Last Thursday I was at my eldest daughters soccer practice. And to help out I was goalie at one end of the practice game. During the game a kid came running towards my goal and kicked the ball attempting to score. The ball was flying to my left and so I moved to the left, slipped a little on the wet grass and then put down my left leg at which time my left leg completely gave way and I fell down on the ground. It didn’t hurt that much so I got up and walked a little bit and my left leg gave way again at the knee.
This time it hurt more!
I didn’t do much after that and came home and did all the things you should do for an injury e.g. elevation, ice, compression etc.
On Friday I went to the doctor and he inspected my knee. He thought it was a sprain/strain. I was somewhat relieved as 12-13 years ago I had to have surgery (arthroscopic) on my knee to cut away some cartilage.
I want to avoid surgery at all costs. So I’ve been doing everything the physio has told me to do e.g. walking/jogging in the pool, light squats, RICE etc.
After seeing my physio today it appears as though I won’t need surgery. But I won’t be able to swing a golf club for at least 6 weeks. So we’re looking at the end of September start of October before I can get back into swinging the golf club as fast as possible.
I’m doing my best to look on this positively in regards to meeting my swing speed goal for this year. I’ll have to do exercise that will help me when I can start swinging again. So no swing speed tests until further notice. 
Today I completed a golf swing speed test. As I said in the last post, this is a week late because I wanted to give what I’ve been doing a chance to transfer over to my golf swing. So what was I doing for 4 weeks?
I was doing plyometric exercises for the legs. I felt my legs were quite weak and a limiting factor for my golf swing. And over the 4 weeks the power output of my legs improved a lot. But here are the results of the golf swing speed test today…
Now as you have just seen. I averaged 116.8 mph today which was down from 117.7 mph in the last golf swing speed test 5 weeks ago.
So I’ve figured something else that doesn’t work. 
And I think it highlights something very important. If you’re doing any exercise that takes longer than 8 seconds to complete I believe you’ll be helping to improve your strength/endurance NOT helping you to swing faster. So I would recommend not doing any exercises that are like 3 sets of 15 reps IF you’re trying to improve your swing speed.
Instead do exercises for less than 8 seconds as fast as possible. Then rest for a minute or so and do it again.
So what am I going to do now?
Well, as I have said before…on the 23rd of May I was averaging 121.8 mph with my driver so I’m going to go back to doing the exercises I was doing up until that point. The reason I stopped was because I had a back injury.
The next swing speed test is going to be on the 11th of August. Hopefully I’ll get my swing speed up again by then.
Today was the day when I was going to do my golf swing speed test after the last 4 weeks. But I have postponed the test until next Monday. Why? Because the training I have been doing for the last 4 weeks has not involved any fast swinging of a golf club. So to see if what I have been doing for the last 4 weeks has helped me to swing faster I am going to be doing flexibility stuff and fast swinging for the next 6 days.
It should be interesting to see the results next week. But before then I will say this…I have kept track of the training I’ve been doing over the last 4 weeks and I have improved a lot in the one area I’ve been focusing on. So hopefully it should help me to swing faster….but we’ll see next Monday.
When you swing a golf club well you do so without any conscious thoughts. Or in other words you swing the club automatically using your subconscious mind. The better and more consistent your setup the more you’ll be able to swing automatically. And to back me up on this read this quote from Tiger Woods:
“Poor ball position is a silent killer. If you don’t place the ball precisely in relation to your stance, the ball will be playing you instead of you playing the ball. You’ll have to conjure up some type of weird swing movement just to get the club on the ball, and because of that you’ll never be consistent.”
Tiger Woods
So one huge determining factor as to whether or not you become a consistent ball striker will be where you position the ball in your stance and how consistently you get the ball positioned where it needs to be for each club. If your ball is positioned poorly then you’ll need to make a lot of compensations as you swing and this will mean you’ll greatly lack consistency.
So here’s where you need to position the ball in your stance to become a consistent ball striker.
==> For your Driver and 3 Wood your ball should be positioned directly off your left foot instep.
==>Then for your 2-iron through to 6-iron your ball should be positioned a ball width inside your left instep.
