#102 Web TV: Do You Need Golf Balance For A Good Golf Swing?

Do you need golf balance for a good golf swing? View the video below to see why.

I’ve got a great activity for you to do when it’s raining, and yes we can do it when it’s not raining as well.  It’s really going to help your golf balance in your golf swing because we always need balance in order for you to hit your best possible shot.

Now, why is golf balance important in a swing? Well, what do you think?

You need to maintain that balance right through the swing.  If you were to do your golf swing, you need to make sure you have good balance going to the back of the shot. You need to make sure you are maintaining good balance when you are making contact with the ball. Also good balance in your finish.

I see a lot of people when they are playing and they have really poor golf balance and no one bothers to work on it. I don’t know if you have heard of a great book called “The Compound Effect” written by Darren Hardy.  It’s all about the little things that you do to create the big picture.  So, this is a little thing that you can do to help improve your balance in your golf swing.  If you want to hit the ball the best possible way that you can, you need to make sure that you have really, really good balance.

What’s the first exercise? I’m actually going to give you two.

Now, I’ll show you what the first one is.  This is a nice simple one and a real test for you.  What I want you to do here is, in bare feet,  and the reason why I want you to do it in bare feet is simply because you are learning to use the muscles in your feet.  A lot of people don’t use the muscles in their feet which then puts them off balance as well. Of course there are other areas in the body which put you off balance.

You need to make sure those muscles in the feet are working. That was a big thing I learnt when I had plantar fasciitis.  I had it for twenty years from playing tennis and I always really struggled.  It didn’t stop me from doing anything, even running and so on... but what I learnt was that the muscles in my feet were not being used properly and that was causing the problem. What we started to do was to work on developing the muscles and strengthening the muscles in the feet.  That’s why I want you to do this with no shoes on, you are working on developing the muscles in the feet and this is going to help you in your golf swing.

This is a really simple exercise... it challenges a lot of people.. and you will think... that is so simple, but I want you to try it.

EXERCISE 1:

Stand on one foot, hold your arms out and then I want you to close your eyes, you want to see how long you can maintain your balance.  Now, the plan is for you to maintain your balance for a minimum of twenty seconds. If you can balance longer than twenty seconds and you can build it up to thirty seconds, then that’s great.  If you can build up to one minute, even better. You want to be able to balance on that one foot with your eyes closed and you will actually feel the muscles in your feet working as well.  You are really working on your golf balance.

Once you have done your right foot, you then work on your left foot.  You want to make sure that you are doing the same sort of thing.  What you want to be able to do is close your eyes and work on that balance.  You should aim for twenty seconds, twenty seconds on each foot.  Really, really simple.

The second exercise we are going to do, really simple exercise but if you have knee problems I would probably suggest that you do not do this, but you can go down as low as your knee. People talk to me about power and distance.

People want power and distance yet they are not prepared to do anything outside of their golf in order to create that.  If you are serious about getting power and distance you have to do weight training, you have to do strength training, and balance exercises. That is the only way.

You can’t do it by turning up and hitting a few golf balls and you all of a sudden get distance.  Yes, technique is incredibly important.  You need to get your technique right, first thing before you even think about getting distance.  Technique and accuracy, the two most important things.  Then if you want to get distance, as your technique improves then you start doing some work and strength training. As we get older the most important thing for our development is strength training because it keeps our muscles strong and it also keeps our bones strong. If you do the research you will see how important strength training is as we grow older. Make sure that is part of your golf program, working on it twice a week.

You may not like it but think of the benefit that you are going to get from it.  It’s going to give you more distance, more balance, stronger in your shots, look at it that way. What are you going to get out of it?

EXERCISE 2:

Now this next exercise, again a really simple exercise. Balance on one foot, hold your right hand out horizontally and with your left hand you go all the way down and touch your toe and then come back up. It does two things, 1. it creates balance and 2. it’s strengthening up your quad muscles and your calves and feet as well.

You really have to maintain that balance when you are doing this.  Just do ten on one leg and ten on the other and do it slowly.  If you do it too fast you are all over the place.  These are slow, controlled movements.  Make sure you are going down really slowly and then touch and then you come up.  If you can’t do ten, do five, if you can’t do five then just do one.  Start with one.  If you can’t go all the way down to your toe... just do it down to your shin, or do it to your knee, modify it to work for you and then build up as you go.

Make sure you are doing these because it’s, like I said before, the compound effect, it’s the little things that you are going to do each day that will create a nice big result for you.

It’s like losing weight, if you want to lose weight and you decide that today is the day you are going to eat better and move more and so on then expect a result tomorrow, it’s unrealistic isn’t it?

You want to give yourself a goal, if you want to lose weight then you are going to look at a difference in about three months time.  So, being realistic here with your golf, if you take five minutes out of your day, five minutes is not a lot, it’s the little things that you are doing that will create a difference in three months’ time.  You will have much better balance; you will be much stronger in the legs but you have to make a commitment to do it.

Have an absolutely awesome day, take care, and remember; tee it high and let it fly.