Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Changing the swing
Tiger Woods
A client today was saying how his golf swing left something to be desired, despite managing to play a good game. He described that during his swing, his right hip and leg did something strange that caused a slightly erratic movement. He had been told by another specialist that he had a preference towards his right side, so he was imbalanced and that his Psoas muscle on that side was over developed. I agreed with this, but also added that if a muscle is over developed on one side, then that is because it is being used more than the other side; it doesn't happen by accident. The muscles on one side are often worked more than the other, so they become more developed; it's cause and effect. If he uses muscles less, then they will reduce in strength according to the amount of use.
I watched his golf swing during our session today and could see clearly there was a tendency not to remain even on both legs and also to straighten his right leg and pull ihis hip backwards during the movement. We looked at how he should think to overcome this tendency.
He commented that he may be able to change his stance and swing, but he was concerned that the ball may go wild and fly off in wrong directions. I explained that when we change how we 'use ourselves' during something so precise as a golf swing (or playing the violin in my case, or any other instrument or sporting activity) we not only change our movement and use, but also we upset everything we have relied upon over the years, to do what we do. The new way will feel wrong and there will be a large amount of readjustment of all the parts of his body that come into use during his swing. It is most likely that the ball will go wild and his accuracy will be affected, until such time as the new way of 'use' becomes familiar and established.
When we think about one thing such as changing our stance and swing, our mind is taken away from other aspects of the swing that we have previously relied upon to get the ball in the hole. Nothing is familiar any more. However there are very great problems with trying to just 'get the ball in the hole' and not attend to the manner in which we do it, or the 'means whereby' as FM Alexander called it. By 'end gaining' we can get into all sorts of trouble. It is much better to work on the fundamentals of 'use' and let the 'end' take care of itself.
If we can give ourselves some time to work on such principles, without worrying about 'getting the ball in the hole' then we can change our manner of use so it will be more reliable. However, repetition of faulty use or a faulty swing in his case, ingrains the tendency more and makes it even more pronounced over time.
It is really worth while to practice small parts of a movement of a swing and give absolute attention to such things as keeping our neck free, remaining balanced on both feet, maintaining freedom across the shoulders and the arm pits etc and moving fluidly, without worrying about the end result. Repetition of 'good use' gets into the muscle memory and system so that we will be better off once it's established as a norm. The only way we can eradicate faulty 'use' or actions is to give absolute attention to the situation, millisecond by millisecond. It will soon become more second nature and our accuracy will return and become even better as all of the working parts become more integrated.
Yes, his accuracy may be affected by changing his swing, but with due care and attention to 'how' he is doing it, I believe he can change his swing ant it will be much better as a result. We've just got to give ourselves a bit of time to work on it.
