By Alex Riggs
Most of us have been told at some point that we must either “hit down” or “keep your head down”. Sorry to burst the bubble, but you should delete that thought from your memory. Now I’m sure you’re thinking, “If I lift my head, I’ll surely top it?” Let me explain… If you slow down golf swings of elite players through the impact zone, you’ll start to notice something –  well before impact, the hands along with their entire lead side, start to travel up. The clubhead is still travelling down (negative angle of attack) through impact, though the player is going up. This extension through impact helps the golfer maximise their ‘Ground Reaction Forces’ leading to massive acceleration of the club. It also provides space for the arms to remain structured, giving the clubface more support. When we start to use the ground and control the clubface to a higher degree, good things happen.

POWER POSITION
Notice how, at impact, my left knee, hip, and shoulder are all higher than those on my right side. At the moment of impact, you should have about 80 per cent of your pressure into your lead foot. This forward pressure helps position the divot after the middle of our stance thus ensuring ball first contact. This is one of the single most important factors to quality iron striking. The pressure also allows you to use that lead side to push off the ground. Your trail side should be banked down assisting in giving your pelvis the necessary tilt through contact.

MYTH BUSTED
When you try and stay down, you create a whole list of issues as you’ll see in this image. Because I am consciously staying down, my lead side is as well. Therefore I’m severely compromising my power. More importantly, I’m not creating the necessary room for my arms to extend, thus forcing them to buckle. Who likes chicken wings? I do too, just not in my golf swing. It makes it extremely difficult to achieve solid contact or have clubface control. You should see the faces of golfers I’ve showed this too who had similar positions and assumed they were topping the ball from lifting their head.

Photo by Mustufa Abidi

Sword from the Stone Drill
Take an alignment stick or an old shaft and stick it into the ground at a 45-degree angle. Hold the end of the stick or shaft and get into a standard golf stance. Shift 80-90 per cent of your pressure into your lead side and bank down your trailside. Make sure your lead arm is long and strong and your trail arm is softer. Prepare for the movement by exaggerating that lead side pressure and trailside bank. Now pull the stick out of the ground as hard as you can by pulling up with your lead side. Allow your eyes to follow the stick, with your head rotating along with your chest. Maintain the structure in your arms by extending them away from your torso. Extend your hips and push your belly button to the target by contracting your glutes. Once your hands make it to the height of your sternum, hold this position. Pay attention to where you are in space and where you feel your muscles working. This is the magic we are after! In the future, the next time someone tells you to keep your head down, make sure to laugh, then send them this article.

Alex Riggs is a Canadian born golf coach who specialises in finding simple and effective strategies to lower scores. He is a Brand Ambassador for PXG and Under Armour. For lesson inquiries, contact Alex via riggsgolf@gmail.com or +971 55 497 7913

The post Still Trying to Hit Down? Learn how great players compress the ball while pulling up! appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
When Pat Perez signed with PXG earlier this year, some wondered how he fit in with PXG’s tour staff. Company founder and owner Bob Parsons had an answer.

“Pat likes us and has been an ally, a friend,” Parsons told Golf Digest at the time. “It’s like what my dad told me about dating. He said the number one thing to look for in a girlfriend is one who likes you. If she doesn’t, the rest doesn’t matter.

“Pat likes us and we like him and he wasn’t signed with anyone so I told our guys to get him. … Pat’s a local guy. I know him. He’s played very well. I love that he’s outspoken. I couldn’t see a reason not to sign him.”

Related: Pat Perez runs away with his third career PGA Tour victory at the CIMB Classic

Parsons is known for his business acumen so it should come as no surprise that the investment in Perez paid some additional dividends this week as Perez captured the CIMB Classic in Malaysia for his second PGA Tour win in his last 25 starts. Perez cruised to a four-shot victory over Keegan Bradley. Over 72 holes Perez made 27 birdies against just three bogeys.

To produce such numbers the putter needs to be working. Perez wielded a PXG Gunboat mallet at Kuala Lumpur G.C. The Gunboat is an extremely high MOI mallet-style putter with a single-bend shaft that creates a full-shaft of offset and a face-balanced hang angle. The 10 weights in the rear portion of the club can bring the putter anywhere between 360 and 400 grams, while also serving as an alignment aid.

