Balance Part 4 – Follow Through Balance Exercise

By | on January 24, 2018 | 9 Comments |


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9 Responses to “Balance Part 4 – Follow Through Balance Exercise”

  1. August 28, 2012

    mikeplummer

    Hi Jeremy,
    I really like your stressing on ending on your lead foot heel. I think this has been a problem for me due to many ankle injuries when I was younger. A great series on balance!
    Thanks Mike

    • It’s amazing how old injuries can show up in our golf game isn’t it? Thanks for keeping up with the video series.
      Jeremy Klinkhamer, PT

  2. August 28, 2012

    RoyMatthews

    Hi Jeremy,
    Thank you very much for your tips on balance. When I started , trying to stand on one foot eyes open I could stand on either foot for less than twenty seconds – eyes closed, not even 3 seconds. When playing, I was constantly falling in one of the four directions and you know what I was shooting. Yesterday, I only had 3 times when I didn’t hold my balance and shot low 90’s, probably 20 strokes better than my best game this year. My playing partners were amazed with both my balance and my better scoring. Now I have no problem standing on one foot for a minute with my eyes open. Still cannot meet your minimum for eyes closed. I can already turn from the tight wire in either direction and will soon start swinging the club. I’m certain that this will help my follow through since I have been known to step through it to remain erect. I believe I was able to progress so fast because about 15 years ago I lost a bet that I could stand on one foot for a minute. After that I learned to do it by practicing every morning until I could do it.

    • Congratulations Roy. It’s great to hear you’re having success with the balance series. Sounds like it’s time to make a new bet that you can stand on one leg with your eyes shut for 30 seconds! Good luck with the next task.
      Jeremy Klinkhamer, PT

  3. Great tip everyone needs help with balance. Al

  4. Jeremy ,Excellent and very useful exercise for the finish of the Throughswing which is one of Paul’s preferred drills) .
    Could you comment now on the following subject :when rotating full speed in the follow through ,you may be unconsciously slowing down or “braking ” your movement from fear of hurting yourself when moving to fast and coming to a full stop suddenly .
    To avoid this pain ,you move slower and thus lose distance
    I read that you should train yourself to cure this fear :drills such as running very fast forwards ,stopping abruptly and reversing to run very fast backwards are recommended .There are many other drills of this type .
    Please confer with Paul WILSON and DAVE BRESLOW to respond to this query (It’s physical ,technical and mental at the same time ) .I find it does affect me ,because I have sore shoulders ,and stopping in the finish position all of a sudden hurts me,even when I try to remain supple !

    • Hi Raymond,
      Great question. Physically speaking, pain can certainly cause us to “flinch” or “slow down” at any point of the swing but especially the finish as you mention. Once we’ve “released” the club head it’s typically moving pretty fast. If our bodies can slow that club down by being BOTH flexible and strong it will help.

      MOBILITY/FLEXIBILITY: If your body isn’t mobile/flexible in the direction of the finish (examples: lead hip internal rotation, spine rotation to lead side, lead shoulder external rotation, trail latissimus dorsi length) you won’t give your fast club head enough time to slow down calmly. Too tight and you’ll feel like the emergency brake is being put on instead of a nice, gentle well- maintained braking system.

      STRENGTH: Eccentric strength is critical. It’s the type of strength that controls us (rather than moves us). For example, think of a bicep curl, the curling or upward action is concentric strength and the downward or uncurling action is eccentric strength (same muscle, just used differently). It takes more strength in fact to let that bicep curl come down slow and controlled than it does to curl it. Therefore, all the stability work and “slow” return of resistance during our training is so amazingly important.

      Think of a truck pulling a trailer filled with water… if that truck is moving along the road and then has to put the brakes on, a few seconds after the breaks are applied the water in that trailer is about to hit the front wall. If the truck has ample room to brake that would be one benefit; the other benefit would be if it had superb breaks. If the truck has to stop quickly or doesn’t have a good breaking system it will all fail miserably. This can happen in golfers very easily if they aren’t physically fit or are injured.

      The secret is either improving the injured parts of us through rehab or by making sure all the surrounding un-injured parts are healthy enough to provide for the “unhealthy parts.

      Ultimately, if you have a part of your body that will never regain mobility, like your shoulders, your “braking” system should really be maintained in that area. Also, you should make sure that every other part of your body (mentioned above) is well maintained when it comes to mobility, flexibility AND eccentric strength. As you gain these things, confidence will increase in that portion of the swing and help you mentally, physically and technically.

      In your example you mentioned running and changing directions. This is an example of learning to put the brakes on in order to go into the other direction. Great idea but it’s not quite as golf-specific as you could possibly get. There are lots of ways to do that… Changing rotational directions before you reach your “end-range” is one way; stopping your body’s rotation, or a single body part, that has been set in motion is another way.

      Jeremy Klinkhamer, PT

  5. Jeremy ,Thanks for the lengthy explanation .
    I have “found out ” ,but it’s self evident of course for a physiotherapist like you , ,that swinging like a left hander improves your overall physical capabiities .
    I measured the speed of both swings ,and the observation which startled me was that my “left hander” swing was not that much slower than my “right hander ” swing .
    The other benefit is that when I am in a situation where I have to swing left handed ,it’s not that awkward for me now.

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