Important Note: If you’re using high lofted woods or hybrids then here is what I suggest. Anything up to 19 degrees in loft, e.g. a 5 wood should, use the driver ball position. Woods/Hybrids over that, e.g.a 21 degree 7 wood, should use the 2nd ball position that I suggest for 2 - 6 irons.
==> Finally for your 7-iron through to 9-iron your ball should be positioned two ball widths inside your left instep.
Now after seeing this you may be wondering why I teach three ball positions when it would be so much easier to have just one ball position.
Well, here’s the reason.
When you swing a driver you need a more sweeping motion than you do with say a 5-iron. And if you had just one ball position for both of these clubs then you would have to adjust your swing consciously to produce the correct swing motion (i.e. a sweeping one for a driver and a more downward blow with a 5-iron) and that’s not good.
So work hard on getting the ball positioned correctly and consistently for each club you’re using and you’ll give yourself a great chance of becoming a consistent ball striker.
I just found out that Tiger Woods is not going to compete again in 2008. Here is what was posted on his website:
Tiger Woods To Undergo Reconstructive Knee Surgery And Miss Remainder Of 2008 Season
Doctors assure Woods that long-term prognosis is very good with rehabilitation and training
Just days after winning the 2008 U.S. Open in a dramatic sudden-death playoff, Tiger Woods announced that he will be forced to undergo reconstructive Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) surgery on his left knee and will miss the remainder of the PGA TOUR season.
In addition to the knee surgery, Woods will require the time off to rehabilitate a double stress fracture of his left tibia that was discovered last month just prior to the Memorial Tournament. The stress fractures were attributed to Woods’ intense rehabilitation and preparations for the U.S. Open. Doctors have assured Woods that the stress fractures will heal with time.
“I know much was made of my knee throughout the last week, and it was important to me that I disclose my condition publicly at an appropriate time. I wanted to be very respectful of the USGA and their incredibly hard work, and make sure the focus was on the U.S. Open,†said Woods. “Now, it is clear that the right thing to do is to listen to my doctors, follow through with this surgery, and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee.â€
A date for the knee surgery, as well as the necessary rehabilitation schedule, has not yet been determined.
“While I am obviously disappointed to have to miss the remainder of the season, I have to do the right thing for my long-term health and look forward to returning to competitive golf when my doctors agree that my knee is sufficiently healthy,†said Woods. “My doctors assure me with the proper rehabilitation and training, the knee will be strong and there will be no long-term effects.â€
Woods originally ruptured the ACL in 2007 following The Open Championship when he was running at his home in Orlando. At that point, he elected to not have surgery, and instead attempted to play through the pain. Following the injury, Woods went on to win five of the next six events he entered, including the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the PGA Championship, the BMW Championship, the TOUR Championship and the Target World Challenge, while also finishing second at the Deutsche Bank Championship. He carried that streak over into 2008, winning his first four events of the year, the Buick Invitational, the Dubai Desert Classic, WGC-Accenture Match Play and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
In the fall of 2007, Woods decided to forego a number of playing opportunities to allow the knee time to heal in preparation for the 2008 season. He still experienced pain early in 2008, however, and in an effort to allow him to play through the remainder of the season, elected to have arthroscopic surgery immediately following the Masters to clean out cartilage damage. The cartilage damage in fact developed as a result of the ACL injury, and Woods’ hope was that the arthroscopic surgery would get him through the remainder of the season and allow him to delay the ACL surgery until after the season.
“My rehabilitation schedule after the arthroscopic surgery was designed with the goal of returning to play at the Memorial, but the stress fractures that were discovered just prior to the tournament unfortunately prevented me from participating and had a huge impact on the timing for my return,†said Woods. “I was determined though, to do everything and anything in my power to play in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, which is a course that is close to where I grew up and holds many special memories for me. Although I will miss the rest of the 2008 season, I’m thrilled with the fact that last week was such a special tournament.â€
Tiger Woods, ranked number one in the world on the Official World Golf Ranking and leading the 2008 PGA Tour Money Leaders list, has 65 PGA TOUR victories to his credit, including 14 major championships, ranking him third all-time in wins, just eight behind Jack Nicklaus and 17 behind the all-time leader Sam Snead. This past week, Woods also celebrated his 500th week as the number one ranked player in the world, a position he first attained eleven years ago on June 15, 1997.
