Exercise for Golf: Balance (1)

What has balance got to do with it?

The golf swing is a complex set of movements that require flexibility strength and power. In order to complete the swing you need balance - at the address, on the wind up, on the downswing and on the follow through. In other words if you do not maintain your balance throughout the swing then your shot will not be optimal.

In order to maintain balance the central nervous system takes inputs from the eyes, the inner ear, and nerve receptors in the joints and muscles.

As you get on in years balance is not always so easy.

A simple test of your proficiency in balancing is the Single Leg Balance. Stand on one leg with the other tucked in behind. If you can retain your balance for 10 seconds then your basic balance is classed as satisfactory.

A slight modification would be to stand on one leg and close your eyes. How long can you retain your balance?

I made 7 seconds to start with - after a week I can make 18 seconds - progress!

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There are a number of other exercises that you can perform that will improve your balance.

Some of my favourites are:

• Leg Swings
• Single Leg Balance
• Steamboats
• Trunk Rotations
• Figure 4
• Beam Balance
• Stork Turns

In this post we’ll look at two of these balance exercises that you can try. We’ll be looking at others in future blogs - keep an eye out for them.

Leg Swings

Purpose: This exercise improves balance and stability in the lower body and spine.

Benefit: Creates improved coordination and control in the lower body in the golf swing.

Instructions: From a standing position (use a club for support if necessary) slowly swing your leg back and forth several times to increase the range of motion in your hip joint. There is no need to swing your leg above the horizontal.

Repeat on the opposite leg.

Single Leg Balance

Purpose: This exercise quickly develops better balance or proprioception.

Benefit: Improves your balance in your golf swing.

Instructions: Start by standing on one leg (hands on hips) and getting into a stable posture. Once stable, maintain your balance first with eyes open, and then try eyes closed. Also try this raising your heel. Attempt to balance for 20 seconds per leg.

Repeat on the opposite leg.

Good luck and balance well!

The Open Series: How do I get to St Andrews?

Where is St Andrews? It may seem like a fairly simple question with a really obvious answer but if you’re planning to come to The Open this year, it may not be quite as simple as you think.

As The Open will be held at St Andrews this year - my neck of the woods - I thought it would be both fun and useful to do a series to help anyone who is perhaps planning a visit.

For those who’ve never looked before, here is St Andrews on a map.

It’s fairly central in Scotland and within easy travelling distance of most of the major towns and cities in the Central Belt.

However, if you’re planning to visit The Open, things become less accessible depending on your mode of transport.

Rail

St Andrews isn’t served by a railway station. There is a railway station at nearby Leuchars (prounounced Loochers with a Scottish ‘ch’ or Lookers if you have no idea what a Scottish ‘ch’ is) which is only 5-10 minutes from St Andrews. There are regular buses between the 2 towns which and the bus arrives relatively close to The Old Course.

If you’re leaving the car at home and travelling by rail, this opens up a large number of places to stay all across Scotland. Leuchars is on the East Coast line meaning there are direct trains from Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Cupar, Kirkcaldy - plenty of places to find accommodation.

As an added bonus, Scotrail and Stagecoach are again providing their Golf Link ticket during the Open. This means you can buy a special ticket that includes your train travel to Leuchars and your onward bus travel to St Andrews. (More details at www.scotrail.co.uk/opengolf)

Road

Now, if you’re planning to drive to The Open is where things might get a little complicated. Yes, it’s easy to get to St Andrews even if the roads are more country than city class but St Andrews is not a big city. It’s not even a big town. The roads weren’t designed to handle the amount of travellers that descend on St Andrews every 5 years. That’s why the police get involved.

Each year, there are dedicated travel routes marked by yellow AA route signs. These signs (which direct you to the A91 into St Andrews) take you to the public park and ride car parks which will ease traffic delay to help you get to the golf faster.

Having attended in previous years, I would highly suggest you follow the signs even if you think you know a different/quicker way into St Andrews. It’s not worth the hassle and having worked in St Andrews during The Open, you’d be praying for a miracle to actually get a parking space near the town centre, or even in the residential estates outside the town.

Do remember that parking will likely cost you about £15 a day and they only take cash. Yes, you read that correctly - in this day and age they only take cash!

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Basically, these are your main options for getting to St Andrews for The Open. Most likely, accommodation in and around St Andrews will be well booked by now (more on that in another blog) so unless you have your own helicopter, you’ll be choosing between train and car.

If you do have your own helicopter, speak to your hotel as there are a few with helipads in and around St Andrews.

I hope this has been of use. In the run up to July, as part of my Open Series, I’ll be blogging about:

• Accommodation for The Open
• What to do in St Andrews for the non-golfer
• General Hints and Tips for your best Open
• Secrets of the Locals
• Don’t Miss at The Open
• Plan Your Day at The Open

Check back soon for the next in the series.

