COMMUNITY

As I've grown in age I've certainly found myself having a much more difficult time making the turn I know. For years as a "young" golfer I just skipped the range warm-up and headed straight for the tee and smashed away. These days, it's a routine of stretching and warm-up strokes before I even feel like a golfer.
As for massage therapy, I've always felt so much looser after a session. I'll make every effort to get some "rolfing"(google it) sessions in before an important golf event I'm participating in - it really helps me.
Yes, Larry, I agree, keep stretching. We're not getting any younger.

-John

I am now learning after several years of hitting a fade (after years of hitting long and straight) that everything you mention in the first paragraph was precisely what was missing from my swing. I used to be cosistently straight and 265-275 yards. But in recent years I had developed the fade and a loss of about 30-40 yards. I had become all arms and inherited a lot of sway in my swing rather than being stable.

Just in the last 2 weeks or so I've been focusing on hitting on the key points that you mentioned. It's all starting to come around again and my driving distance and accuracy are creeping back up again.

Was watching old Gary Player with Martin during the Masters. He is amazing--and he is absolutely right! He said over and over again that the MOST IMPORTANT THING that a golfer must do is shift. He must turn back, shift some weight back, then SHIFT TO HIS FRONT LEG, and then swing. Most turn and swing, failing to shift, and that cause all sorts of faults, mostly slice. If he tries to steer the ball into the fairway by flipping his clubhead closed, now he must time that new fault.

Gary said he had to "walk over" for several years when he found himself lagging back, late in his shift. So he shifted so aggressively that he had to take a step to keep his balance. He won MAJORs doing that! Walking over is OK! Do it if necessary to shift aggressively.

Learning to swing with a shift after having ingrained a swing without shifting or late shifting is hard, really hard! It is a major swing change. It will require MANY slow motion swings, hitting a LOT of balls only a few yards while making absolutely sure the sequence is turn, shift, swing. NOT turn and swing. But if you persist, the day will come when you can do it with driver on the course. It will add 40+ yards to your drive and straighten all your iron shots. You will be able to make a LONG divot in front of ground balls like the pros do.

Rehearsing the sequence in slow motion and stretching to separate hips from shoulders is vitally important. Do the stretches for long minutes before you hit balls on the range, do it again before you tee off, and do it before every swing if necessary. Remember that EVERY SWING you make the old way sets you back.

But its worth it. When you step up and lace one down the middle 50 yards further than you have in years, your buddies will ask who showed up today!

Larry

Love the Gary Player walk over drill. But I didn't need it today. We have high winds in the area today and the local muni has a driving range that has no wind break all the way to the San Francisco Bay. We were getting 40 to 50 MPH gusts (easy) directly at us. I'm talking blow you over winds that were tipping full baskets of golf balls, 55 gallon metal trash cans, even tipped over one of the metal stall dividers.

What a great way to work on the proper weight shift and balance! It was fun!

I carry a 3i for such conditions. I play the ball back in my stance, hands forward at setup, and "sting" it lower than 10 feet, a line drive into the wind. If there was ever a situation in which walking over is appropriate, this is it. You MUST be on your front leg, your hips WAY ahead of your shoulders. I seem to remember seeing Tiger walk over when hitting his stinger shot.

I am slowly seeing dramatic differences as a result of weekly golf-specific PT sessions. My trainer has access to the TPI web site, uses my password to see the zillions of videos. I told him to focus on "separation" between hips and shoulders, the "X factor." So each week he knows new ways to torture me. In addition to the standard hip loosening floor stretch of holding my shoulder down while pushing my raised knees over in the opposite direction, we throw a medicine ball back and forth. I take a golf stance, turn back with the ball in extended arms, then lead my swing with my butt, an aggressive POST onto my front leg before I throw the ball "down and under" like our golf swing. I make a full finish in balance and hold it a few seconds.

I think this is translating to the golf course too. Sunday morning I was hitting drives 240+, up at least 20 from my average last year. I hit a few 260 yards with roll, and those seemed to be when I more relaxed than usual. I just stepped up and swung through without taking time to stand there and tense up.

So as I get older, I am enjoying having a healthy body in better shape than in past years. "Use it or lose it!' will be on my 72nd birthday cake in June.

BTW, I ALWAYS have a lot of aches and pains. I welcome them because I know they portend stronger muscles, more flexibility, and better balance. "If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger!' According to the Marines, ha.

Larry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v..

Here I am working with a teaching pro to achieve a later release, more distance and accuracy without more effort.

There is much to learn from this video. I keep my butt back which means I keep my spine angle. In fact I squat a little more during the backswing and then slightly more during the downswing. My head moves DOWN proving that. I also keep my head stationary laterally, sway will nearly always make us mishit, especially with 3w off the deck.

I backswing with an early wrist set, then turn to place the club on plane over my shoulder. My downswing begins with my weight shift to my front leg so that I can pivot my hips around. I have been working with a PT to separate my hips from my shoulders so I can get some "X Factor" as my hips lead my downswing, my shoulders coming around later with my arms and the club.

The late release is about leading with hips AND not casting. I basically do nothing with hands and wrists through impact so that I won't lose the lag prematurely. A "connected" turn pushes my hands toward the target over the ball as my torso turns. I just allow gravity to bring the clubhead down to the ball. "Doing nothing" is a difficult achievement for most amateurs who have been accustomed to throwing the clubhead at the ball, scooping. But it is worth working to achieve. Distance and accuracy--and low handicap golf!

Larry