Unlock your Body before You Swing

It really is surprising that the golf swing has changed to add power but the classic golf swings are still the best for the Weekend Warriors. Yes, I’m talking to you. The less exercise that you do, the more your game suffers. Pros and low handicap golfers spend a lot of time keeping mobile and in shape. The rest of us either work for a living or our aging bodies would prefer to limit active exercise. Our flexibility suffers and our golf does too.

Let’s look at some important changes that we should consider to “ACTIVATE OUR BODIES”.

Waggle: Getting your body moving before you take your swing is a critical starting point to free up your flexibility. In other words: Overcoming the FREEZE-UP. In Sam Snead’s era the waggle was a way to loosen the hands and relax the wrists and arms. Jason Dufner is still playing with that historic waggle today but very few pros are as exotic with their waggle.

The modern waggle seems to have a completely different approach as it duplicates the take-away as it loosens up the arms and hips. Golfers like Rickie Fowler, Michelle Wie and many others are now using a takeaway waggle similar to what Mike Weir started before he won the Masters in 2003. Each of these take-away waggles are a little different as they are either focused on a wrist bend, a shoulder rotation, a hip rotation or any combination of all 3.

Double Swing: Another way to keep your whole body moving is a double swing exercise that you many have seen Phil Michelson do. In this warmup exercise he uses 2 or 3 clubs and swings them forward and then backward in a continuous motion as if he is hitting in both directions. It really warms up your arms, shoulders and hips. Especially on a cold day or between nines you really can get your blood flowing before a next tee shot or on a fairway when waiting for the green to clear.

Pump Drill: Justin Rose loves to do this and we often see him practice this move before he takes a shot. He takes a straight arm backswing and then pumps down with his straight leading arm without releasing his wrists as he transfers his weight to his leading leg. He stops this motion before releasing his wrist lag. It forces the early hip shift and prevents the early casting of your wrists (which cause your over the top swing and slice).

Ben Hogan made his transition at the top with a minor leading heal lift and a major weight shift to his leading foot (like a baseball player).

Jack always lifted his leading heal to limit the strain on his back and to create more rotation for more power in his swing.

Learn from the Classic Pro Swing
I love what I have learned from Jack Nicklaus and many of the aging and retired pros. They lift the heal of their leading foot during their backswing to allow more freedom in their backswing for more shoulder and hip rotation. It also helps with the timing at the top of the swing to let your weight shift into your leading foot like Brooks Koepka (or any of the Major League baseball players). Golf is not baseball but that motion can really help you start your downswing with your hips as you “PUMP” your arms down before your wrist release.

Body motion or waggle just before your swing is a great starting point for every swing. Lifting your leading heal may just be that trigger that you need to allow for more “body windup” followed by your weight transfer and wrist release. Practice with GOLFSTR+ and get your body moving before your swing. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com