Golf Stretch - Balance

Hello! My name is Patrick McGuire. I am the Assistant Director of Instruction at the Chuck Will Golf Academy in Dulles, Virginia. I am a Certified Golf Fitness Instructor, 3D Swing Mechanic and Bio-link as well as a PGA Certified Instructor. So, today I am to be going over several different aspects of balance, flexibility and how they relate to your golf swing. The first thing I am going to go over is basic balance and how it affects either your contacts or your power. I am going to use a wobble board and basically what I am using the wobble board for is to demonstrate knee, hip and upper body balance from side to side and I will also be using it from front to back to test the ankles. Some of the most common things I see when I am testing someone on the board is they do not know how to use their knees to move side to side. They use their hips to try to move and you can see the effect it has on the body. Basically I am trying to see if someone can level the board like this or whether they are struggling with the board side to side. I am also watching this area of the body to see if its up or down and see if we are going to see that in your golf swing. From the front to back, I am testing their ankles and how stable they can stay on their body. So, whether they can control their whole body just through their ankle or whether they are pitching or moving forward or back. Some of the finer points of what I am looking at here is again to watch whether they use their knee, their hip or just their ankle; the smaller the movement the better the balance, the better the flexibility in that part of their body. On the flexibility in the golf swing, the second thing I am going to cover is lot all bending to the right and to the left, forward and back. Range of motion in your shoulders, internal, external rotation both ways. As you see, one way I am not very good. Range of motion in arms versus the shoulder, left and right, obviously depending on whether the right or left handed golfer and then the range of motion in sequence of how they can balance in their legs.