Golf Improvement Program
· Exercise of the Month
· Taking it to the Course
· What’s in your Food
· What’s in your Head
· On the Green – Green Reading
Stability Series – Multiplying Your Power
Exercise of the Month
* Consult with your Physician before Exercising *
Supported Plank
It’s January and it’s time to go to work on your swing development. Here’s your first session on power development and muscle engagement that will begin to develop power consistency and accuracy. While flexibility has an undoubted influence it is your capability to stabilise you body that allows speed to transfer and multiply in to the club, especially with the driver.
This is a great overall stability training exercise that can be done at home each day and directly hits the areas that influence your ball contact.
Lie face down on the floor with your feet close together and your elbows directly under your shoulders. Raise your body off the ground by tightening your abdominals and contacting your glutes in order to maintain your spinal posture. Hold this position for 30 to 60 secs, repeat 3 times.
Taking it to the Course
Stabilising the impact position is imperative to delivering power. You can accelerate your progress with some simple training. The Plank will start to fire up your core stability and your glute engagement so you can put this into action when playing. Imagine trying to throw a ball while running, its impossible to multiply any acceleration through the body while moving. The golf swing works in a similar way, you must therefore stabilise you body to deliver power from your base line through your mid section and into the club head. Muscles sequencing means that muscle groups switch on and off this allows speed to continually increase during your swing action. We are going to show you in latter issues how to quicken up your engagement but first you must ‘waken up’ the muscles we all have and get them to ‘join the party’.
What’s in Your Food
Butter is a natural fat, made from cream. Margarine is an artificial concoction of chemicals. Not only does butter taste better, but it's good for you. Butter is a source of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, and important trace minerals magnesium, zinc, chromium, selenium and iodine. Purchase organic butter produced without the use of hormones, steroids and antibiotics. Raw butter from grass-fed pasture cows is even better.
What’s in Your Head – Concentration 1
Over the next 7 months we are inviting you to the thought provoking issue of concentration. What is it? How do I achieve it? And what impact will it haven your game?
It is the awareness of deep centred concentration that allows great sportsman to take their performance to unprecedented levels. Here is the first ingredient to take you there.
Self Control
- Switch you attention from where ever it is to where you want it. Not focusing on the past, future, does and don’ts.
- Quieten the mind – the quieter the mind the more feedback you will get from your actions.
There are some great times in the day to practise, early morning and the last hour of light in the evening. I always feel that the air is cleaner and clearer – so is the mind.
On the Green – How to Read a Green 1
“You must know what you are looking for or you won’t see it even if it’s straight in front of you”
Green reading is one of those skills that you may feel you will never accomplish. However green reading is a skill just like any other, you just need to know what to look for, and when to look for it.
1) Observe the green as you approach it
This is such a key area that players often miss. This gives you a great profile of the side contours and front to back slopes. Becoming familiar presets the mind into the observing mode ready to calculate the forthcoming putt.
This habit has a number of advantages especially for the advanced player. Remembering the slopes gives you more info for attacking pin positions with incoming shots. This is often talked about when watching The Masters. This observation is essential when playing practise rounds for tournaments allowing you to assess the ‘dead zones’ around the green that needs to be avoided with particular pin placements.
“The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators”
Edward Gibbons 1737-1794 British Historian
Eat well – Sleep Well – Keep Well
Chris
Learngolfuk.com
Lost Your Game – We’ll Find It