Like it or not, our bodies change as we get older, affecting our performance, chipping away at the prowess of our youth.
Take your golf swing, for instance.
Have you noticed that as you've become less flexible, your golf swing has changed? Are you looking to regain your younger golf swing power and speed, and achieve longer drives? Well, the perfect golf swing might just be a dream, but you can certainly improve things by paying attention to a few golf swing basics, and working on your strength and flexibility.
Stretch & Warm Up Golden Rule Number 1: Never just jump into a round of golf from cold - you'll spend the first couple of holes warming up and you won't be at your best! Try taking a short walk to increase your heart rate a little, and limber up with some simple stretching exercises and practice shots.
Perfect Positive Posture Of course our posture changes as we get older - but we can improve things.
Here's a nice simple exercise recommended by Jane Morgan, a Chartered Physiotherapist, to help straighten out our curved backs and keep good posture whilst we're bending our knees: 1 Stand against a wall, with your heels about an inch from the wall.
2 Let your bottom, upper back and shoulders rest on the wall.
3 At your waist level there should just be enough room to slide your flat hand in between your waist and the wall.
4 If the space is too big, flatten that space with your back.
5 Your shoulders should be low and you should feel a nice stretch across your chest.
6 Gently tuck your chin in and grow by the crown of your head.
7 Hold the stretch for 5 seconds and relax.
Repeat 5 times.
Rock-Solid Balance & Stability To achieve your best golf swing you need to be stable and to feel balanced as you make the swing.
Here's another very useful, easy exercise from Jane Morgan to help you improve balance and stability: 1 Stand in front of a mirror with weight evenly placed over both feet.
Stand in good posture.
2 Keeping your mid-line vertical - ie nose, chin, belly button in line - rock from side to side, transferring the weight from one foot to the other.
Alert: Keep your shoulders level and your hips level.
3 When you can do this, transfer your weight across to one leg and bend up the non-weight-bearing leg.
The mirror helps you check your position.
4 Hold for 2 to 3 seconds, then place your foot down and transfer your weight to the other leg.
5 Build up to 5 repetitions with each leg, alternating sides.
6 If you have difficulty with this exercise, practice 2 or 3 times a day.
Otherwise, just once a day.
Balance & Speed If you find that the speed of your swing is badly affecting your balance, then you need to slow down.
And that's easy to advise and more difficult to do! Try using a 3/4 length backswing, where your hands are inline with your shoulders at the top of the swing.
Your body rotates less, you're in better control and it's easier to balance.
According to the research, it can also improve how far you hit the ball! And there's more...
Indeed there is...
which is why in the next article we're going to be looking at how your choice of equipment can make a difference to your golf swing.