Pga Tour Takes Backseat to Champions Tour
The Champions Tour starts its regular season Friday in Hawaii at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. The course at Hualalai always yields low scores and 20 under might not be good enough to win.
With the regular PGA Tour showcasing more celebrities than tour winners this week, the Champions tourney is the one to watch. Hawaii this time of year looks pretty darn good.
Here is my case for the round bellies over the flat bellies this weekend. Fred Couples, David Duval and maybe a first time winner are the stories at the Hope. It is so tough watching those pro-ams. It is only fun for the amateurs and celebrities that are playing. It is no fun to watch; maybe the tour should get the message.
If you want personality along with great golf, watch the Champions this week. There are eight players that have won a PGA major at the Hope this week. There are eleven players in Hawaii that have won PGA majors. The eight have won a combined total of eight majors, each having one win each. The eleven “old” guys have a combined 32 major wins. That’s right 32. Oh yea, the Champions event boasts seven World Golf Hall of Fame members. Gary Player has more major wins then the entire Hope field and Tom Watson has just as many.
Gary Player, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin these guys are icons that have shaped the golf world, and they still got game! Player is 73 and still beats his age. He is in better shape then 99% of the PGA tour and he’ll let you know it. Player has been the best international ambassador for golf for over 50 years.
Tom Watson has eight PGA majors and has battled all the greats over his career. He always manages to sneak into contention at the Masters. He is a living testament to the qualities that this game encourages.
Hale Irwin at 63 is the all time Champions Tour winner with 45 wins. These guys still can play some great golf.
Look at this one grouping, Player, Watson, and Jay Haas. Haas is the current Charles Schwab Cup champion and the 2007 player of the year. Watching that threesome alone is worth it.
Check out these names that are playing: Kite, Pate, Sluman, Stadler, Langer, Crenshaw, Strange and Roberts. These guys are good.
With all due respect to Arnie, who is hosting the Hope, I’ll spend my time watching some of the all time heroes of the game. I’ll take Player and Watson any day.
Jeff Skinner
http://www.articlesbase.com/golf-articles/pga-tour-takes-backseat-to-champions-tour-736576.html
Golf Fitness Core Training to Improve Your Golf Swing
Golf Fitness Exercises
Golf fitness exercises focused on the core can improve your golf swing. Learn how core exercises and golf exercises are a key to increasing club head speed. Some of us may have an idea about what core training entails. Swing coaches and golf fitness trainers talk about it in relation to the swing, but what actually is the core?
When the question is asked, “What is the core?” The most common answer is, “Your abdominals.” The core can be defined as the region of the body that incorporates the hips, abdominals, obliques, and lower back.
The definition of the core indicates that it is an anatomical region of the body. The top of your chest to your hips is the easiest way to think about the core region. This part of the body includes numerous muscles in each of these defined regions. Think about all those little back muscles that your doctor speaks about when you are injured. Those muscles are part of the core. When you see those infomercials for the “latest and greatest” abdominal machine, those machines are supposedly going to give you that “six pack.” The muscles of the “six pack” are part of your core. These two regions of the body are the easy parts of the core to understand, but what about the other parts?
Golf Fitness Core Training
The general definition of the core indicates that it encompasses ALL the muscles between your chest and lower body. Keeping this definition in mind, what other muscles would be incorporated in the core region? Probably the easiest way to do this is to create a mental image of the body and then look at what muscles are in this region of the body.
The hips are part of the core, and all the muscles in this region of the body are part of the core. The muscles within the hips contain the hip flexors, hip extensors, adductor complex, abductor complex, gluteus maximus, gluteus minimus, gluteus medius, origin of the hamstrings, and origin of the quads. Quite a few muscles, wouldn’t you say?
Currently, we have the muscles of the hips, low back, and the “six pack,” but there are more. We can essentially factor two more muscle groups into the core region. Probably the most under recognized muscles in the core region are termed the “deep stabilizing muscles” of the spine.
The easiest way to think of these muscles is the following: Think about “peeling away the top layer of your abdominals (the “six pack”) and the top layer of your lower back muscles. Underneath these muscles would be another group of muscles that function to stabilize the spine. The number of muscles in this region of the body is numerous. The names of a few are: transverse abdominus, erector spinae, and spinaleus. Again, these are just a few of the muscles in this region. If we were to name all of them, it could easily fill this whole page.
Golf Fitness core region
We have one final group of muscles that comprise the core region, and they are on the sides of the body (the place where we quite often develop those “love handles”). You now know where these muscles are, and we anatomically describe these muscles as your obliques. The two major muscles in this region are the external and internal obliques. In addition, you will find other muscles within this region such as the serratus.
At this point you should have a good understanding of the core region, the muscles groups of the core, and the specific muscles contained within this region. Now we move on to the functioning of the core in regards to golf.
