Golf Workouts For Winter

Golf workouts for winter is a great approach to taking advantage of the time you now have available to improve your golf since you’re not playing as much, if not at all. It’s a way to stay connected to your golf game when you’re not able to play due to the conditions (snow, temperatures, ice, etc.).

Have you gone into depression mode when winter hits and you can’t play golf anymore? I know this use to happen to me until I finally moved to a year-round nice climate. This transition from playing golf regularly to not at all can be depressing.

What do you do with all the time you now have since you’re not playing?

The answer? Golf workouts for the winter! This is your “off-season” and like most athletes they work on their body’s to take their game to the next level. This is a time where you evaluate your game and work on your weaknesses.

A common denominator for most golfers, especially senior golfers is “physical capabilities”. This is your current level of golf-specific strength and flexibility. It is highly unlikely you have no physical limitations in your golf swing. 80% or more of amateur golfers play with an injury during the season. This would tell me there is a physical issue.

What better time than winter to do golf workouts to greatly improve this situation. There is no excuse. You’ve got the time and hopefully you’ve got the motivation to improve your game. You’ve just got to set up a game plan in regards to your golf workouts for winter.

The first step is to get a physical evaluation done to diagnose your current level of fitness specific to golf. You can hire a local golf fitness trainer or look on the web. Golf workouts are becoming so popular you can’t miss finding out information about them.

Once you’ve gotten your golf fitness evaluation, assess the areas that need the most work and spend the majority of your time on those areas. Most likely this would be flexibility and core strength. These are two very common areas that are lacking and can make the most impact on your golf improvement.

You will be shocked at your progress if you stick with it through the entire winter. The first time you step on the range, you’ll feel like a different golfer. It will be like an “out-of-body” experience. You’ll soon realize this is what you’ve been missing all along.

So when you put those clubs up for the winter and go into depression mode…remember this article and start your golf workouts for winter.

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Are You Ready for High Tech Golf

It was only a matter of time before golf and technology merged, and that time is now. From computer gadgets to software, you’ll find that there are some very interesting technological advances aimed at golfers.

Scorekeeping is one place where software has really come into play. Keeping score on a single game of golf isn’t that difficult, but tracking a series of games and establishing a handicap for tournament play has traditionally been serious business. There are several types of scorekeeping software for golf players and some are even recognized by certain tournament officials to establish eligibility to play.

The options include online sites that are very simple to use. The golfer enters his or her information online and the program does all the calculations. Some golf organizations include the use of this type of program as a benefit of membership.

Evaluating a player’s swing has always been the bane of golf professionals and instructors. Where exactly is the player going wrong? And how can it be corrected? There are a couple of major programs for swing analysis available. Typically, a movie is taken of the golfer while he executes a typical swing. Then the computer software overlays an image of a perfect swing, giving the golfer and the instructor a frame-by-frame analysis. Not only is the golf swing slowed down for a critical look, but it’s easy to pinpoint any problems.

Practice is another area improved by technology. Those who want to practice their golf games often have very limited options. They can go to a driving range or golf course to get in real practice, or they can practice putting in limited space. But the golfer who lives in a crowded neighborhood can now use one of several golf aids to practice swings right in the backyard.

In this case, the answer doesn’t have to be high-tech, though there are some really great technical options. Some golfers use a net to catch the ball a few feet past the swing, though this does at least slightly limit the benefits of practice because there’s no way for the golfer to tell whether it would have been an excellent shot. Some of the high-tech golf aids allow you to see how far the ball would have traveled and the exact path it would have taken.

There will probably never be a time when computerized golf takes the place of 18 holes on your favorite golf course, but there’s no doubt that technology has an important role in golf today.

All For The Love Of Golf

Golf is supposed to be an enjoyable game. We golf over and over again, because we love the game. So why do we beat ourselves up, just before we get off the first tee box? Have you ever heard yourself with a bunch of negative emotions before the golf round?

“Another day out on the golf course and my back is killing me.” Why would you even consider golfing, if it were painful? Why did those even consider golfing with a bad back? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“I have to get through this eighteen with the least amount of pain.” Why not play nine holes instead of eighteen? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“I am not too sure if the mental part of my game can take any more. It’s tough mentally when things just aren’t going right.” If your confused mentally, why even bother picking up a golf club? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“I hope this is not going to be another brutal round, like the other day?” When things are not going right, why not take a day off from golf and meditate instead? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“If I do not hit the fairway on the first tee box, I think I’ll quit playing golf after eighteen.” Why quit after eighteen when the first shot may be the reason to quit? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“If I do not make par on the first hole, I am not going to keep score for the rest of the round.” If your temper is that bad, why carry a scorecard at all? I’ll tell you why. All for the love of golf!

“The first water hazard my ball ends up in, my golf clubs are going in with it.” Do yourself a favor and play with rentals. Why? All for the love of golf!

