The Relationship Between A Swing Coach and A Golf Fitness Coach
When I first started working with golfers I had an “okay” knowledge of the golf swing, at least I knew what a bad one looked like. I certainly didn’t have the lingo down, like on plane, extension, and sway and slide. What I did know was the toll a repetitive golf swing took on the body of a person that sat at a desk all week, had poor posture, or practice for hours a day without addressing their body. When I decided I was going to make a career of this I wanted to learn as much about the swing as I could, so I contacted a few local golf pros. I sought them out for my own learning and knowledge, but quickly realized I was able to teach them a thing or two about how the joints and muscles worked during the swing.
I voluntarily started working with their clients to see if what I was doing actually helped them get a better turn, or stay balanced, or hit it further. The results were amazing; I was actually making the swing coach’s job easier and made them look even better as a coach. You see, it is much easier for a swing coach to get a golfer to hit the ball better if they have good flexibility, have a stable lower body, and a strong core.
Swing coaches usually just work with what they got, mainly trying to get their student on a better path to the ball. Need more shoulder turn? Just turn the lower body more. Want to get over onto the lead leg more, just “feel” like you’re sliding. There is drill after drill that swing coaches have in their bag of tricks to get their student better, but most of the time that bad habit is going to return because the limitation in the body causing that fault is not addressed.
I’m not saying that every golfer needs to work on their body to become better, and a good swing coach will almost always get you to hit it better before you leave the lesson. What I am saying is that if the same bad swing characteristic continues to hinder your performance, there is a really good chance there is something in your body causing it. Instead of trying to “fix” the same thing at every lesson, I advise you to find out where that physical limitation is and address it.
All of the best swing coaches in the world have a team of fitne
ss and/or medical practitioners they work with to make their students better. After all that is our job, to make you a better golfer. Over the past 12 years in this industry I have teamed up with some of the best swing coaches in Orange County and have helped thousands of golfers get a lot better by working as a team on their swing.
Over the next several months I will help you overcome certain swing faults though exercises that will address the most common limitations that we see cause these faults. So please stay tuned!
Mike Hansen
