Golf swing tips are rampant, and golfers can't seem to get enough of them. You see them in magazines, you watch them on television, you get them from your buddies. But do all those swing tips actually work ... or are they just adding adding to your confusion and frustration with your game? Many qualified instructors recommend that golfers ignore the swing tips in the golf magazines.
Why?
Because they can cause "paralysis-by-analysis." You know: You get on the course and you start thinking too much about your golf swing mechanics and not enough about getting the ball in the fairway, onto the green and in the hole.
But there's another reason that golfers taking those swing tips for a test run often wind up playing worse, not better.
I can tell you right now that it’s often your body that won’t allow you to successfully test that latest, greatest golf swing tip. Your brain knows what to do - and wants to do it - but your body can't perform.
This is just one more reason that a golf fitness program - or at least a regular regimen of golf stretches - is important if you're interested in improving your game.
Why would doing something as simple as stretching help a golfer put a swing tip into action? I have taken someone off the practice tee, given them a stretch, then watched as they step right up and nail the ball long and down the middle of the range. Those people don't have to ask why fitness helps.
There is no one magical golf swing tip that’s going to change your game, but fitness is something that help your game in every aspect.
Golf swing mechanics are critical, and to achieve them it's critical that our bodies be tuned for the job. Depending on your state of fitness, it might be an overnight fix. But it is one that will last the rest of your golfing career, if you are serious about maintaining a fitness program.
Let me give you a couple of examples of how paying attention to golf fitness can give you a better shot accomplishing those swing tips.
Let's say your golf pro tells you that you are not maintaining your spine angle throughout your swing. What do you do?
Do you just hope your brain will remind your body to maintain your spine angle? Probably not. The culprit is most likely a weak core area or maybe even weak hamstring muscles that won’t allow you to maintain your spine angle no matter how hard you try.
Or maybe your instructor says you need to make a 90-degree shoulder turn. So do you magically start making a 90-degree shoulder turn? I’ll bet not. It’s your restricted trunk rotation (flexibility) that is keeping you from making that 90-degree shoulder turn. Unless you incorporate trunk stretches for rotation, you’ll never make that 90-degree shoulder turn.
One more example: Your instructor says your right leg (if you’re a right-handed golfer) is straightening on your backswing, causing you to raise up and get out of your golf posture.
You try to try to keep that knee flexed, but the same thing keeps happening.
The reason is probably that you have weak quadriceps muscles and your muscles are sending a message to your brain that they can’t keep the bent knee position. So it straightens every time. To solve the problem, you don't need a swing tip - you need some strength exercises for your quadriceps. Strengthen those quads and this problem might go away on its own.
You have to work on your body off the course to make your body work right on the course. Then those golf swing tips might start working!
About the Author
Mike Pedersen is one of the top golf fitness experts in the country, author of the Ultimate Golf Fitness Guide, and founder of several online golf fitness sites. Take a look at his golf fitness DVDs and manual at www.performbettergolf.com.