What was in Pat Perez’s bag:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TaylorMade M2 2017 (Mitsubishi Tensei Pro White 70 TX), 9.5 degrees
3-wood: PXG 0317, 15 degrees
Hybrid: PXG 0317X, 19 degrees
Irons (3-4): PXG 0311XF; (5-PW): PXG 0311
Wedges: PXG 0311T (52, 60 degrees)
Putter: PXG Gunboat

The post The clubs Pat Perez used to win the CIMB Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

This dramatic, skyscraper-framed shot of an inverted glider flying low over the heads of Sergio Garcia and Anirban Lahiri as the Masters champion and Indian star hit shots down the Skydive Dubai runway in May to promote ‘Golf in Dubai’ immediately springs to mind.

Even the mighty PGA Tour has had to up its social media game in light of the European Tour’s efforts in the past year. Who can forget the epic Mannequin Challenge ahead of last year’s DP World Tour Championship or Little Billy roasting Rory McIlroy at Jumeirah Golf Estates, not to mention the brilliantly funny “Awkward Reporter“ at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship?

The Challenge Tour isn’t on the same level, of course, but kudos where it is due in the on-going efforts to promote next month’s Ras Al Khaimah 2017 Golf Challenge.

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) enlisted defending champion Jordan Smith to sell the sizzle of the Oct. 25-28 event and the choice of vehicle, a stand-up paddleboard, is certainly a novel way to deliver the message.

You can enjoy the Englishman taking on PXG Middle East ambassador Claudine Foong-Riggs in a game of “PaddleGolf” at Al Hamra G.C. here:

Related content: Golf Fitness with PXG ambassador Claudine Foong-Riggs

As Golf Digest Middle East’s fitness guru, we reckon Claudine, a former professional golfer turned wellness/performance coach, took it easy on Smith in the 1000m paddle race. But Smith did hole one of (the many) shots from the floating pontoon to a makeshift pin cut 140 yards away on Al Hamra’s 18th green, so lets call it an honourable draw.

“I was a little cautious at first because I had never tried stand-up paddle boarding before,” said Smith. “After a few quick tips on the beach, it was a relief to get straight on to my feet once we hit the water. It turned out to be really fun and it was comforting knowing the water beneath me was warm!

“Once we got on the pontoon, it was a little more familiar – well, as familiar as playing golf shots off a floating platform in the middle of a lagoon can be!”

The 24-year-old Englishman, who currently sits 17th on the Race to Dubai standings after claiming his maiden European Tour tour win at July’s Porsche European Open in Hamburg, Germany, also shares thoughts on his remarkable rookie season and the upcoming RAK Golf Challenge here:

Having graduated to the main tour as Challenge Tour champion, Smith will not be back to defend the title he won 10 months ago as we explain in this earlier back-grounder:

Related: He won’t defend the RAK Golf Challenge but Jordan Smith can’t stay away from Al Hamra

Instead, he’ll tee it up in the European Tour’s season-ending $8million DP World Tour Championship at JGE from November 16-19. We await the European Tour’s next social media ditty at JGE with baited breath but first the focus will be on Al Hamra and the penultimate event on the Challenge Tour’s Road to Oman. The UAE’s northern most emirate will see the next generation of European Tour stars edge ever closer to graduating to the main tour, and undoubtedly marking themselves as potential social media cannon fodder for 2018. Bring it on.

The post Jordan Smith tries his hand at “PaddleGolf” ahead of RAK 2017 Golf Challenge appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

This month the PXG Middle East ambassador introduces the ‘Goblet Squat” to help improve lower body strength and marry core and pelvic stability.

The Dubai-based Canadian wellness and performance coach is no stranger to Golf Digest Middle East, having collaborated in previous fitness videos as well as interviewing nine-time major champion Gary Player for the magazine. At 81 years young, Player remains one of the fittest golfers on the planet.

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Foong began the new Golf Fitness series with the “Farmer Carry” last month. Again shot on location at Trump International Golf Club, Dubai, the exercise activates the all-important core muscles, promotes shoulder and pelvic stability and increases grip strength and can be seen here:

Stay tuned for more golf fitness videos from the Ontario-native, who played collegiate golf at Gardner Webb University in North Carolina and spent three seasons playing professionally – including on The Futures (now Symetra) Tour and in Canada and Florida – before devoting her career to wellness and performance coaching.

Foong is married to Canadian PGA Professional and fellow PXG Ambassador Alex Riggs who recently produced this excellent short game tip for Golf Digest Middle East.

The post VIDEO: Golf Fitness with PXG Middle East ambassador <br> Claudine Foong appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.