Here at the Peter Cowen Academy, we see a lot of people treating their short-game move too similar to their long-game move. It is still considered a movement and therefore we never want to restrict somebody, however, it is certainly a quieter movement than that of long game. We often see our clients who struggle with their short game having a lot of drive with their body, and pulling of the club, coming in the downswing as opposed to using the natural forces of the club moving through the ball. 

To do this we want to see the club head moving back more in line with the hands when the shaft of the club reaches parallel to the ground and from there it can work more underneath our hands through the ball with little compromise. However, we often see the club head rolling behind the hands and then golfers using forces within their body, manipulating the club back to the ball, often steepening the club, allowing the hands to get too far in front of the ball and compromising the strike.

With the short game, we would like to keep the movement as simple as possible to the point where we get a nice solid set-up. We let the arms take the club back, the club comes back to the ball (natural forces/weight of the club so there is no pulling on the club) and then the body turning will support the club through to finish. Typically, we will see the body being quieter until after the hit but please make sure it is still a movement through the ball.

To better strike your short-game shots, hit some balls where you swing back and stop, with the shaft parallel to the ground and the club head in line with your hands, using a mirror or camera to give you feedback to make sure you hit this position. Feel the club head starts the downswing first towards the ball and let your chest then take the club through to finish. You should feel your lower body being much quieter than normal. This is very much a technical exercise to build a feeling so I would not do this towards any target to begin with, the focus should be on the movement as opposed to the outcome of the shot. Then you can start to build this feeling into a movement with nice rhythm to take on to the course.

To help control that strike with your short game, look to get the club back more in line with your hands in the backswing, use the natural force of the club to get back to the ball and then use your chest to support the club through to finish.

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Euan Bowden is a PGA teaching professional at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

More golf tips and instruction:
It is never too late to pick up a club for the first time — some tips to get started
Mobility and stability are key links in the chain to golf fitness
The chips are down if the hips are right
Looking for more power? It’s all about kinetic sequence forces
Understand golf’s power chain and how to avoid a weak link in your swing
Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up
Alignment is a fine balancing act to stabilise clubface
Why you are wasting your time on the range
Claude Harmon III’s simple impact drill
How Billy Horschel’s simple back swing move will make you a better ball-striker

The post WATCH: Straight to the point for short-game success appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The off-season is no time to get complacent as maintaining fitness is crucial 

By Matthew Brookes
The off-season is here as well as the heat in Dubai, but don’t let this stop you from improving your game. Now is the time to prepare yourself for the next golf season and, with professional advice, it’s so easy to do so. Off-season for me normally has two sections and these are ‘post-season’ and ‘pre-season’. Both of these sections require different training methods. Today we are covering ‘post-season’ and this is all about increasing your body’s overall strength. 

Benefits
Did you know that hitting a golf ball can be the equivalent of a three-rep max in the gym, so the greater your three-rep max in the gym the further you can potentially hit the ball. There are obviously other factors to consider, but this is the exact reason why the players on all tours are all working just as hard in the gym as they are on the golf course. 

Method
The training method is called ‘5×5’, which involves completing five reps for five sets with up to 3 minutes rest between each set. This should consist of lifting as much weight as you can for those five reps, really helping to focus on increasing your strength.

Compound
Each workout will consist of compound exercises that focus on increasing the strength of your push, pull and legs. This will also help you increase the strength of your ‘Power Chain’ which is something I have talked about in past videos, so do check that out to find out more. 

Safety
Professional advice is always important, especially with this sort of training. Having the correct movement patterns is vital when performing these exercises and past work or exercises need to be completed in order to prepare you for these types of lifts, to help reduce the risk of injury.

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Matthew Brookes is a PGA teaching professional and golf-specific fitness trainer at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

More golf tips and instruction:
The chips are down if the hips are right
Looking for more power? It’s all about kinetic sequence forces
Understand golf’s power chain and how to avoid a weak link in your swing
Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up
Alignment is a fine balancing act to stabilise clubface
Why you are wasting your time on the range
Claude Harmon III’s simple impact drill
How Billy Horschel’s simple back swing move will make you a better ball-striker

The post WATCH: Fighting fit off the course during the summer heat appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Matthew Brookes
The final piece of the puzzle for chipping is regarding the short game sequence. Do look back at the first video on the Golf Digest Middle East website, where we covered gym exercises that’ll help improve your body’s ability to move in the correct manner and the second shoot on pressure points and head movement in the swing using the ‘Swing Catalyst’ motion plate to help master this technique.

RELATED:
Looking for more power? It’s all about kinetic sequence forces
Understand golf’s power chain and how to avoid a weak link in your swing

This month’s edition is about having the correct sequence when chipping. This sequence is very different to the ‘Kinematic Sequence’ used in the full swing and is called the ‘Finesse Sequence’.

This sequence is vital to help produce enough bounce and to help deliver the club at the correct angle at impact. Where in the full swing we start with the hips turning in the downswing, when chipping we should actually reverse this sequence and have the hips move last or certainly move a lot less.

Stability and control of the lower body is key to help with this movement. A good drill to help you get this feeling and take it into the shot itself is the single leg chip. For a right-handed player stand on your lead leg and have the ball opposite the foot. Your trail foot should be on its tip toe slightly behind you. Once in position and balanced, chip the ball no further than five yards in the air and feel how the low body is limited in rotation. This is the feeling you want to take into the normal chip and once the swing gets any longer than this the lower body should start to rotate that little more towards the target.

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Matthew Brookes is a PGA teaching professional and golf-specific fitness trainer at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

You might also like:
Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up
Alignment is a fine balancing act to stabilise clubface
Why you are wasting your time on the range
Claude Harmon III’s simple impact drill
How Billy Horschel’s simple back swing move will make you a better ball-striker

The post WATCH: The chips are down if the hips are right appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

We see this curse to consistent putting frequently here at the Peter Cowan Golf Academy at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, with new amateurs in particular guilty of setting up for putts like they’re about to take a full swing.

