he can put a program together to assess and correct your swing faults contact us

I have extracted a few paragraphs from ‘The Golf Biomechanics Manual’ by Paul Chek, to explain the Golf Biomechanical Conditioning concept.

Paul states;‘There is no doubt that golf is a game of “action and reaction.” The flight and destination of the ball is dependent upon five factors that any good golf pro will point out.’
Factors that Determine the Flight and Destination of a Ball

1. Clubface Alignment

2. Swing Path

3. Angle of Attack / Impact

4. Speed

5. Sweet Spot

What golf pros generally don’t know and therefore don’t tell you are the physical pre-requisites that accurately and consistently enable the player to meet the above five factors. No matter how technologically advanced the equipment, it cannot endow the golfer with a physical capacity that he or she does not possess; even the best clubs don’t play the game for you! This is the mental rut golfers must get out of.
Golfers, who want to improve their ‘golfer conditioning’, are beginning to realize that golf is an athletic game and that they are athletes. Until they adopt an athletic attitude and condition for their sport, they will continue to suffer stagnation as demonstrated by the almost nonexistent improvement in golf scores over the past thirty plus years.Understanding the Whole in One Concept
Whole in One Golf Conditioning is based upon the principles of functional exercise, that are designed to restore balance, length, strength and coordination of movement patterns specific to the sport in question – in this case, golf. These same principles are successfully used by many of the world’s greatest athletes, simply by adapting the concepts to relate to the particular sport in question. The term “functional exercise,” like the term “fat free,” has been abused by those hoping to attract golfers and other athletes into their machine-based programs. The problem with this is that machines are designed to isolate muscle function. Unfortunately, the brain that controls these muscles does not think in terms of individual or isolated muscles. The brain recruits groups of muscles in uniquely programmed sequences. Any effective exercise program that is designed to improve function in a golfer, or any athlete, must therefore be designed to integrate the whole body. To do this requires consideration of five key components:
Factors in an Exercise Program that Improve Function

1. Flexibility

2. Maintenance of Center of Gravity

3. Generalized Motor Program Development

4. Selection of Open vs. Closed Chain Exercises

5. Promotion of Good Posture

Before implementing an exercise program for a golfer, the exercises selected and the program design strategy should be evaluated, considering each of the five components above, to ensure that function will be improved.

Author – Phil Cordell is an ex-serviceman, now a professional personal trainer to find out how he can help you achieve a better golf handicap contact us

When was the last time you improved your score?

FLEXIBILITY, STABILITY, STRENGTH AND POWER TO YOUR GOLFING ELBOW

When was the last time you improved your score?What are you doing about injuries, or swing faults?

It is very common for me to meet golfers who continue to get back, shoulder or elbow pain, in addition, have not improved there score for over a year or more, and I am talking about very intelligent people. They take advice from a friend who is equally limited on progress, or from magazines, without any real understanding of their own restrictions and underlying factors that are necessary for improvement. There is a big difference from reading books and magazines about being in business, and actually owning and running a successful business.
I have found it increasingly amazing that people will continue to do the same thing and expect a different result, physical pain or discomfort, little or no performance improvement, but still they carry on with the same methods. Do you know of any other sport/hobby that would find this acceptable? I have taken another quote from Paul Chek’ Golf Biomechanic’s Manual.
There are four physical factors that must be addressed in order to be able to provide the four factors necessary to control ball flight (clubface alignment, swing path, angle of attack and speed.) These are:1. Muscle Balance and Flexibility                                  2. Static and Dynamic Postural Stability                      3. Strength4. Power

WHY CONDITION FOR GOLF?
It is important to address these factors in the correct order. 1. The first step in the Whole in One Golf Conditioning program is to improve flexibility, as this is a catalyst for all subsequent aspects of golf conditioning. 2. Once flexibility is restored to appropriate areas and the musculoskeletal system is balanced, then static and dynamic postural stability can be handled. 3. Stability is important since a stable body creates a solid framework for all movements and activities. Additionally a stable, well-balanced body is less likely to be injured. When stability is achieved, strength can be built using functional movement patterns that will readily transfer to the game of golf. 4. Finally, the last progression is to develop power – the more power a golfer can transfer from his or her body through the club to the ball, the farther he or she will be able to drive the ball. 
Any attempts to improve golf strength or power without first restoring flexibility and stability will always prove to be less fruitful and more likely lead to injury!
So, there is something that can be done, a straight-forward specific process, that will address all of your requirements to improve your game, score, health, comfort and longevity in the game of Golf.
Before implementing an exercise program for a golfer, the exercises selected and the program design strategy should be evaluated, considering each of the five components above, to ensure that function will be improved.

Author – Phil Cordell is an ex-serviceman, now a professional personal trainer to find out how he can help you achieve better strength & power contact us.

Winter should not be the only time we warm up for exercise, a warm up is necessary prior to all exercise, and some of my clients choose a warm up program just to start the day. To exercise or, perform in a sport, with cold muscles leaves you at risk of injury as, the muscles can be lacking in blood flow, short in length, and possibly injured without you feeling it.

The idea of a warm up is to prepare the body for exercise, this is done by moving the body in such a way that at least the muscles that are going to be exercised are increasingly mobilised replicating use in the exercise/sport, to the point that you can safely start the exercise/sport, and reduce risk of injury. You should be able to spot if the body is performing ok to take part in the sport, as sometimes an injury can lay dormant especially in amateur athletes.

Tpis : Two effective warm ups

The golf warm up can not only prepare the muscles but also the nervous system, allowing further rotation, as described in earlier articles, rotaition is a very important requirement for golf.

Seated Rotation

A lot of amateur athletes lack rotation regrdless of the sport, and for golf it is imperative that you use as much rotation as possible, to warm up most would stand and put a club across the shoulders, and twist the body from one side to the other. Usually I see that the hips move so mch that this has no positive effect on the waist mobility, and actually comprimises the knee joint. The torso rotation, can be better done seated, use a golf club if you like, gradually increase the range of rotation as the muscles get used to the movement.

Eye to Hand Coordination

This movement is great at aiding the rotation by exercising the peripheral visual pattern alongside neck rotation. Start by facing something stationary, it is important to keep your hips fixed and your head square to your shoulders throughout the warm-up. Rotate your torso into your backswing as far as you can, note how far you can turn by what you are facing, go back to your start position, now hold your arm (right if you play right handed) out in front with the thumb upwards at eye level, this time, start to move your arm towards your backswing, keeping your eyes head and torso still, just follow your thumb with your peripheral vision, steadily repeat this up to 10 times. Then test improvement by rotating your torso keeping your hips still and head square to shoulders, you will notice the improvement, there are a few further levels to this, I’ve seen as much as 15% increase in rotation on a young competitive golfer. An Excellent Golf Warm Up!!