Find Your Inner Athlete

Jeff Fisher
Director of Instruction
Fisher Bryan Golf Academy at Longbow Golf Club
Mesa, AZ
jfisher@obsports.com

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Quite often I have people come to me for lessons who say they have never really played golf before, and the first thing I ask them is if they have ever played any other sport.

Growing up pretty much everyone played sports. Maybe not organized, but everyone threw a ball, kicked a ball, swung a bat or tennis racket or even jumped rope! Within all of these other athletic movements is everything you need to know about how to swing a golf club! The problem is that because golf is seen as such a technical game, and sometimes has been taught that way, many people don’t realize that they can call upon these past athletic endeavors to help them with their golf. I call this “recruiting your athletic memories”!

All of the same sequences of movement that are used in the golf swing can be found in other sports. Relating swinging a baseball bat, tennis racket or throwing a ball to swinging a golf club is pretty obvious. But, what about the footwork, weight shift and balance involved in ice skating or the multiple movements and coordination used in jumping rope? I have even gone so far as to video tape someone swinging a golf club, then tape them actually throwing that same golf club at the target. Since the throwing motion is much more instinctive, it comes out much better and more athletic!

Golf is a sport just like any of the others we are talking about, and those who play golf are athletes just like someone who plays tennis or basketball. Yet, have you ever seen someone miss a jump shot in basketball and run over to the side of the court to practice the angle of their shooting arm? When you think of it that way, it seems pretty silly to see so many people so closely watching small parts of their swing while they are actually trying to play a sport!

Science has helped us a great deal in revealing the intricacies of what actually happens in the golf swing and why the ball does what it does and how to make your body perform at its optimal best to make you play better golf. But, what if it was as simple as ice skating or throwing a ball or skipping rope? If you can recall your own athletic memories, I bet you can get a lot closer to making it that simple!

Jeff Fisher is Director of Instruction at the Fisher Bryan Golf Academy at Longbow Golf Club. Jeff can be reached at 480.414.9330 or jfisher@obsports.com.