“I would like to thank my fans and partners for their continual support and can assure everyone that I will be as dedicated to rehabilitating my knee as I am in all other aspects of my career,†said Woods
Updates on Woods’ surgical and rehabilitation timelines will be provided at a later date once a schedule has been finalized.
Wow! I wonder if he is going to continue running. It’s one of the hardest things you can do on the joints. But knowing Tiger he’ll come back healthier, stronger and better next year.
Today I completed the 7th golf swing speed test for the year. Now it’s been a very interesting last 4 weeks. After the last golf swing speed test I continued to do my speed work. And on Friday the 23rd of May I was averaging 121.8 mph with my driver. Then on the 24th of May I was rope skipping and on one skip I got caught up in the rope and as I landed on my feet I had a sharp pain go up my legs to my back and I was in a lot of pain. So I went to rest my back straight away…then the next day I could hardly walk. My back did gradually get better but not very fast so I went to the physio for treatment. That has helped a lot.
But all of this meant I had a week off doing anything. And since I’ve restarted my training I found I am no where near as fast as I was before the back injury. So that is disappointing but it’s also exciting as well.
Why?
Because it shows that I have a limitation in my body that is preventing me from swinging faster. And I’m glad I’ve discovered this now instead of near the end of the year. It’s going to give me a good chance to work on this limitation to hopefully allow me to reach my goal.
So anyway, here’s the golf swing speed test video…
As you can see, I averaged 177.7 mph for those 10 driver swings. And that’s pretty much proof to me that if you have a weakness in your body then it will greatly impact on the speed you can swing.
So as I said, I’m going to work on improving the weakness in my body over the next 4 weeks. I’ll do very few all out golf swings during this period. It will be interesting to see the impact this has on the next swing speed test.
Regularly golfers approach me with this question…
“I can hit my irons well but I greatly lack consistency with my driver. Can you give me some advice on what I need to do to hit my driver like my irons?”
If you resonate with that question then you’ll want to read this entire post now. Because in it I’m going to give you some simple tips to improve your driving off the tee. And the first thing we’re going to look at is your equipment. More specifically I want you to look at the shaft in your golf driver.
You see, the shaft of any club is the most important aspect of the club that will affect performance. And if you have a shaft in your golf driver that is not suited to you then you’ll struggle to hit that club consistently well.
So when a golfer comes to me complaining about great inconsistency with their driver over their irons I routinely ask this question…
“Does your driver have a different shaft than your irons?”
And normally I get an answer back like this…
“Yes, but my irons have steel shafts in them and my golf driver has a graphite shaft in it. Although they are all regular shafts.”
Now what most golfers don’t understand is that because a shaft has regular on it does NOT mean it is the same flex as another brand of shaft that has regular on it. There are no standards as far as golf flex is concerned. So don’t ever assume that having the same shaft flex from two different companies means you essentially have the same shaft.
So my first advice to people that can hit their irons well but not their driver is to get the exact same shaft as is in their irons put in their driver. And 9 times out of 10 just doing this solves there driving problem.
Now in case that doesn’t solve your golf driver problem here are three more tips to help you to hit the ball better and further off the tee.
1. Before you take some full swings with a driver you should always warm up by doing some stretches. The golf swing is incredibly hard on the body and you’ll only do yourself damage by trying to swing a driver hard without warming up your muscles first.
2. If you tend to fight a slice with a driver you should tee the ball higher as this helps to promote a draw. Conversely if your problem shot with a driver is a hook you should tee the ball lower.
3. When you’re teeing up to hit a golf driver you need to take into account the shape of shot you’ve been hitting with the driver and then tee the ball up on the best side of the tee to allow for that shape.
For example, if you’ve been fading your driver (and other shots) and you’re faced with a long par 4 that doglegs to the left then you’re going to be in trouble if you leave your ball on the left of the fairway. So to give yourself the best chance of success you should tee the ball up on the side you most want to avoid. And in this case you don’t want to go left as you’ll be forced to hit a draw for your second shot and that’s not a shot you’re hitting well.
