Your Best Golf Swing Is Only 5 Steps Away
A lot of amateur golfers (and some professionals as well) attempt to emulate the best golf swings of the top golfers. This is an effective way to improve their golf swing, but the problem with this is that everybody is different, and everybody's body is different. So there is no one best golf swing. Each golfer has their own individual best golf swing, it is just a matter of that golfer finding it for themselves.
Some golfers are tall but not so muscular. Others are short and more muscular. And still many more are somewhere in between. This means that a golf swing needs to be tailored to suit each golfers unique body type and movements. While watching other swings and trying to replicate them may help, it is important to also understand how the mechanics of a swing work on your body.
Have you ever seen a golfer who can hit their driver out of this world, but as soon as they get an iron in their hands, the struggles come? Sometimes it might be the iron that they are strong with, but they can't hit their driver for peanuts. This is a result of each individual's strengths and weaknesses when it comes to golf. But the important thing to remember is that there are a lot of golf swing basics that apply regardless of who you are and the type of equipment that you use.
If you are trying to replicate someone else's swing, you are complicating the matter, instead of just letting yourself swing naturally. You will be too busy thinking about keeping your arms up, or your back turned like the other golfer, instead of relaxing and naturally swinging.
There are really 5 basic steps that all golfers need to understand in order to get their best golf swing out of themselves:
1. Make sure you are aligned with the ball. This is fundamental to hitting the ball right in the center of it. This means that you should be a comfortable distance away to naturally swing at the ball squarely where it should be hit.
2. Keep your stance comfortable and natural. You should establish a strong center of gravity by sticking your backside out slightly, and thinking of your spine as an axis that your body will rotate around.
3. Keep your eyes on the ball. This is probably the most commonly used phrase in any sport, but for a good reason. If you want to hit the ball, you obviously should keep your eyes on the ball. Yet too many golfers lift their eyes away from the ball too soon just to see where the ball goes, only to find that it hasn't gone very far. If you keep your eyes down and looking at the ball for a split second longer, you will be able to hit the ball better.
4. Think about a different approach with different clubs. When you are using your woods, you should be sweeping the ball, as that is what they are designed for. With irons you should be approaching it with a pinch, as this is when they are most effective.
5. Keep your rythm throughout the swing. Make sure your movements are smooth and within a rythm, as your best golf swing is natural and comes when you relax your body.
You should keep your swing as simple as possible, and over time you will be seeing the fruits of your best golf swing.
Monday 22 March 2010
Monday 1 March 2010
An Alternative Approach to Treating a Stiff Neck
A stiff neck is a condition that many will experience at some stage of their life. Stress, poor posture and injury are the most common causes. In the majority of cases the symptoms will ease with a gentle massage or a period of rest. However, for others a stiff neck becomes a daily concern leading to discomfort and inconvenience. If the condition persists it is advisable to get a thorough medical examination because a stiff neck may be the first sign of a serious illness.
If the stiffness is due to muscular tension the first course of action is generally painkillers. These should not be seen as a long-term solution as they will mask the problem and not address the cause. Massage, either self-administered, by a partner or professional, is another option. This does bring some much needed relief for the sufferer but again if the cause is not addressed this will only be temporary.
The most popular treatment is to prescribe neck exercises. The conventional view is muscle weakness or imbalance is the cause. Neck exercises will be given to the sufferer in an attempt to correct the perceived problem.
However, even this approach has its limitations and does not go far enough to address the root causes of a stiff neck. In my experience as teacher of movement and posture the most useful course of action for a long-term sufferer is re-education. If there is a muscle imbalance or weakness, poor habits are usually the culprit. These habits can develop whilst compensating for an injury by holding the neck in the least painful position; long periods of sitting at desks or the common stress response of holding tension in the neck and shoulders. Once a habit is learnt it is difficult for the patient to do anything differently because the habit will feel right.
Exercises may make the condition worse because the patient will do the exercises with their poor habits. The best intentions of the therapist are undone once the patient returns home and performs the exercises unsupervised. Repetition of these exercises performed poorly will only re-enforce the bad habit.
Re-education involves taking the patient back the basics of movement. These movements will initially feel wrong because they are very different from their everyday feelings associated with turning their head or even just holding their neck. The tension has become a habit and they unknowingly hold this tension just to sit. Until the patient can relearn how their body can be naturally poised again all attempts to strengthen or rebalance muscles will complicate their existing habitual movement patterns.
In place of using exercise, a stiff neck sufferer can learn how to move and balance with less tension and condition their muscles by performing everyday tasks without the need to exercise. I have seen this approach work time and time again whilst conventional exercises have failed the individual.
Get relief from back, neck & shoulder pain in just 7 seconds here
Alternatively visit the following link and start easing those pains:
www.neck-back-shoulder-pain-relief.com
If the stiffness is due to muscular tension the first course of action is generally painkillers. These should not be seen as a long-term solution as they will mask the problem and not address the cause. Massage, either self-administered, by a partner or professional, is another option. This does bring some much needed relief for the sufferer but again if the cause is not addressed this will only be temporary.
The most popular treatment is to prescribe neck exercises. The conventional view is muscle weakness or imbalance is the cause. Neck exercises will be given to the sufferer in an attempt to correct the perceived problem.
However, even this approach has its limitations and does not go far enough to address the root causes of a stiff neck. In my experience as teacher of movement and posture the most useful course of action for a long-term sufferer is re-education. If there is a muscle imbalance or weakness, poor habits are usually the culprit. These habits can develop whilst compensating for an injury by holding the neck in the least painful position; long periods of sitting at desks or the common stress response of holding tension in the neck and shoulders. Once a habit is learnt it is difficult for the patient to do anything differently because the habit will feel right.
Exercises may make the condition worse because the patient will do the exercises with their poor habits. The best intentions of the therapist are undone once the patient returns home and performs the exercises unsupervised. Repetition of these exercises performed poorly will only re-enforce the bad habit.
Re-education involves taking the patient back the basics of movement. These movements will initially feel wrong because they are very different from their everyday feelings associated with turning their head or even just holding their neck. The tension has become a habit and they unknowingly hold this tension just to sit. Until the patient can relearn how their body can be naturally poised again all attempts to strengthen or rebalance muscles will complicate their existing habitual movement patterns.
In place of using exercise, a stiff neck sufferer can learn how to move and balance with less tension and condition their muscles by performing everyday tasks without the need to exercise. I have seen this approach work time and time again whilst conventional exercises have failed the individual.
Get relief from back, neck & shoulder pain in just 7 seconds here
Alternatively visit the following link and start easing those pains:
www.neck-back-shoulder-pain-relief.com
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