Focus allows you to harness all of those nagging swing thoughts without over thinking or forgetting something. Flexibility provides freedom of movement beginning from your backswing all the way to your follow through. Strength enables you to swing the club properly and power gives you the explosiveness to do it as quick as possible.

In order to have all of these aspects of your game working in unison on the course effectively you must train effectively. We have put a checklist together for you to be able to bring these crucial aspects together.

We will go in depth on all of these aspects to your golf game. Our first installment will teach you better ways to focus on the golf course. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter so that you do not miss out on the final three aspects!

FOCUS

All of your time spent on the driving range, putting green, and in the weight room is useless if you can not focus your swing thoughts while at address. Before any practice round it is important to set a goal, and work to achieve that goal. Are you playing a practice round, playing a round to measure your score, or just a trip to the driving range? Whatever it is you decide, you should move in the same pace as everyday life. For example, if you live/act in a fast pace environment, it is more beneficial to your game to mimic that environment because that is what you are most comfortable in.

The game of golf can be very overwhelming when thinking about all 18 holes at once. Experiment with different techniques to split up your round and make it a little less daunting. I have found if you divide your round into 3-hole chunks you tend to play a little more relaxed. Keep score of just three holes at a time and after each segment add up what you scored. You can even set a “target” score for each set of three holes.

The next step to improve your focus on the course is to visualize every shot you take. While watching the professionals during their pre-shot routine, you are able to notice different ways the golfers visualize their shots. The most common is to stand directly behind the ball looking at your target. Golfers like Jason Day and Keegan Bradley will even hold their club up to align themselves to the flag/target.

As in most sports, athletes have a routine they perform before they partake in their respective sports. You can see this in action while watching professional golfers. Whether it is Tiger Wood’s two practice strokes before putting or the Jason Dufner waggle, all PGA golfers perform a relatively consistent pre-shot routine before taking their million dollar swings. A pre-shot routine is not just a physical routine though. These golfers are going through a mental checklist of questions that help prepare them for the shot they need to take like:

• What is my target? Can I safely make it on the green?
• What is the temperature? Will the wind impact the ball flight?
• Are there any obstructions that would make it difficult to reach my target?
• How far is the shot I need to make and what club will hit it that distance? Is there any elevation change?
• What is the lie of the ball? Is it in the rough? Is there a slope to the ground? Is the ground wet?

These are just a few of the many thoughts that should be going through your head for setup. Once you make this a routine it will become second nature and you won’t even realize you are doing it. Once you have gone through your pre-shot routine, address the ball, clear these swing thoughts out of your head, and make your swing confidently. Once you have completed the shot, asses the good and bad. Take one swing thought from each swing and analyze how you could improve your next swing. Having a steady pre-shot routine can shave strokes off of your scorecard as well as unneeded stress on the golf course.

A final tip to help you focus on the golf course is to relax and have fun! Golf is one of the best sports on the planet and we are lucky to have it, so enjoy it. Even if you don’t know your playing partners, get a conversation going with them and share some of your tips and tricks. There is great value to learning from others and this will help you do that.

Be sure to sign up for the Sweet Shot Golf Newsletter so we can send you the next part of this series regarding your Flexibility!

#Golf     #Fitness

As you can see from Miguel, stretching before your round can be enjoyable. Stretching before your round is a great way to get loose, but you can and should do more to become more flexible on the golf course. There are many different types of exercises you can do at home that only take about ten minutes of your time. To see results, you should perform these flexibility exercises at least four times a week. Before you begin your golf stretches, you might want to perform some light activity for five to ten minutes to warm up. It is important to keep it simple, stretching is not meant to exhaust you, just get you loose.

Stretch #1: Wrist and Forearm Stretch

Reach your arm out with your palm pointing up, keeping your elbow straight. Use the opposite hand to bend your wrist down to stretch it. Repeat on the other side.

Stretch #2: Shoulders

Standing in your golf stance, hold your left elbow with your right hand. As you begin simulating your backswing, bend your left wrist toward your left thumb. Next, pull on your left elbow until you can feel the back stretching.

Stretch #3: Upper Back

Kneel on all fours and extend your arms forward and lower your chest to the floor. Extend your shoulders and press down on the floor with your arms to create an arch in your back. Hold for 20 seconds.

Stretch #4: Side/Oblique

With your feet slightly apart and aligned with your shoulders, lift your left hand and stretch it to the side over your head. Hold and repeat with your right arm.

Stretch #5: Hamstring

Lie flat on your back with your legs extended. Raise one leg and hold your thigh with both hands. Keeping your leg flat and knee extended pull the leg toward your chest and hold.

Stretch #6: Quad

Standing up, hold onto a bar or table for support with your right hand. Slowly lift your left leg from the ground and hold with your left hand. Pull your heal closer as you inhale and hold.

These exercises may be more difficult depending on your flexibility level. You will begin to notice your ability to complete these exercises improve dramatically after just a couple of weeks. A supplement to these flexibility exercises are abdominal exercises. If you can dedicate another 15 minutes to work on your core, your flexibility and balance with improve dramatically.

Next week we will use our flexibility to add strength and power to our golf swing to get those extra yards out of our swing.

#Golf   #Fitness   #Flexibility   #PGA Tour