We are pleased to announce that Sean Cochran, a nationally renowned golf fitness instructor and the personal golf fitness trainer to 2005 PGA Champion Phil Mickelson, has joined PGA.com as a fitness advisor. Cochran, who also has served as strength and conditioning coach for the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres major league baseball teams, will write a weekly fitness blog that will appear exclusively on PGA.com. He'll update it a couple of times a week, telling you about how to achieve better fitness, life on the road -- and in the gym -- with Lefty, plus answer your questions about fitness and how it can help you play better golf. More of Cochran's articles and his acclaimed fitness aids are available at his web site, www.bioforcegolf.com.
Improve Your Flexibility and See Results in Your Swing
The Players Championship is under way and hopefully the weather will allow for a great four days of golf. It is an exciting week and a very busy one for me. Outside of my normal responsibilities when out on Tour, I have a couple interviews this week and one question that continues to be asked is about flexibility and the golf swing.
Most every golfer will agree that flexibility is a key component of the golf swing. But do you know why it is so important to the swing? I am sure most of you have seen John Daly swing a club. I have to say, it is amazing. When he hits driver the shoulder turn he makes is immense. Amazing flexibility if you ask me.
So I was thinking last night, do most amateurs know why flexibility is important to their golf swing? Take a moment to answer that question and then keep reading.
First off let us quickly define flexibility. Flexibility is the ability of your body to move through the "required" range of motion to perform the activity at hand (a simplified definition but it works for us). Knowing this definition and combining it with what you know about golf swing mechanics, we can come to the conclusion that in order to swing a club on the correct path, the body must have the required flexibility parameters to move that club on the correct path.
Pretty simple, but let me ask another question: what happens if you do not have the flexibility in your body to swing the club on the correct path? Well, I can tell you that your body will still swing the club, but it compensates along the way. These compensations will result in changes in your swing path. And what happens when you change your swing path? You will shoot the ball all over the course, and your scores will go through the roof!
Now here is the interesting thing about flexibility and the golf swing. The greater range of motion you can get the club to move through in relation to the swing plane (remember, range of motion is contingent on your bodies flexibility), the greater amount of power you can develop. That is one reason as to why Daly is able to crush the ball off the tee. He has so much flexibility in his body allowing him to move the driver through a huge range of motion.
So ask yourself, "Is your golf swing lacking some flexibility?" If so, it might be a good idea to introduce some flexibility training into your practice routines.
Previous blog entries:
03/20/06 Your Body is the Foundation of Improving Your Golf Swing
