A Golf Lesson… From Ballet?
My son is 20 years old and already has obtained his first goal in life… A seemingly impossible goal given the time he took to get there. My son is a dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, one of the top Ballet companies in the world. He made it to that level through a combination of hard work and smart work. But I learned something from him that is helping me with my golf game and I wanted to share it with you.
Jeremy has always been been slightly pudgy, not the shape of a person who would excel in Ballet. Part of his work was to reshape his body, not just getting thin or muscular, but actually changing the structure of his muscles so they were longer and leaner while still having the strength to lift ballerinas during a performance. He didn’t make this change in a gym and he didn’t do it with a simple diet. He did it but using visualization to make sure his posture and movements together promoted the type of changes he needed to make. Now he is lean and ripped, nothing like I have ever imagined he could be, given his starting point.
I was visiting during Christmas and he explained some of the positions that he keeps in mind as he goes about his day outside of ballet and how just maintaining certain parts of the body in correct positions of posture as you move can help you build the muscles that should be doing certain jobs. He also explained how building more muscles to do certain jobs in the body take stress off of the few muscle groups that are trying to carry the burden now. I decided to work on it to see what happened.
As you know, my weak point is an injury in my lower back. I never give up hope of overcoming this and this latest change is certainly helping. I have to admit, I have never had perfect posture. It’s never been too bad, but every bit helps. But what people always say about lifting the shoulders and pulling them back seems to just create knots in my back that I have to get worked out by a good massage therapist. What Jeremy showed me works and helps in ways I never imagined.
What is the center of movement in the body? The core of course! What I am doing when I sit, walk run or anything else is visualizing my core “in position” as I move. That’s it. What’s “position”?
I would describe the correct position as keeping your stomach directly under your chest. If you have a rounded back, instead of pulling back your shoulders, which uses back muscles, just move your stomach forward so it is under the chest.
When you walk, the stomach (core area) starts moving forward first and then your core signals the legs. This is a very tiny change from normal movement.
As you may know, I’ve been able to start running againg this year. When I started using this same thought that my core moves forward before my legs, I noticed some significant changes in my body. Immediately, this tiny change in thought took more stress away from my back injury and relieved the tightness I often get in my hamstrings. I notice that once again, my legs are getting a workout as if I was doing a mild squat routine to build them up. This is important because I just cannot do squats any more and this builds my legs so that I can have more power in my shots.
When I swing the club, I make sure my core is positioned properly. It’s not something I was paying quite enough attention to and I can see an immediate increase in power in my shots.
I can feel my core getting stronger and my back stays relaxed and not tied up in knots.
Oh… And my posture is better too! All from a simple change in posture!
If you saw my analysis of Tiger’s golf swing, one of the things I mentioned was that his chest was between his arms, out front rather than out of the picture like that of a golfer with poor posture. Well keeping the core in the proper position during the swing makes this happen too. Which means, better posture with less thought about the different parts of the body. Less thought means simple and that is the goal.
Give it a try and let me know your experiences.
Hit’m well,
Tracy
1/24/08 Here’s an update to give you an idea of the power of this simple change in routine. As you may know, I normally cannot play more than two rounds of golf in a row without the need to see my Chiropractor (Also a Golf Swing Control Member) due to the pain involved. Since I have started back running (before making this change) I have had the same experience where running two to three times sent me to the Chiropractor…
Well, since I started with this change, I have played 4 rounds of golf and run 6 times and I have no pain. My legs are building up, my abs are strengthening and I have no stress on my back, even when I play golf. I do have to say, a good stretching program is crucial to these results… So it looks like there is still hope!
3/9/08 Does this work? You tell me… The most recent update to the “core moves first” experiment. Yesterday I ran the Gate River Run in Jacksonville FL. It is the largest 15k race in the USA… 9 miles! Up until this point my longest run has been 6 miles and that was over 20 years ago! My thought was simple. If I can run 9 miles without backpain, this works. I made it with no back pain. My legs were screaming coming over the finish line, but my back was fine. Today was really the test. The pain the next day after punishing yourself is often worse than after the event. The back is still fine. My abs feel like I did 150 situps yesterday, which is cool because with back pain, situps are impossible.
So how does this work for golf? Well I’ve been taking golf more seriously. I’ve been working on my swing, “fine tuning” it, which just like any other golfer, means I have bad days too. Last weekend I hit 5 large buckets of balls trying to work out a few minor details. I had pain, but it wasn’t in my back. My injury isn’t cured. It never will be, but now my body moves in a way that doesn’t push on it. So there is hope for us with back injuries and back pain.
I hope you take the time to use this method whether you have back pain or not. I have lost weight, my posture is as good as it can be and I feel great. Let me know what happens.