First question, why are these muscles so important to golf? Before we answer that question, let’s look at this region of the body in a little more detail.
A vast number of muscles comprise this region of the body as we know at this point in time. Some of you probably have some first hand experience with the muscles of the core. If you have ever had a lower back injury, you know what I am talking about.
What we need to understand at this point, before entertaining the question of the core’s involvement in the golf swing, is the following:
Realize that all of the core muscles function as a unit, meaning they work together to essentially stabilize and move the body. The movements that this region of the body is involved in are vast. Any movement other than probably lying on your back utilizes the core the cores in some way, shape, or form. Let me explain this thought. We know that the core region is involved in stabilizing the spine, right? Well with that thought in mind, your spine needs to be stabilized in any upright posture you place your body. For example, as I am writing this article, I am sitting at my computer. For my body to maintain this “seated, upright position” my spine must be stabilized. The muscles of the core region perform this activity.
When we begin to talk about the body moving is where we can really see the core becoming active. Just think of some simple activities like walking, bending over to pick up a newspaper, etc. All of these activities are utilizing the core to stabilize the spine, bend, turn, rotate the body, and transfer energy from your feet to the upper body. The core is integrated as a unit and involved in almost every movement that you perform in your daily lives. I hope by this time you can see the importance of the core when it comes to human movement. Now let us move on to a topic of more interest to all of us, and that is the golf swing.
Looking at the golf swing, the core region of the body is considered “the engine of the body.” It is responsible for the balance, stability, and rotation required to swing a golf club. From address to follow through, this section of the body plays a large part in the execution of the swing.
If you have an understanding of what muscles comprise the core region and their importance when it comes to human movement, then you will undoubtedly see the importance of the core as it pertains to the golf swing. This little discussion has probably provided you with the understanding that there is more than “meets the eye” when discussing the core region. The next step in this process is the implementation of core exercises within a golf fitness program. These types of golf exercises will benefit your golf swing in many ways.
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly working with professional golfers, most notably Masters and PGA Champion Phil Mickelson. To learn more about Sean and his golf fitness programs go to http://www.seancochran.com
-Golf Fitness Core Training to Improve Your Golf Swing-
Golf Fitness Exercises to Perform After Your Round of Golf
The best Golf Fitness Exercises
Golf fitness exercises performed after a round of golf can benefit your golf swing. Typically, after finishing the 18th hole we will head to the 19th hole for a little rest and relaxation. On Tour it is not uncommon to see players head back out to the practice area for extra work after a round.
This is absolutely a choice you may decide to make, and a good one in my mind, but regardless if you head back out to the range or into the clubhouse: five minutes of flexibility exercises can do wonders for your game.
Yes, believe it or not a five minute session of golf stretches could significantly improve your golf game. Why is this the case?
The Golf Swing
Empirical evidence suggests many amateur golfers do not have the flexibility to execute the golf swing correctly. This results in the development of compensations in the swing, which in turn causes miss-hits, bogies, and scores that go higher rather than lower.
In order to stretch those “tight” muscles causing restrictions in your golf swing flexibility exercises are required. The implementation of flexibility exercise post-round can be of even greater benefit because of the timing.
After a round of golf your body is warmed-up, “loose” from the activity, muscles have been active, and the core temperature of the body is elevated.
This situation bodes extremely well for the benefits of flexibility training. Research indicates when a muscle is “warmed-up” and “loose” the ability for it to stretch and increase its’ level of flexibility is much higher.
So it only makes sense if you are “tight” and your golf swing is suffering, the addition of some post-round flexibility exercises will provide you benefit. Often as I have stated previously the most common areas of “tightness” in the golfer are the lower back, hamstrings, and shoulders.
An easy post-round flexibility exercise you can perform before heading to the 19th hole is the Pyramid. It is a great flexibility exercise for your lower back and hamstrings.
Begin by separating your feet wider than shoulder width, legs straight, and toes pointed forward. Slowly lower your hands to the ground in front of the hips. A stretch should be felt in the hamstrings at this point.
Hold this position for 20 seconds and then slowly walk your hands to the right foot, keeping both legs straight. A stretch should be felt in the left hamstring at this point, hold the stretch again for 20 seconds, and then slowly repeat to the stretch to your left.
Golf Fitness Exercises
Remember how a series of golf fitness exercises after a round of golf can improve your game. Taking a few minutes after your round for some flexibility exercises can do wonders for your game in the long run and it is probably well worth the time.
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly working with professional golfers, most notable PGA and Masters Champion Phil Mickelson. To learn more about Sean Cochran and his golf fitness exercises and training programs go to http://www.seancochran.com
Sean Cochran
http://www.articlesbase.com/golf-articles/golf-fitness-exercises-to-perform-after-your-round-of-golf-722391.html
-Golf Fitness Exercises to Perform After Your Round of Golf-