How To Maintain Balance In Golf And Improve The Quality Of Your Game

Hello Golfer

Can you tell me the last time you practiced standing on one foot and holding your balance? Was it last year, last month or even last week? Well it’s a key ingredient in our daily lives and that includes playing golf.

Most times, we take balancing for granted. Maybe, it’s because we walk around easily without much help. Most of us don’t even think about it, nor practice it, although it can keep us from seriously injuring ourselves and help us perform our daily tasks even better.

How many times have you heard of someone you know who used to be in a great shape suddenly fall and break something, and was never really the same again? For this reason and many other is making balance gain more press attention these days, and should be practiced on a regular basis.

A good balance can also impact positively on your performance on the golf course. Almost every aspect of the game depend on a golfer’s ability to maintain good balance while in various positions, and often while explosively swinging a golf club.

Whether it’s the longer distance shots, off the tee and onto the fairway, or those finesse ones from close to, on or around the green, your body control is important. Altering your stance to accommodate the type of shot you plan to take will help the golfer swing the club smoothly and efficiently, resulting in the desired outcome.

For many golfers, this is a tough task on a level ground, talk less of when the shot is to be taken from uneven lies such as uphill and downhill, or when the ball’s above or below your feet. This demands even a greater need for swing stability as both ground and gravitational forces impact an additional set of circumstances to the golfer, which he now needs to compensate for.

The beauty or frustration about golf is that you really never have the same shot twice. There’s always something different requiring you to alter something to make the shot, and in every situation, stabilization or balance plays a part.

Age may affect the lack of balance in some golfers; however, I’ve seen a lot of young players have trouble with this too. Granted that there are physiological changes that occur as we grow old but for the most part, we can prevent that from occurring.

For instance, improving strength and coordination in all three planes of movement, side-to-side, front-to-back, and rotationally, can enhance balance. A good start is with the quadriceps (front thigh), glutes (buttocks), calves, and abductors and adductors (inner and outer thigh). These will also help you better control the lower body during the golf swing.

The act of practicing balance is also something that you can do to improve your golf balance. Get into your golf stance (as if you were standing at address over the ball, but with your hands folded across your chest instead of out in front of you) and then shift the weight over to one foot while you lift the other foot off the ground.

Work up to a good 15 seconds on each foot without losing your balance. It’ll take time, but be patient and it will get better. If you have extreme difficulty with this, you may want to check with your physician, as there are other factors that can influence balance.

Once this is accomplished, you will then try to make the exercise more golf specific, because golf is not a static sport. Now, balance on one foot and then slowly rotate your shoulders back and forth as if you are swinging a golf club. Practice this until you can do 5 to 10 rotations to each side and with each leg, without losing your balance. That is it.

Don’t take balance for granted. Take steps to improve your balance and you’ll improve not only the quality of life, but also, the quality of your golf game as well.

Happy Golfing

Chijioke Onwunle

P.S. - Get a good golf instructor and read good golf books. You can't teach yourself golf. Read and practice what you have read under your tutor.Knowledge is power