Congratulations to Y.E. Yang on His Impressive Victory at the PGA Championship

Congratulations to Y.E. Yang for his incredible victory in the PGA Championship.

Wow!!!! What a PGA Championship finish yesterday. Y.E. Yang was as cool as a very cool person (the cucumber thing is too obvious). It was very exciting to watch someone actually make Tiger nervous in the final round.

We at GolfGym are doubly excited because just about eight months ago, another coach on the PGA Tour, Dr. Craig Davies asked Joey D to get him a set of GolfGym PowerBandz for an up and coming Korean player named Y.E. Yang. Doctor Davies uses the PowerBandz and the PowerSwing Trainer with all his golfers. He even took several sets to Sweden last month to work with several players there.

Yesterday in an interview on PGA.com, Y.E. said that he was very happy with his conditioning. Now, we can't take full credit for him winning the PGA Championship, but we know that our PowerBandz may have played a small part.

Here is what Dr. Davies said about the GolfGym Bandz:
"Two pieces of equipment that I am excited to use in the updated PGA Tour fitness trailers are the PowerBandz and PowerSwingTrainer tubing products by GolfGym. My tour players won’t use another tubing product after experiencing the effectiveness and superiority of these modalities. PGA tour coach Joey D has more than a decade of experience working with the world's top golfers. He is now sharing his knowledge on effective golf training with the rest of us through these innovative products".

Once again, congratulations to Y.E. Yang on his very impressive play.

Ken Pierce
The GolfGym Guy

Rotation and Balance Exercises with Brenda Hilcoff at D1 Athletics

Our partner, Coach Joey D, is a very busy man all year round, but especially during the golf season.

Not only does he keep himself in incredible shape with two workouts a day, but he is on the road most of the year with the PGA Tour. In addition, he works with many other athletes in his newly opened D1 Athletics facility in Jupiter, Florida when he is not on the Tour.

A few weeks ago, he was working with a very talented and fit tennis player named Brenda Hilcoff. He incorporates the Balance Ball and the Club 38 in the following exercises preformed by Ms. Hilcoff. Rotation and balance are important whether in golf, baseball or tennis. The following two exercises are designed to help you create more rotation and balance in your golf swing.

In the first exercise Brenda is sitting in a very stable posture on the 55cm Balance Ball holding a GolfGym Club 38. Just sitting on the ball requires the use of stabilizing muscles in the core and legs. This is a great exercise even without the additional weight of the club. You could cross your arms in front of your chest and rotate to one side then the other, getting as much rotation as possible, while remaining in a very balanced and solid posture on the ball. This exercise will help with stability, balance, flexibility and rotation.

The weight of the club, with arms extended requires more balance and strengthens the shoulders and core. In this position, you can actually pull yourself around to increase rotation and flexibility.

A key point is to stay balanced and hold the upright posture. Rotate to each side 8 - 12 times. Notice that Brenda is facing forward. A tendency in this wide swing exercise is to let the head follow the arms around. In the golf swing you don't allow your head to rotate with your shoulders and arms....so keep this exercise consistent with your golf swing movement pattern.

One more benefit with this exercise is the separation of the upper and lower body it requires. If you rotated your lower body, you would fall off the ball. Get the feeling of the upper body rotating while stabilizing the lower body on the ball.

In this next exercise Brenda is performing a Squat and Reach . Her starting position is with her feet about shoulder width apart in a very balanced and strong posture, holding the weighted Club 38 with a wide grip at shoulder height or slightly below.

The weight of the club helps to stimulate the shoulders and core during this exercise.

Brenda then drops into a squat posture remembering to keep her back as straight as possible while reaching over her head with the club.

Key points to remember about the squat:
1. Be sure to go no deeper than a 90 degree bend in the knees.

2. Keep your back as straight as you possible can while reaching as far as you can over your head. DO NOT STRAIN.

Hold this position for the count of 5 and return to the starting position.

Remember to keep your feet flat on the floor with your weight distributed evenly throughout each foot.

When starting out with this exercise, the amount of repetitions should be determined by the feedback you get from your body. If you find yourself falling forward or backward, adjust your posture to accommodate for the movement.

This exercise will stimulate all of the muscles in your body, strengthen your legs, your glutes, shoulders and core, and help to develop better balance overall.

It will also get your heart pumping because you are incorporating your big muscles to accomplish this movement pattern.

At D1, Joey has a Dynamic Balance System that he uses to determine the balance points and shows how the weight is distributed during a particular exercise. The orange pad on which Brenda is standing is part of that system.

