PutterZone – Best Putter Reviews
Keeping your chin up is not only a good life strategy, it’s also helpful on the putting green. In fact, good posture as well as a positive mental attitude will aid your ability to sink those crucial putts.
Posture is often overlooked in putting, perhaps because the act of putting can look cramped and unnatural. Many golfers grew up watching Jack Nicklaus hunched over the ball, left foot splayed open, elbows tight against his body. No one would argue with the results, but it never looked terribly comfortable.
Today, however, more and more teaching professionals advocate an athletic mindset when it comes to putting, inclusive of good posture—bend at the hips, not at the waist; keep your spine straight when bending, not rounded; keep your chin off your chest.
Good posture in general will help you strike a proper putting posture, which is why the following stretch from Golf Rx: A 15-Minute-A-Day Core Program for More Yards and Less Pain can help you find the cup:
“Hold a club over your head with both arms extended wide. Bend to one side as far as your range of motion will allow, making sure to keep both elbows straight and your head centered, or equidistant from both arms. Hold for a count of five deep breaths in and out, and then return to the starting position. Repeat on the other side. You’ll feel a good stretch in your obliques, and you’ll also reap the benefits of improved posture.”
Golf Rx was authored by Vijay Vad, M.D., a sports medicine specialist and the official physician for the PGA Tour. Billed as “the first golf fitness book based on a clinical study of PGA Tour professionals,” the book not only includes a series of helpful stretches, but also mind-body tips, nutritional advice and more. The paperback version ($16) will be released on March 13.
The above excerpt is reprinted with permission from Gotham Books, a division of the Penguin Group, copyright © 2007 by Vijay Vad, M.D.
