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.
Increasing the Clubhead Speed in Your Golf Swing
We all hear constantly how professional golf has become a power game in which the "long bombers" have dominated many of the tour events. The courses are being lengthened to try and contain the 300-plus drives that have become a common place. It is almost safe to say the game of golf is becoming a power game where distance is necessary.
Simply put, increased driving distance is contingent upon clubhead speed. A higher rate of clubhead speed at contact with the golf ball will invariably increase the distance of your drives.
The interesting point about increasing clubhead speed, it is a component of both golf swing mechanics and the body.
The coiling and uncoiling of the golf swing generates the clubhead speed. Greater efficiency with this coiling and uncoiling of the golf swing will give you better opportunity to increase clubhead speed.
Your body is the second component of power development in your golf swing. When talking about power and the body, it is the ability of the body to create the greatest amount of force in a short amount of time. If the body is able to generate more power within the biomechanics of the golf swing, it will increase clubhead speed, and the golf ball will travel farther.
How do you generate more power on the "body" side of the equation in the golf swing?
It is simply a process of generating more torque. Torque is power production in a rotational pattern. Your hips and shoulders rotate to a certain degree during the golf swing. Usually, the longer hitters have more shoulder turn than they do hip turn. That coiling of the body is known as torque. Power exercises will help you develop more torque by increased strength and flexibility. By consistently doing these exercises, the body will become more powerful and have the ability to generate more clubhead speed. So if you really want to increase the distance of your drives, improve the efficiency of your golf swing mechanics and make your body more flexible and stronger.
Previous blog entries:
04/18/06 How To Prepare for Your Round
04/17/06 Swing Faults are Not Really Swing Faults
03/27/06 You can improve balance in your swing
03/24/06 Improve Your Flexibility and See Results in Your Swing
03/20/06 Your Body is the Foundation of Improving Your Golf Swing