“I better not three putt any greens today. I’ll break my putter on the first three putt green, if I do.” Do yourself a favor and pick up for two. Why? All for the love of golf!

“Frosty will never see winter, if I get a snowman today.” Do not play golf with anybody by the nickname Frosty. Why? All for the love of golf!

To help avoid some of these negative emotions, booking a tee time in advance will help keep your mind on a positive level. Why? All for the love of golf!

Handling Tee Box Pressure In Golf

If you’ve played golf for any length of time, you have undoubtedly encountered a situation or two which made you nervous. This phenomena is called ‘tee box pressure’, or TBP for short.

Perhaps it’s happened when you were getting ready to hit your tee shot off #1 with a dozen people watching. Maybe it was when you were paired with the top golfer in your club championship. Whatever the situation, one thing is sure: every golfer will find themselves dealing with TBP sooner or later!

WHY THE NERVES?

What is it about golf that gets us feeling this way in the first place? After all, when you step onto the golf course, there usually aren’t any lives at stake. In addition, whether you perform well or not on any given day, there are a billion people in China who will not care!

This is a complicated question which will have different answers for different people. Often times, we have too much of our egos wrapped up in the game. The more we invest in something (and we all know that golf can be all-consuming), the more we expect in return. When the ‘game is on’, we fear failure. With this fear in our mind, our muscles tighten. This, in turn, makes it harder to have the free-flowing swing and effective touch game that is needed to score well.

Here are a few tips which will help you the next time you are getting ready to play a pressure round.

• PREPARE MENTALLY

During the days leading up to the big game, prepare yourself mentally for the atmosphere you will be facing. You know you are going to be nervous. Being nervous, however, does not mean you cannot hit good golf shots. Think of all the times you have hit good shots under pressure before.

Picture yourself dealing with various situations that will occur during the upcoming round. Think of the feeling as you prepare to hit your first tee shot. Your heart is beating out of control. Then, you swing under control, in good tempo, and strike a solid one right down the middle of the fairway.

Next, imagine hitting one into trouble. You’re confronted with the options and weigh the risks of punching a miracle shot through the trees. Instead, you calm yourself and ‘take your medicine’ by chipping back out to the fairway. This type of clear thinking will help you to avoid those double and triple bogeys which ruin rounds.

• CONSERVATIVE STRATEGY – CONFIDENT SWING

The term ‘choke’ is applied to people who don’t perform well under pressure. Who can forget poor Greg Norman losing that 6-shot lead to Nick Faldo at the Masters tournament? The main reason people choke is simply because their thought processes become illogical. They start thinking negatively as if they have never hit a solid golf shot. Or, they start to take unnecessary chances and over-swing in the process.

Before the round, make up your mind that you will not beat yourself. Let the other players beat you. Hit shots that you know you can hit. One top amateur player used this strategy in the Minnesota State Amateur qualifying round at the Lake City Golf Club. He wasn’t playing very well on the front nine and was tempted several times to ‘go for broke’. On the eighth hole, a par five, his second shot left him about 110 yards out in some gnarly rough. He had a good angle at the pin, but if the shot went long, it was obviously going down an embankment leading to a difficult chip with little green to work with. However, he felt like he needed a ‘make something happen’. So, he debated whether to try to finesse a full wedge, or to take a full swing with his gap wedge. He had more confidence in the gap wedge because he knew this club would never put him in the big trouble which was over the green. He selected the gap wedge (conservative strategy) and made a confident swing which left the ball 30 feet below the hole. He two-putted and took his par.

This strategy paid off as he made birdie on the next hole. All of a sudden, his marginal round was heading in the right direction! This may not have been possible if he had taken the aggressive route on the previous hole and gone over the green.

• LET GO OF THE HANDLE BARS!

A player recently quipped, “You’ve got to let go of the handle bars!” How descriptive of the golfer who, when under pressure, holds onto the club as if it had “handle bars”. Unlike riding a bicycle, holding onto the handle bars is a bad thing in golf!

In other words, you’ve got to let the club swing to be effective. Holding on and trying to steer the ball down the fairway will produce less distance and less accuracy. A golfer has to feel like they are ‘giving up control’ of the swing. In other words, the golfer must trust that what he has trained will work when the pressure is on. This is called ‘muscle memory’.

Giving up control gets progressively harder as the round progresses. The tendency is to start counting your score as you try to figure out how you’re faring compared to everyone else. You must counteract that tendency by consciously trying to swing looser and freer as the round goes on. Stay focused on what you’re trying to do – forget about everyone else. You can’t control them anyway.

Keep the game simple. Pick your target, go through your pre-shot routine and let your swing go! Stay within yourself and you won’t be a victim of that TBP!

Golfers – Do not move!

If you can become successful at just this one skill, you will find your golf game improving. When you make a terrible shot, concentrate on keeping your head still during the next swing.