Make these two exercises a part of your overall Golf Fitness routine and you will reap great benefits. Better balance, posture and strength which will be the foundation for creating a more solid and consistent golf swing.

Until next time.

Ken Pierce
The GolfGym Guy

Joey D Interviewed by GolfDashBlog.com

I received an interview request from Doug Farrick over at GolfDashBlog.com. Doug and the guys over there were interested in chatting Biomechanics, so we finally set up an interview a few days back. Check it out and make sure to visit GolfDashBlog.com as those guys run a pretty solid blog. - Joey D.

GolfDashBlog: A lot of us know the name Joey Diovisalvi and have see you associated with the PGA Tour over the years. For those of who don't know you, can you bring them up to speed?

I'm a biomechanics coach on the PGA Tour and have been for over a decade now. I'm currently working week in and week out with seven Tour pros -- Pat Perez, Ryuji Imada, Jason Dufner, Charlie Wi, Chez Reavie, Jason Gore and Tom Pernice Jr. Before that I spent seven years working with Vijay Singh, including his run where he was the top-ranked player in the world. I've been featured on the CBS special "The Science Of Golf" and the ABC special "Practice Like a PGA Tour Pro". I just broke ground on my D1 Athletics facility in Jupiter (FL) and I have a book that will be released early 2010 by St. Martin's Press, "Fix Your Body, Fix Your Swing".

GolfDashBlog: Can you define Golf Biomechanics for us?

Simply put, biomechanics is the study of the living body as the forces of gravity effect the muscular skeletal system. Regarding how it applies to golf, the body moves through ranges of motion and the muscular skeletal system is effected by how you swing the club. Gravity obviously plays its part in this, as well. With the force that it takes to accelerate and decelerate the club and the hips... the way both the spine and hips move in rotation... the forces of gravity start to effect the muscular skeletal system... it's all about how those movements happen.

GolfDashBlog: Why are Biomechanics so important to golf?

If you have a mechanically sound body that rotates, goes through its ranges of motion and understands how to handle acceleration/deceleration - you then move the muscles, bones and the joints properly, having much more efficiency and effectiveness in the golf swing.

GolfDashBlog: How can the average player improve his/her game with biomechanics?

Great question. If you're an average player and you start to understand how the body works when it sets itself up and starts to move. When one part of your body is stable and another part begins to rotate or accelerate through rotation. The more you understand how to get the body to move in rotation - then starting and stopping, handling the effects of gravity, you then start to handle the effects of prehab or being able to strengthen something before it expects amazing amounts of demand and load.

GolfDashBlog: What types of exercises can increase our golf biomechanics?

I've posted some specific exercises on YouTube over the past few months. I suggest checking out the 90/90 drill, the lower back one-leg stretch and the squat & reach drill, for starters. These are all exercises you can do at home with some PowerBandz, a balance ball and a weighted club. Medicine ball rotation and band rotation are both instrumental in your workout.

GolfDashBlog: Are their any specific training aids that can help improve our biomechanics?

Without sounding like a pitchman, I'd have to say the GolfGym PowerSwing Trainer is a must. We use it on the PGA Tour with the guys in the trailer and I've had other guys like Zach Johnson and Luke Donald tell me that they needed some for the home gyms they were building in the off-season. If the PowerSwing Trainer is good enough for the guys on Tour, that should tell the everyday golfers outside the ropes how legitimate this piece of equipment is.

GolfDashBlog: Does each person have to be tested individually for their biomechanics level?

I did an interview with Stack Media today and was asked the same question. Absolutely. There's no way for anybody to ever understand the full use unless the get a biomechanical assessment on how their body rotates and how it moves through the golf swing in ranges of motion. Assessments determine where you are biomechanically.

GolfDashBlog: How can biomechanics help me hit the ball farther?

The key is understanding how the body moves in proper mechanical positions. How it rotates, loads/releases, accelerates/decelerates, etc. Once you do these things properly and allow the muscles and bones to move in a symbiotic relationship, they understand the process of the golf swing and how they're supposed to react with it.

GolfDashBlog: Where can I find more information and biomechanics and where I might take an assessment?

For starters, the D1 Athletics facility I recently opened in South Florida. Anyone interested in setting up and appointment, email me and we'll get you squared away. Dr. Greg Rose has done a great job with TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) certified assessors. Check out the TPI website as that will give you a point in the right direction, as well.

Thanks to GolfDashBlog.
Joey D.