|
Know Where Your Body Parts Are |
|
Why do you see so many LPGA Tour caddies behind player in close proximity just before the actual swing?
If you happen to be standing behind the practice area or first tee at your golf club, you may notice that hardly any players have their whole body lined up anywhere near their target line. By “whole body,” I mean shoulders, arms, chest, stomach, legs and feet Just for fun, I decided to keep track of just how many golfers on the first tee of the club where I taught this summer were lined up well enough to have any chance of making a descent golf swing. After about three days, I added up the totals. I knew it would be bad but only one out of ten was a surprise. One instructor at the club commented that most average golfers set themselves up for failure before even starting their swing.
As most golf instructors early in the learning process stress “set-up” or alignment, I couldn’t help but wonder what nine out of ten players in my sampling were trying to accomplish. I know that all slicers line up to the left to allow for their “curve ball” but what about the others? I remember having a conversation with a fellow instructor last season about a particularly difficult student’s alignment problem. The other pro’s comment was; “You know, if they don’t know where their body parts are, there isn’t much you can do.”
The moral of this story should be clear. You have to have your whole body, not just your feet lined up toward your target. If you can’t see or feel where you’re going, have someone watch you. Even some of the gals on the LPGA tour have their caddies check their alignment before every shot. Not a bad idea!
Jack Gibson teaches golf at La Quinta Country Club and Achilles Indoor Golf Center. |
|
February
|
March
|
April
|
May
|
|
June
|
Jul/Aug/Sept
|
|
Feature Story
|
by Ried Holien
Like oxygen and sex, golf pencils become a huge concern only when you’re forced to do without them. “Everyone takes the golf pencil for granted,” says Larry Krane, co-owner and Vice President of Sales for Panda Pencils, the USA’s largest producer of the ubiquitous 3½-inch writing utensils. “Most golfers don’t give any thought to the pencil they use to write down their score, but it’s an item that you have to have. Everyone has to start each round with a pencil and a scorecard, but everyone takes those two for granted. But get to where people don’t have one, or the pro shop doesn’t have any, and then people panic.” .... |
|
Read more...
|
Instruction
|
Fading and drawing the ball are skills every good golfer should have. The modifications required to hit these shots are surprisingly very simple. Just keep in mind that the funda¬mentals, which apply to a normal shot, apply as well to these shots. To hit the fade — to move the ball from left to right — aim your clubface at the target, then open your stance and your hip and shoulder align¬ment setting your body a bit to the left. Now make your normal swing, the path of which will follow your body alignment. The only swing change you make is that you "hold on" a little more through the impact area and ¬you keep the back of the left hand firmer going more toward the target instead of releasing and rotating as it would in a normal shot. |
|
Read more...
|
|
The Single Pivot Swing
I have seen great players play off their left side, but never off their right side. Hogan, Nicklaus, Trevino, and Venturi all appeared to reverse their weight on the backswing. They did not; they merely stayed on their left side. |
|
Read more...
|
Health & Fitness
|
Golf is a game that requires patience, skill and a tolerance towards playing with some discomfort. If you play the game long enough, it is inevitable that you will experience some form of soft tissue discomfort.
|
|
Knee pain that won't go away and the recuperation process after knee replacement surgery.
|
|
|