The problem is this does not give a suitable foundation to make a repeatable putting stroke. That in turn can lead to frustrating problems, notable challenges controlling your distance and starting the ball on your intended line.

A great place to start when building the basis of a strong putting set-up is with the alignment of the arms. An easy way to achieve this is by holding the putter grip with your palms level and facing each other (1). When doing this you want to feel as though your upper arms are connected to your ribcage (2) which will allow your arms to be well connected to the body throughout the stroke. By aligning the hands together you will also be able to align your forearms and shoulders straight away. This connection between your arms and body will encourage better control of your stroke length and distance when putting and, with improved shoulder and forearm alignment, you will be able to move the putter on a better plane throughout the stroke.

In practice, hit putts with your palms facing each other as well just to get used to the feeling. It will also allow you to make a smooth stroke without too much of a ‘hitting’ action. The key when taking this new feeling into your regular putting set up is to maintain the same structure of the arms and shoulders as when the palms were facing each other. Take your normal grip but make sure that the forearms and shoulders maintain the aforementioned alignment.

Try this putting set up the next time you are on the practice green to ensure you are well connected and correctly aligned.

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Euan Bowden is a PGA teaching professional at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

The post WATCH: Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Matthew Brookes
We’re regularly reminded about the importance of a proper warm-up before putting our bodies through the rigours of a round of golf or range session. But what happens afterwards?

Cooling down is just as important. Done well, it ensures many long term benefits including improving mobility for future rounds, helping with recovery and post-round soreness as well as helping to embed any swing changes you might be working on.

All my clients receive a personal cool down routine to help them make the swing changes we are trying to achieve. Here I share five stretches which target the areas most common with physical limitation.

Hold each for 60 seconds and focus on a deep inhale through the nose and exhale through your mouth every time. Repeat each exercise on the other side where applicable. –with Kent Gray

1. Toe touch
Keeping your legs straight, slowly bend over from the hip and reach down as far as you can towards your toes. This is lengthening your hamstrings and will help with set-up posture.

2. Standing half lotus
Starting in a standing position, use your club as a balance support in your left hand. Cross your right leg over the knee of the left leg and then place your right hand on the right knee. Then push the right knee down and away from you while hinging slightly from the hip and keeping a strong straight back. Repeat on the other side. This assists with hip mobility, helping improve rotation and sequencing.

3. Behind back overhead extension
Place a club behind you with your right hand holding onto the grip. Now place your left hand behind you, holding onto the club. Fully extend your arm up and above your head allowing the lower hand to be pulled up. This will work on shoulder and back mobility as well as scapular stability – all vital for better rotation in the swing.

4. External shoulder rotation
Have your left arm at a right angle with the elbow pointing away from you. Place the club on the outside of your forearm and wrap your thumb around the shaft of the club. Now take a grip of the club beneath the elbow with your other hand and pull the club across your body as far as you can keeping your shoulders back and elbow up. This improves shoulder mobility which helps with club plane and release pattern through impact.

5. Standing quad stretch
This is an exercise I’m sure we have all completed sometime during our lives and although very basic, it can be very beneficial when done correctly. Standing on your left leg, bend your right leg from the knee behind you. Pull the foot as close to your bottom as possible until a stretch is felt across the front of the leg. A little tip to make sure you’re getting everything out of this is to feel that you tuck your pelvis so your belt line is flat and not falling forward. Another feeling is to squeeze your glutes. This exercise will help lengthen your quadriceps and hip flexors, vital for hip mobility throughout the swing.

Incorporate these stretches after every workout and you’ll be moving, feeling and playing better golf in no time.

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Matthew Brookes is a PGA teaching professional and golf specific fitness trainer at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

The post Stay Cool: Post-round stretches to ensure you can play your best golf next time out appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Matthew Brookes
A proper grip is fundamental to good golf. Next cab off the rank is a sound set-up which can greatly enhance your ability to move the club correctly throughout the swing.

We regularly see amateurs setting up in the wrong posture with tight hamstrings or a scapula stability issue often to blame. Your pro will be able to quickly identify any physical limitations that are causing you to set-up incorrectly or if you have any trouble with the following routine which will ensure you’re balanced and positioned correctly every time.

Start in a tall standing position, legs locked straight, and then move your feet shoulder width apart (or wider to suit the club you’re hitting such as a driver). Now place the club on your chest and stomach, pulling the club towards the body with your hand. Ensure there is always contact with the body. This connection will help activate the upper back muscles which are very important further down the line in the set-up.

Now relax your knees a fraction, allowing just the slightest bit of bend, before hinging forward from the hip until the club is sticking out between your legs behind you, creating a tail.

The key thing to look for on video or in the mirror when reviewing this movement is for a flat lower back. You must avoid “anterior tilt” of the pelvis, often called a “S posture”. A flat or neutral back helps keep the core engaged in the golf swing, vital for power and consistency.

The pulling of the golf club towards the body noted earlier is very important to help with a better turn in the backswing. It also helps prevent rounding of the upper back, otherwise known as a “C posture”.

Another checkpoint is to draw a line vertically down from the back of the right shoulder joint or allow your club to hang vertically from this position. Check that the line of club passes just in front of the knee cap and into the ball of your foot. This will help make sure your pressure is evenly distributed between the toes and heels.

Follow this simple routine and you’ll be on your way to replicating a stronger and more balanced set-up position again and again.

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Matthew Brookes is a PGA teaching professional and golf specific fitness trainer at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

The post Perfect golf swing set-up and posture appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.