Improve Your Golf Game on the Back Nine

All the major tournaments, especially the U.S. Open and the PGA, are a true test of endurance. They are usually located in a part of the country where it is hot, humid and muggy. A real physical and mental drain on any golfer.

Look who has been winning the Majors in the last couple of years: Phil Mickelson, Tiger woods and Vijay Singh. They have incredible endurance. It doesnt come by accident. They work at it.

Endurance is a word that is commonly associated with athletes such as marathon runners, tri-athletes, swimmers, and cyclists.

Granted, the majority of amateurs use a cart to play. This takes the walking part of the game out of the equation. Bit when most golfers break down, it has more to do with the endurance of the swing muscles than the walking part.

Think of endurance as the ability to perform the same activity over and over for an extended amount of time at max effort and peak performance. Relating this definition to, say, a marathon runner becomes pretty easy. A marathon runner, for example, has to have the cardiovascular (blood and oxygen) endurance to run 26 miles at a steady pace. In addition to having the cardiovascular endurance to run 26 miles, a marathoner needs to also have the endurance in their muscular system to again run 26 miles. If they do not, the body begins to give up and this is seen in the form of cramping, muscles not responding, and the body hitting the wall as many marathoners call it.

Endurance as it applies to the golf swing and the ability to perform the swing correctly is different than the intensity of running a marathon. But the underlying theme when it comes to endurance is the same. Swinging a golf club is a repetitive, explosive movement performed by the body. The muscles are active from address, back swing, transition, contact, and follow through in the same motor pattern every time you swing a club (or at least they should be; for some of us amateurs the swing path changes from time to time, but that is a subject for another article). Anyways, to perform the golf swing efficiently and effectively for an extended period of time (like 4 rounds of tournament golf) the muscles involved in the golf swing are required to have a certain level of endurance developed within them to sustain the swing.

Do you have enough gas in the tank?

It is essentially having enough gas in your tank to swing a club a given number of times. Now I referred to a four-day tournament, which is the average number of days a PGA tour event lasts, but when it comes to endurance and golf swing the number of swings in a tournament is only the beginning. Remember the definition of endurance is the ability of the body to perform a certain movement over and over for a given period of time. In relation to the golf swing and endurance we must also include a time frame. Let us first begin with looking at a typical four-day tournament. At the very least, we need enough endurance in the muscles that swing a club to hit all the shots from tee to green in 72 holes of golf. On top of just the tournament play you must add the additional practice time before or after the round. This could comprise anywhere from 2-3 hours of additional time swinging a club. Now, at this point we are just talking about a single tournament for a tour player.

Let us expand this time period to 7 days. A 7-day time frame for a tour player would consist of a 4-day tournament (Thursday through Sunday) in addition to 3 additional days in the week. Realize that those three other days during week are not rest days, but rather filled with work. First off, you have Wednesday, which, at most tournaments, is when the Pro-am is scheduled. If you are unaware of what a Pro-am is on tour, it is a round of golf usually held on Wednesday where each pro in the upcoming tournament is paired with three amateurs for a round of golf. So we can chalk this up to another round of golf. This again would comprise all the golf swing made during the round and any practice before and after.

We are up to Wednesday through Sunday of a tour week. Now what about Monday and Tuesday of a tour week? I would guess that it would be safe to say that probably most players take Monday off, not always, but most of the time. Tuesday is a whole different story. Tuesday is a practice day where a pro could spend 4 to 6 hours at the range, putting and chipping. The number of swings taken on Tuesday can be huge!

So there you have it, a full week on tour with an idea of the number of swings taken by a tour player over a 7-day time frame. Now take this number of swings and multiply it out over an entire season where an average player will participate in 25 tournaments. The numbers get really big looking at it from this perspective. I imagine at this point the connection between endurance and the golf swing has been made. It essentially comes down to this: to swing the club effectively on the correct path over an extended period of time, you need to develop endurance in your muscular system specific to golf. The next question to present is how do you do that?

Developing Endurance Specific to the golf swing

So how do you develop endurance in the muscles that are used in the golf swing? You can not really do it by running or doing the Stair Master at your local health club. The reason why? These types of exercises are great for developing cardiovascular endurance and developing some musculature endurance in the legs, but they do not work all the muscles involved in the golf swing. And they certainly do not create endurance in these muscles in relation to how they are used to swing a club.

The methodology that is required to develop endurance in the golf swing requires you to perform what I call cross specificity exercises specific to the movements and positions in which the body placed during the swing. The result of this type of training is what we term a transfer-of-training effect. A transfer-of-training effect is where the exercises performed in your training program improve the performances on the field of competition. Field of competition, when it comes to golf, pertains to the golf course and your swing. So invariably we need to develop what I term golf endurance through exercises that are cross specific to the golf swing with the outcome of a transfer-of-training effect to golf swing.

Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly with 2005 PGA & 2004 Masters Champion Phil Mickelson. To learn more about Sean and his golf fitness programs go to http://www.seancochran.com

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Disney's Best For Spring Break

Walt disney World in Orlando florida is 49 square miles. The size of a whole city and inside the World, as it is known, there are unlimited ways to entertain yourself. I have listed the ten most enjoyable attractions at disney World appropriate for all ages.

1. From EPCOT the winner is Honey I shrunk the Audience. The audience in this attraction appears to have been shrunk down to the size of ants as a giant film shows on the screen. As rodents run past in the movie your chair shakes appropriately. When someone on screen sneezes you will get a light mist in your face. This one has everyone squealing with delight. This is an attraction for all ages.

2. From The Magic Kingdom comes the Buzz Lightyear space Ranger spin. You are enlisted to help Buzz save the Universe.. The way you achieve this is by way of laser cannons that are set in front of you in a futuristic car hurling through space. Your car will spin while you try to hit targets out in the Universe. The effects are achieve with black light and glow in the dark surfaces. Kids get great joy out of making their parents dizzy on this one. Do not miss this one.

3. disney-MGM Studious Back lot tour at disney-MGM is an informative excursion. Guests get to tour through movie sets on a tram. It is fascinating to see what goes on behind the scenes to create special effects and different scenes. At the end you are taken through floods and explosions before being shown how it is done.

4. Disneyquest at downtown Disney is an often overlooked indoor theme park. This larger than life arcade provides a welcome respite from the broiling florida sun. It is five stories high of interactive entertainment. On the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction inside Disneyquest you an up to three others are manning a schooner fighting against pirates and sea monsters. One plays the roll of captain steering the vessel while the others are busy launching cannons at the bad guys. Just when you think it is over a giant sea creature tries to board your ship and you must defend once again. This attraction will take your mind off of anything else as you will be preoccupied with your own survival. Fun is the operative word here, for all ages.

5. Also from Disneyquest is the Extraterrestrial Alien Encounter where you can blast and be blasted inside of small spaceship that you fly. Actually you drive it around a floor painted like the milky way. One person steers while the other shoots large rubber cannons from the ship. If you hit an opponent at just the place it will send their ship into a tailspin. All the more fun is if someone else hits your ship's target spot.

6. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at Magic Kingdom provides a bit of nostalgia for parents and a sense of wonder in the little ones . Seeing Pooh and friends come alive in the Hundred Acre Wood will warm your heart. This one gets busy though so you may want to use a fast pass if the park is packed.

7. The fireworks show is best viewed from Magic Kingdom. Depending on the time of year there are different themes to this one but one thing remains constant disney doesn't do anything halfway and this is no exception. One year I saw the Fourth of July fireworks and the explosions were in the shape of stars. The show was visible all the way from the disney Pop Century hotel which is not right next door. All ages will ooh and gasp over the show.

8. Mickey's PhilharMagic show is a 3D short movie shown on the largest seamless screen ever built. As per all things disney it is not just a film. This attraction has the audience watching a scene from Fantasia where Donald Duck puts on Mickey's magical hat and is catapulted into the audience. You will smell the scents and feel water and a surprising but not painful sting as well have a visual experience like no other. This may be the most entertaining twelve minutes you ever spend in a movie theater. Bring the kiddies but don't sit back fully in your chair if you want to avoid the sting.

9. At EPCOT the are many national pavilions. The best of all is the Mexico Pavilion. Inside there is a slow boat ride around the Rio el Tiempo Volcano. This is a gentle and peaceful ride that serves to calm overstimulated children and quell the fire of aching feet in adults.

10. dinosaur at Disney's animal Kingdom is not an Aladar ride as I was led to believe. There is a life size Aladar from the kids movie called dinosaur standing right outside but don't let that fool you. You and your fellow victims are strapped into large metal jeep like vehicles and taken on a trip back in time to when the great beasts roamed the earth. At the end you find out you have mistakenly transported a dinosaur forward to modern times. It is more transfixing that frightening unless like myself you are worried you may fall out of the car and be electrocuted on the track. My fellow pint sized riders had a rollicking good time while I rode in terror. Take your chances. There is a height restriction on this one of 40 inches.

Ann Childs is a freelance writer and travel editor. Her specialty is Caribbean travel including beach vacations and cruises. She is the editor and featured writer at http://www.cruise-travel-review.com Post your own reviews at http://www.cruise-travel-review.com/forums/

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