March 19, 2024

Feelinfriendly

Exercise makes us healthy

Butt Out – Play Better Golf

Well that’s a bit rude, isn’t it? Maybe at first glance you may think I am being a little offensive but, excuse the pun, there is a good reason.

Do you wonder why it is that some days are just not good golf days? How is it that on Saturday you can go out on to the course and play brilliantly and on Sunday, same course you can not buy a decent drive?

A very common fault among all us amateur golfers is posture. Golf is an athletic sport despite my wife’s opinion and as such it requires you to adopt a sportsmanlike pose.

Take a look at prominent golfers on tour these days and you will not see many guys or ladies walking around with slopping shoulders and their chins on their chests.

A good golf swing is based on the set up, if you get this right then you have taken one huge step to playing better golf.

Golf is dynamic, it is a sport of moving parts and all those parts are connected to you. So with that in mind how do we set up dynamically?

To begin with lets stand up straight, ears lined up with shoulders, lined up with hips, lined up with feet. This is the basic position and from here your body can move freely and easily.

Stand in front of your ball with your feet pointing a little outwards, your feet should be about as wide as your shoulders. Now we have a firm, balanced base for our swing.

Obviously we need to get down to the golf ball and to do this I take my club and hold it at about 45 degrees to my body. Now I bend forward and flex my knees until the club head touches the ground, this will place you at the right distance from the ball.

Once you are in this position stick your butt out. The reason for sticking your rear end out is to bring your center of gravity to a point over your arches.

With your weight in the middle of your feet you are in a dynamic position, you can swing the golf club to and fro and maintain good balance and that is the key to a good, solid, repeatable golf swing.