Advanced Golf Tips

Strength and flexibility are a must for golf as they are, of course, for every other sport. You'll particularly want to strengthen your wrists. Strong wrists guarantee more efficient play. Ideally, your left and right wrists should be of equal strength. Flexing (squeezing) a soft ball will help strengthen your wrist muscles and makes a good pre-round exercise.

Try upper body stretches and swings without the club to help strengthen your swing action and develop "muscle memory:" that is, using the correct movements of the swing instinctually. Before you play a round of golf, cross your arms in front of you in the "cross your heart" position (right hand on left shoulder, left hand on right shoulder) and practice the full golf swing "with no arms."

Loosen the muscles in your lower back and stretch your spine before hitting your first ball of the day. This will help avoid instant swing stiffness as well as long-term back trouble, the most common golf-related injury.

Here's a wonderful exercise for swing rotation, courtesy of Christine "CC" Cunningham, M.S., writing in Personal Trainer Magazine:

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent. Keeping the lower body still and the hips forward, reach down with the right arm toward the left foot. Then reach up and rotate your trunk to the right. (Do not rotateyour hips). Try to bring the left shoulder to the forward position. Raise the right arm up, bend the elbow to 90 degrees, and externally rotate it. Reach back down and repeat, then perform the exercise with the left arm. Emphasize rotation at the trunk without moving the position of the lower body.

Finally, some mind-body tips. Golfers are big on visualization, and there's a good reason for this: It works. Always try to picture what you want to achieve with each shot. And remember the saying, "When the mind can perceive it, the body can achieve it." Come to think of it, this tip is less a golf tip than a general life tip.

First, memorize the swing's image. Your swing is a sequence of muscle movements. You can memorize these effectively and re-create them with a simple series of swings. Practice the full golf swing and recognize the feel of the correct swing movements in front of a full-length mirror. Watch the reactions of the body and mark on the mirror where your head is reflected. Try swinging without moving off the mark. Incidentally, studies have shown that athletes who visualize the correct execution of a move, without even doing anything physically, score more points and hit more shots than those who don't use this wonderful mental tool of "rehearsal".

Second, act like a pro. Observe how pros behave at tournaments. They always dress neatly, take care of their equipment and avoid reckless risks. They show respect for other players and the golf course, and they don't complain about losing. (At least most of them don't.) Learn from them.

And last, but most important: Visualize success. You'll be surprised at how much your golf game -- and your life -- will improve.