To learn more about how Golf Swing Control can help you improve your golf game, CLICK HERE
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Tracy, Great article and congratulations to your son Jeremy.
What a major accomplishment. I was introduced to Bikram Yoga. I found this type of “hot Yoga” a perfect compliment to posture, core and keeping the body very flexible. It has helped my body in everything especially Golf. It’s not easy though. Changes take all you have to make it happen. And most importantly keep it happening.
Atta boy to your son!
Thanks for your great blog and website
John
Hi Tracy
I have been very much enjoying the blog. I don’t know whether you would rather have these swing questions posted here or straight to you, but please let me know if you would prefer them off the blog.
Anyway… I feel like I am making some very good progress with golfswingcontrol, really getting a handle on the visualisation and feel of what I am doing. I think my swing has a lot of aspects that are coming together well; I feel like I am reasonably well balanced; the club is mostly in balance; I have a decent handle developing on the transition, and I can pretty regularly produce a swing which sees me finish with the right shoulder pointing down the target line…all good and making progress… however… my shots lack distance and one aspect continues to elude me which I feel is possibly a big indicator of power.. I have consistently looked for the pulling sensation in the last 3 fingers of the glove hand which should signal that the swing is ready to go, and try as I might there is nothing there, and I mean nothing, no pull whatsoever. I’m thinking this may be because I have lost connection (?) but even when I concentrate on staying connected (left bicep to left pectoral) it doesn’t seem to help any. Any ideas, where my flaw might be ?
All the best, and many thanks
Tim
Tim,
The pulling sensation is created by the unwinding of the body from the lower body up. To get the unwinding, there must be energy stored in the muscles of the legs during the backswing. When this happens, the downswing almost starts itself as soon as transition is made.
The easiest way to test whether you have power stored as a result of the backswing is to make the transition and wait with the upper body. If nothing happens, there was no power stored.
Lack of power storage comes from either locking or moving the knees out of place during the backswing. If you take the time to really pinpoint the feel in your feet, they will tell you when excessive knee movement occurs. You’ll feel the weight go to the outside of the foot or way into the heels.
If your knees are staying in place but you still don’t feel the power buildup, it means that either the leg muscles are not engaged during the setup, or you are lifting your arms too quickly during the backswing. Both of these issues are covered in the course.
Let me know what you find.
Hit’m well,
Tracy
Tim,
I was experiencing the same lack of pull in my last three fingers when I started working with GSC. In addition to what Tracy said, actually I found that my problem was that I went overboard in gripping the club too softly. But most importantly I was not keeping pressure down on the palms, as Tracy demonstrates in the DVD when showing you the drill for the backswing. I did it ok during the drill, but forgot it on the regular backswing. Actually I did not figure it out until I found the information in the link which I previously posted under my comments about Tigers swing. Now I have adapted this early wrist break described and demonstrated there and like it alot, It does so many good things for my swing. To many to repeat now. Keeping pressure down (away from the body, whichever direction your shoulders have turned) from your right palm onto the left thumb will allow the pulling sensation to flow through your left arm…. At least that is where my power leak was. Good luck with it.
Tracy, Jim,
Thanks very much for the replies, I’ll let you know how I get on. Early work on it makes me think that I wasn’t paying enough attention to exactly where the weight was in my right foot and had too much knee bend. I think also I have been trying to do too much of it with conscious thought processes throughout the swing and need to turn it over to the pictures that I am starting to be able to create, though where that leaves me with feeling the pull on the 3 fingers before release I’m not too sure, as that would be something conscious I am looking for in the swing.
I’ll give that early wrist break a try Jim, thanks, I followed the link last time and have a good idea what he is talking about, certainly I agree there is a link between the feel of Tracy’s swing drill and the right palm pressing on the left thumb.
All the best
Tim
Hi Tracy & Kory,
Have either of you guys tried or studied EFT? If you haven’t heard of it, look here http://www.emofree.com/newcomer.htm. It claims to have many applications to golf as well as to removing pain, etc. The golf applications include a way to clear the negative thoughts that can limit us when playing. I’ve tried it abit, and it seems to have some promise.
Reguards
Jim,
I have had a couple of golfers who have tried it with good results. EFT seems like it would be helpful for golfers who have a hard time letting go of mistakes on the course and clearing their mind for the next shot.
Tracy
Hey Tracy,
It’s been a LONG time! That’s awesome with your son! I have a 9 year old daughter who is doing club dance and absolutely loves it! She does it 10 hours a week and wished she could do it more. She competes now and has won many medals which brings back the “old days” of me and track & field.
Keep up the great work with your blog.
Best,
Mike
I hadn’t really thought about it before, but your post got me thinking whether elements of the “Alexander Technique”, could be adopted in the golf swing. In fact the relationship between body and mind in the technique, might lend itself perfectly to golf.