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.
Developing a Repeatable Golf Swing and Your Body
Second week out on Tour after the Masters and believe it or not the U.S. Open is less than eight weeks away. Interestingly enough, Phil Mickelson has already been to Winged Foot to "map" the course. So as I have discussed previously, preparation for tournaments at the Tour level is a factor in the amount of success achieved.
One area of preparation for a golfer at any level is the development of a repeatable golf swing. Simply stated a repeatable golf swing is one in which the club can be drawn on the same swing path over and over again. The ability to perform this activity rests upon the golfer executing the biomechanics of the golf swing over and over again without error (easier said than done).
In addition to the golf swing being a repeatable biomechanical action, it is also a repetitive athletic movement. Meaning the movement is performed over and over again during competition with little room for error. For example, during a round of golf you can easily perform the biomechanics of the swing well over 100 times (practice and round combined). The number of swings for a tour player increases dramatically over the course of a single tournament, not to mention an entire season.
In order to execute a repetitive athletic movement efficiently it is required the athlete develop high levels of muscular endurance. Muscular endurance is the ability of the body to perform any athletic movement over and over again without becoming fatigued.
What is the connection between endurance and the golf swing? To execute the finite biomechanical movements of the golf swing over and over again. High levels of muscular endurance are required. If the muscles of the body involved in the golf swing become fatigued the ability to execute the golf swing will be compromised.
How does the golfer develop the endurance within the body to execute a repeatable golf swing?
Through the implementation of muscle endurance developing golf fitness exercises. These types of exercises increase the levels of endurance within the body to execute the biomechanics of the swing in a repeatable manner. So if you are struggling with developing a repeatable golf swing, or find yourself losing your swing on the back nine, developing more endurance in your muscles just might help.
Previous blog entries:
04/26/06 Increasing the Clubhead Speed in Your Golf Swing
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
