BOOKLEGGER GolfGym Power Swing Trainer Masters Edition

Grade: B

I acquired one of these GolfGym Power Swing trainers back in November and have been using it on a fairly basis ever since. The device is essentially one of those surgical tube resistance trainers attached to a golf training grip. You put your foot in the loop at the end of the trainer, grab the grip and then go through the swing motions. The device also can be used wedged in the jam of a door.

Either way, it seems to offer a proper workout to the golf specific muscles. In particular, I can feel it working at the core muscles around the abdomen—never a bad thing if you’re going to avoid a beer belly.

Of course, there’s really nothing here that you couldn’t build yourself with an old grip, a strong dowel and a couple of eyescrews. For that, the device is probably a little overpriced. But buying one also gets you a DVD showing you how to use it.

Yoga For Golfers

New Year’s Resolution #3: Resolve To Become More Flexible

Becoming more flexible will improve your golf game—and your love life!

For several years now (off and on), I’ve been using Catharine Roberts’ Yoga For Golfers program to improve my flexibility. It works. When I’m “on program”, I very quickly reach an amazing level of flexibility. I’m able to bend over at the waist and place my palms on the ground, adn rotate by upper torso as far as any of those flatbelly young guns on the PGA

New Year’s Resolution #2: Resolve To Become Stronger

You can improve your game by improving your strength and flexibility. I got the Golf Gym Power Swing a couple of months ago, and I think it’s starting to offer dividends. It consists of a golf training grip that’s been attached to some rubber surgical tubing. The idea is that you build strength through resistance as you imitate the golf swing. The DVD and little pamphlet offer some pretty clear instruction, and the three different strength bands allow you to work your way up.

I’ve been working with it for ten minutes each day during my planning hour at school.

Golf Stretching For A Better Swing

Grade: B+
Teacher’s Comments: A good DVD if you are serious about improving your flexibility. The quickie stretches at the end are teriffic.

Mike Pederson’s Golf Stretching For A Better Swing is a serious dvd for people who are serious about improving their golf game through fitness and flexibility.

It’s a challenging routine led by Mike Pederson, who has more than two decades of experience as a golf fitness expert.

Mike is an incredibly fit and limber individual and when I first watched the DVD, I thought “there’s no way I can do that.”

I found, however, that I had no problem imitating Mike’s moves, and have done the routine several times now with very positive effects. I must admit that I was worried that I’d pull something and cripple myself, but that didn’t happen. For me, it’s all been good.

Of course, I’m pretty fit for a guy in his mid 40s, and have always been quite flexible. (I also have good genetics. There are lots of athletes in the family, including close relative Jim Thorpe —the track star and football player, not the golfer. Another cousin played Major League Baseball).

However, not everyone my age is up to this sort of thing. I can easily see some of my friends giving up after the first set. What I really would have liked to see is some beginner routines to get you to the point where you can do the full set. Maybe that would be a good direction for Mike to go in future productions (he could take a bunch of typically “large” 40ish guys and get them going through the routines)

My other concern with the DVD is that to do all of the reps takes a fairly large time commitment. Now, I know that you can’t get fit and limber on the quick, but it would have been useful to have the DVD more clearly broken into several smaller routines that I could do on, say alternate days.

Along those lines, the best part of the DVD for me was the set of shorter routines at the end. In those, Mike shows you how to do stretches that imitate the various parts of the golf swing, from stance to backswing, impact and follow through. I’ve been trying to memorize those so that I can do them once or twice a day using a chair in my office. They’re quick and unobtrusive and really work.

Production values on the DVD are very good. I was especially impressed with the sound quality, for Mike can be clearly understood as he goes through the routine (and that can’t be said about all exercise videos). That’s a real plus for someone who is as deaf as I am.

It’s a good product.

Hoping to shake off some of the winter flabbiness, I recently got out some of my old dumbells and latex resistance cords. I use them for about fifteen minutes every morning. I’m not trying to look like a body builder—jsut tighten up some of the middle aged parts.

But then it occurred to me that maybe I ought to be looking into some golf-specific exercises. After all, there’s no sense in exercising if it won’t help my handicap.

So I found the Golfswing Power Gym Trainer at Golfsmith. It comes with resistance cords, training grip and a dvd.

I like the DVD part. I’m one of thse who needs to see the exercise done to execute it properly. It’s also apparently endorsed by Katharine Roberts, whose Yoga for Golfers video I have used effectively.

GOLFGYM Powerswing Trainer