From: "James F. Tims" <p00168@psilink.com>
Subject: Re: excersize program & another swing question
Organization: Semper Excelsior
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 18:50:17 GMT
X-Mailer: PSILink (3.2)

>DATE:   Thu, 7 Jan 1993 14:47:00 GMT
>FROM:   Phuong Vu <pav@masc.rice.edu>
>
>I have 3 more questions for the golf gurus out there:
>
>- I am interested in starting on an excersize program to strengthen
>  the "golf muscles".  Can someone point me to a book, magazine, etc....
>  which has detailed description of physical training for better golf.

I agree with Chip Beck.  Yoga.  The stretching and toning is perfectly 
suited to increasing both flexibility and strength in those "hard to 
reach" systems that golf seems to use so much of, like the spine and 
shoulders and neck.  Just an opinion.  Books are readily available in 
just about any medium-sized bookstore.  Get one with the asannas 
(sp?) in it, not one that teaches you meditate with your legs crossed. 8^)

The no-strain, relax-under-load, don't-rush attitude of yoga seems particularly 
well-suited to golf as opposed to the grunt and groan, "no pain no gain" style 
of calisthenics.  Not much aerobics, but carrying your bag takes care of 
that to some extent. 

>
>- I learned to play golf by reading Nick Faldo's book "Golf: A Winning Formula"
>  which I think is a really good book, I have also taken a few lessons from a 
>  club pro.  Faldo emphasizes the resistance of the right knee on the backswing
>  but that seems to have put a lot of stress on my knee and it is beginning to
>  feel a little uncomfortable lately.  Am I doing something wrong ?
>  
You may be forcing beyond your best flexibility range, that is, forcing 
the backswing to be just a bit bigger than you can comfortably make use 
of.  This can put a strain on the right knee.  The ball can be hit a 
remarkably long ways with a relatively short backswing.  Watch Jeff 
Sluman or John Cook. Great golf swings.  I'll guess that you could be a little
tense at the top, and that can translate all the way to your right knee.
Faldo's recommendation is a very good one, much in line with Hogan's 
ideas, but it's easy to exagerate the amount of tension which is 
required.  I remember having a similar problem when I first started 
keeping my right leg steady on the backswing. 

>- Both Faldo and Nicklaus teach that as you are approaching the top of your
>  backswing (but still going back), your left knee should reverse direction
>  to create this extra coil.  How many people out there can actually perform
>  this move and how much would you lose if you can't learn how to do this.
>
>Thanks.

And here I think we face a _post hoc ergo propter hoc_ fallacy.  I agree 
that things should start moving in the other direction while the club's 
going back, but the lever is in the hips.  This has been dealt with by 
people far more knowledgeable than I in the field of bio-mechanics.  
Moving the left knee will get you nothing.  Starting the hips rotating 
with a simultaneous weight shift moves the left knee, not vice versa.
Try it.  You can wave the knee all you want without any hip movement.
Now rotate the hips forward -- the left knee will naturally move.
(No doubt this will not work for all of you, but it sure works for me.)
Trying to start things with the left knee leaves you hanging back on 
your right foot if you ask me.  The hips are the skeletal swing lever, 
not the legs. I don't say that the left knee doesn't reverse direction 
as advertised, just that by trying to make the correct direction change by 
concentrating on starting the left knee forward is the tail wagging 
the dog. Clear the hips and step onto the left side, and if you don't 
fall down your left knee probably did just fine. If you did fall down, try
not to next time. Gotta fall off a horse before you learn to ride it. 8^)

Starting to clear the hips against a firm right leg moves the weight 
smoothly to the left leg.  At this point you have to work pretty hard to 
just keep up.  The outward appearance can appear to be almost lazy, but 
the velocity produced using the hip lever ala Hogan requires a good deal 
of effort to keep the left side from collapsing near to impact.  Anyone
can literally tear the club out of their hands with a firm, fast body 
turn. If anything, the method produces more power than the hands can 
make use of, and you have to tone things down just to keep the power 
manageable. I have personally found thinking "hip-lever stuff" to be very 
helpful in understanding at least this one way of producing clubhead speed.  
There are many others.  This body of golf swing theory is 
generally called "The Modern Swing", dating generally to Ben Hogan.  
Payne Stewart is an example of the "Classical Swing" school, dating back 
to Bobby Jones and before.  Jeff Sluman is a model Modernist.

Just an opinion, and I'm sure I'll get my ears pinned back, but I think 
the Modern swing is a lot easier to do for most people, and most people 
are trying to do a Classical.  A lot of confusion and disaster results 
when applying Classical tips to Modern swings, and the other way around 
as well.  Faldo is a Modernist as well.  

I am a Modernist by both training and preference.  If you are a 
Classicalist, avert your eyes!

-jim






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