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Exercise for Golf: Cardiorespiratory Exercise

It is that time of year when our thoughts go to the spring golfing season. There are still a couple of months to go until it’s ideal playing conditions - so let’s plan ahead and get ourselves ready.

I will start with the normal warning - do not initiate an exercise program without taking adequate medical advice.

Often you may think you are ready and able to exercise. Yes, you walk the golf course; You could run for miles…10 years ago; You feel good when you walk to the local pub. Even better when you walk home!

But honestly - you’re not ready. Take it slowly and get advice. Trust me - it’s better to take care of yourself rather than going full tilt and find yourself making that appalling ‘old man’ noise whenever you move for the next 2 weeks!


My aim is to provide a basic structure for exercising to improve your golf game with the added bonus of hopefully providing a guide to living a healthier, happier lifestyle.

A round of golf requires walking some 6 to 7 thousand yards from tee to green, green to tee, deviations from the fairway plus walking around the green. This amounts to approximately 4.5 miles. Add to this the carrying (or pulling) of a set of golf clubs, hitting (roughly) 40 shots (driver to wedge) all while aiming to keep you heart rate under control - especially when hitting and putting - and you can see why fitness is so important.

You might think that playing a round of golf is the best way to get fit for golf but you could, especially at this time of year, get faster progress by fitness conditioning.

The golf swing consists of a set of movements requiring balance, flexibility and power.

In this blog we will start with cardiorespiratory. Look out next week for blogs on balance and in further blogs for flexibility and power (core training).

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Aim
The aim of improving your cardiorespiratory (aerobic) performance is to ensure that you are never out of breath and that you are able to put as much effort into the drive on the 18th hole as you did on the first.


Objective
By exercising (walking, jogging, stepping or cycling) for 30 minutes, 3 times per week you should be able to improve your overall fitness.


Don’t think that by simply walking you will get much benefit - you have to literally put your heart into it.

While exercising you should aim to increase your heart rate to 50% - 70% of your maximum.

The maximum heart rate is roughly 220 beats per minute (bpm) minus your age.

So, a 40 year old’s target would be 220 - 40 x 70% = 126 bpm

A 60 year old’s target would be 220 - 60 x 70% = 112 bpm

If this feels too hard then reduce.

If it feels too easy then increase.


Remember! Don't over do it!



Target
Use a map (digital or old school) and mark out 1 mile.

Get ready to walk!

To walk at an average of 4mph, aim to take 15 minutes to reach your mile marker.

The next day, aim to walk for 2 miles at a constant of 4mph which should take you 30 minutes.

Keep track of your heart rate (there’s an app for that!) and try to improve your performance with every day you do your walk.


Currently I am aiming to walk 3.6 miles every day. For 3 days each week I’m not in a position to walk much (work commitments etc) so I aim to make it up on the other days. So far, I can feel my cardiorespiratory health improving and hopefully it will continue as I continue with my new habit!

Look out for more fitness blogs coming soon...

Player Profile: Thomas Morris, Jr. (Young Tom Morris)

We’ve had the father of the game so let’s move onto the son.

Name: Tom Morris Jr.
Nickname: Young Tom / Young Tom Morris
Date of birth: 20th April, 1851
Place of birth: St Andrews, Fife
Date of death: 25th December, 1875
Place of death: St Andrews, Fife
Nationality: Scottish
Notable Wins: Won the Open Championship in 1868, 1869, 1870, 1872

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Other notable facts:

Tom Morris Jr was born into golf. With such a famous father this is no surprise.

He was naturally gifted with touch around and on the greens. He also hit the ball great distances (for the time) with a generally low ball flight.

Because his father was greenskeeper at Prestwick Golf Club, Young Tom bypassed the caddying and clubmaking roles, which were the usual entry to golf for young players at that time; he was the first future top player to do this.

He won his first Open Championship in 1868, succeeding his father, Old Tom Morris, who won his forth title in 1867. Tommy went on to win 4 Open Championships in a row (there was no Open held in 1871).

Until 2006, when his birth certificate was discovered in Edinburgh, it was thought that he was born on 10th May.

I would have liked to see the 1870 first round at the 12 hole Prestwick Course where Tommy shot 47. Folklore has it that this was one of the best rounds of golf ever played.

At the age of 17 years, 5 months and 8 days he is still the youngest ever player to win the Open Championship.

A memorial was erected at his grave bears the inscription: "Deeply regretted by numerous friends and all golfers, he thrice in succession won the Championship belt and held it without envy, his many amiable qualities being no less acknowledged than his golfing achievements."

When Morris won The Open in 1872, which was to be his last success, although he did finish as runner-up to Mungo Park when the tournament was held at Musselburgh in 1874.

Young Tom broke the course record over the Old Course at St Andrews by two strokes with a score of 77 for the 1869 St Andrews Professional Tournament; this score then stood as the course record for 20 years.