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Golf pros can give contradicting advice. It is common to read one golf player’s advice and then when you read another article or book, to have a different player say the complete opposite. For example, one pro says to keep your head straight, but another person comes along with an entirely different set of rules.

What should you do?

You should listen to me, of course. J

All people are different and no two of us play exactly alike. This is why it is a great idea to not concentrate on one particular method of playing golf.

Some basics can make or break your golf game. And I am telling you to keep your head still and not move it during your swing.

If you don’t have accurate details regarding Golf, then you might make a bad choice on the subject. Don’t let that happen: keep reading.

It is impossible to keep your head still if you tense up your muscles. Keeping your head still helps you to loosen up and allows you to finish your swing smoothly. By keeping your head still, you can also prevent the dreaded slice because you do not have to pull your hands in to keep balanced.

A golf championship winner said that every time he prepared to make a shot, he said to himself, “Keep your head still.” It is a necessity to a good golf swing that many players do not concentrate on.

If you can become successful at just this one skill, you will find your golf game improving. When you make a terrible shot, concentrate on keeping your head still during the next swing.

If you keep your head still, it will be possible to see the ball during the entire swing. If your head is moving, it will be impossible to keep your eye on the ball.

You can build your confidence by using this one technique. Keep your head still enough to keep a jar of water on the top of your head perfectly still and watch the ball as you swing. You will be able to see the ball better and hit it more solidly.

Even if you are nervous when you are playing, keep these two tips in mind and your game will definitely improve!

Hopefully the tips above have contributed to your understanding of Golf. Share your new tips about Golf with others. They’ll thank you for it.

Golf Fitness Training Equals Great Golf

If you’ve watched any golf on the television you’ve no doubt heard the commentator’s mention golf fitness training. It’s no secret that 95 percent of professional golfers are doing some for of golf fitness training.

If there livelihood depends on their performance and they are participating in golf fitness training, why wouldn’t amateur golfers do the same?

The golf swing is one of the most physically demanding movements on the human body of all sports.

Swinging a three and a half foot long implement at upwards of 100 mph, while maintaining balance, stabilization and proper swing mechanics is very difficult.

I don’t think I have to convince you of that do I?

The “only” way to be able to accomplish this is by improving the strength AND flexibility of your golf muscles with a golf fitness training routine.

What’s the simplest way to do this?

I can tell you not on a machine in your local gym.

Just take a look at the golf swing to realize it’s “on your feet” and bent at the waist. How could sitting in a machine help that?

It can’t!

You’ve got to do as many exercises as possible on your feet, involving balance, coordination, strength and flexibility.

You don’t even have to be a golf fitness specialist to come up with some creative golf exercises on your own.

How about making your golf swing while holding a single handweight? You can’t get anymore golf-specific than that.

What about some exercise tubing (that’s inexpensive) attached to your door and make your golf swing? Another very golf-specific exercise.

You don’t need a gym membership to do any of these and many more golf exercises. Convenience of doing these exercises in your home saves time and money.

There is a lot of information (including books) showing golfers on machines in gyms. That’s not “golf-specific”, that’s “general fitness”.

If you want to improve your game quickly and easily, try doing these “in-home” golf exercises. You won’t believe how quickly your body will respond to golf fitness training and how you’ll be the LONGEST hitter in your foursome in no-time.

A Better Golf Swing Is Inevitable

A better golf swing is inevitable…for any golfer, with the right approach. It doesn’t matter age or ability. It’s a reality…and can happen very quickly!

To achieve a better golf swing, a golfer needs to realize just how physically demanding it is on the human body. You are swing an object (golf club) at up to 100 mph. This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles.

If these tissues of the body are weak, tight or brittle they will rupture and eliminate you from playing golf indefinitely. If it doesn’t, your performance will pay the price. The outcome either way is not what you want…but will happen without an emphasis on strengthening these areas.

Along with strengthening comes stretching. Stretching muscles to attain a better golf swing is common among most golfers. Although it is common, most golfers don’t stretch. Why? Because it is viewed as ‘work’. But if it were viewed as a form of golf improvement it would be a different story.

Swing mechanics cannot be improved if your golf specific strength and flexibility are ignored. It is an impossibility, unless you compensate for this lack of capabilities in your golf swing. Teaching pros are now starting to realize there is a definite connection between golf swing mechanics and fitness.

But that’s where the BIG gap is. Between instruction and physical fitness. This is the ultimate combination for total golf performance and I have been preaching it for several years now. When your physical capabilities are improved, your golf swing mechanics become much easier to achieve.

The next time you visit your teaching pro, to achieve a better golf swing, you’ll be able to do what he/she wants and the desired outcome will be achieved. This outcome is inevitable when you get your body moving better. Your golf swing mechanics fall into place.

It will only be a matter of time when all golfers will approach their golf improvement this way. It’s the only way that will warrant lasting results and ultimately a better golf swing.