So with this in mind in this example you should tee the ball up on the left-hand side of the tee box so you’re aiming away from the left-hand side, and you should aim down the middle of the fairway. That way if you hit the ball straight you’ll be in the middle of the fairway. If you hit a fade you’ll be in the right hand side of the fairway and if you hit a little slice you’ll be in the right rough still with a good shot to the green.
You see, you’ve got to be smart when you’re teeing up your ball. And here’s a general rule to remember to help you do this…always tee up your ball as the same side as the trouble and aim away from it.
If you’re struggling to hit your golf driver well I’m sure if you put these tips into action you’ll hit your driver longer and straighter.
This is the second part of my “over the top” swing problem series. In these videos I share with you the BIGGEST swing difference between amateur golfers and professional golfers. And this is clearly visible in this first video where I show you the swing of PGA Tour Play Sean O’Hair. So it’s important that you watch this video first…
Now here is the first part of the solution:
Here is the second part.
Ask me any questions or simply post your gratitude for me giving you this.
The sequence in which you make your golf swing has a HUGE effect on the distance you hit the ball. If you get it wrong you’ll be robbing yourself of a lot of distance, and if you’re like most golfers, you want to hit the golf ball the longest you possibly can. To do this you need to understand golf swing sequencing.
So let’s get started by looking at what should be happening in the backswing and in what sequence.
To start the backswing you must do so with your big muscles…namely your back and shoulders. You do NOT want to start your backswing with your hands.
Now as you’re starting the backswing by turning your shoulders and back you also need to shift your weight to your right foot. And you should continue to move your weight to your right foot (for a right hander) all throughout the turning of your backswing so that when you reach the top of the backswing position you have about 90% of your weight on your right foot.
So you can sum up the backswing as a shift and turn.
Now at what part of the golf swing does the most power come from?
The correct answer is the transition. And the transition in the golf swing is when you change directions from the backswing to downswing.
Just think, if this wasn’t true you’d have golfers setting themselves into a perfect top of the backswing position and then swinging from there. But that doesn’t happen and never will because it’s the change of directions from moving the club back to bringing it down where the real power in the golf swing comes from. And that’s the key place in the golf swing where most amateur golfers lose a heck of a lot of distance. This is through a lack of the correct golf swing sequencing. Let me explain.
Imagine you’ve reached the top of your backswing position. What should start the downswing?
The correct answers is: The weight shift should!
To start the downswing you need to first move your weight back to your left foot. Then you need to move your left knee towards the target, then the left hip needs to move towards the target, followed by the left shoulder and finally your hands should move.
The sad thing is that most golfers start their downswing with their hands and that’s a killer as far as creating distance is concerned. You’ve got to start the downswing with the weight shift and then the left knee.
So go out and try this now….
Swing slowly back to the top of your backswing and then when you’ve almost reached the top of your backswing move your weight back to your left foot and move your left knee towards your target. Once you’ve got the feeling of doing this then speed up the swing.
Now personally I just like thinking about moving my left knee towards the target to start the downswing. And I suggest you try that golf swing trigger as well.
If you get this sequencing correct from the backswing to downswing you’ll gain a lot of distance and the golf swing will be a lot easier for you. Try it…you’ll love the results!
Today I completed a scheduled golf swing speed test. But I must say…before you watch the video…I have a bit of a cold/flu so this may have hampered the results of this golf swing speed test. Anyway, here is a video of the golf swing speed test that I performed today.
OK, so today I averaged 119.2 mph for 10 golf swings. That’s an improvement of 1 mph over my results 4 weeks ago but I didn’t reach my goal as I’d hoped. I did however learn an awful lot from my last 4 week experiment. So for the next 4 weeks I’m going to continue to do speed work and I’m also going to do some exercises like press-ups, squats etc. Not using weights just body weight. It will be interesting to see if that helps me to swing faster.
I am inching towards my goal of averaging 125 mph. Less than 6 mph to go now. It sure would be nice to have a 4 week period where I make some big gains. Hopefully this next 4 weeks will be it but we’ll see.