His self promotion really grew the popularity of the game of golf.

In 1865, aged just 14, Young Tom made his debut at the Open Championship.

In 1869, in keeping with the Rules of the Tournament, Young Tom was allowed to keep the original Championship Belt after his hat-trick of victories. The famous Claret Jug was purchased for the tournament in 1873, and his became the first name to be engraved on it, as he had won the Open Championship in 1872.

All four of his Open Championship wins were played at Prestwick Golf Club.

In December 1875, just three months after he lost his wife and baby son in childbirth, Tommy died.

In better circumstances who knows what he could have achieved.

“Beneath the sod poor Tommy’s laid,

Now bunkered fast for good and all;

A better golfer never played

A further or surer ball.”

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My Golfing Resolutions for 2015

These resolutions could easily be called revolutions because it seems to me that they keep coming around year after year. Same as all resolutions, I suppose!

Anyhow, I have made up my mind that this year will be different. By making this statement, I hope to shame myself into making sure that I pull my finger out and get things done otherwise, the progress report in December will be interesting!

I do not play enough golf. Time and other commitments have not always been on my side. So my first resolution is:

1. To play more regularly. I am determined this coming year to play at least 2 times each month and practise in those weeks I cannot play a full round.

It is vital to keep track of progress in my game so game statistics are to be kept. The next resolutions relate to basic statistics.

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2. Putting. I want to improve my putting stats. 32 putts per round would be good.

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3. Long Game. My aim is to hit 12 greens in regulation in each round. (really my aim is to hit 18 greens in regulation. However this is not realistic and so 12 is the target.

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If I am to reach the above targets I realise that I must stay fit. Fitness is something which becomes more elusive as the years progress. In general terms this will include healthy eating and drinking. Being aware of what you put into your body is important. Most top sportsmen take this seriously so why shouldn't I do the same?

The next resolution is therefore related to improving my general fitness levels.

4. General Fitness. So, my resolution with regards to fitness is to be comfortable walking 3 miles at a time. Not on a golf course as I figure that a constant 3 miles walk each day will equate to a round of golf where you regularly stop and start.

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Swinging a golf club at over 100mph with all the resulting forces exerted on the body is not something to do without training. I am going to set up a routine of simple exercises to improve muscle tone and suppleness and swing speed. So the next resolution is to get fit for golf.

5. My fit for golf resolution means that I will commit to my series of simple exercises on a daily basis.

I reckon that if I spend 30 minutes less time watching the television/computer each day and use that time to exercise I will be feel better and stronger in a matter of months.

In the coming months I’m hoping to put up some fun and useful exercises on the blog. I plan to, but it’s not a resolution!!

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Last but not least…

6. Resolution #6 - be happy and keep smiling.

Predictions for 2015

The 2015 golf calendar has only just started (we don’t count January round these parts!) but I still have time to make some predictions for the year ahead.

Here’s what I think will be happening in 2015. Don’t worry folks, it’s just for fun!

I think that Rory McIlroy will consolidate his world No. 1 ranking.

Others to push up the rankings will be Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Ricky Fowler. However if McIlroy performs reasonably well in the majors and World Golf Championships then he should retain his No. 1 spot.

The Masters will see McIlroy win his grand slam major title. The Augusta National course suits McIlroy’s game and he should be able to cope with the immense pressure that will be heaped upon him.

Both the US Open and the Open will be played on Public Links courses this year. The US Open will be at Chambers Bay, Tacoma WA (on the west coast just south of Seattle). It is a new links style course in contrast to the “old” course at St Andrews. As public courses anyone can book to play them.

The US Open will be won by Ricky Fowler.

The Open will be see Justin Rose lift the Claret Jug.

The US PGA’s Wanamaker Trophy at Whistling Straits WI will be lifted by Adam Scott.

Look out for strong performances from Billy Herschel (2014 Fedex Cup winner) and Tiger Woods (on his return from injury).

The Race to Dubai will be won by Sergio Garcia. His recent consistency will see him through.

The PGA Tour’s Fedex Cup will be won by and Australian - either Adam Scott or Jason Day.

In the Ladies game the big names in 2015 will be Suzann Pettersen, Michelle Wie, Lydia Ko, Shanshan Feng, Charley Hull, Stacy Lewis and Inbee Park.

The US Open in Lancaster PA I expect Michelle Wie to retain the trophy.

The Women’s British Open at Turnery will see the major breakthrough of Charley Hull.

The Evian championship (at Evian-Les-Bains near Lake Geneva) is the final major on both the LPGA and European Tour and will be won by Shenzhen Feng.

The money list winners will be Michelle Wie for the LPGA tour and Suzann Pettersen for the European Tour.


No matter who wins the various tournaments I am looking forward to an exciting year. Let the fun commence.

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