Posts Tagged ‘pitching’

15 Tips on Golf Swing Techniques

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Golf swing tips can be found on-line or you can purchase one of the golf swing instructional e-books. Most of the tips on golf swing techniques in these guides have lots of details - more often than not - too much detail. What most of us with a golf swing fault need are just a few basic golf swing tips; whether it is to fix a slice or learn more about iron shots.

5 Tips on How to Drive Long

To be able to shoot lower scores, one of the best ways is to gain more golf distance off the tee. When you have a shorter distance to the green you have more chance to score par or better. Of course, you need accuracy as well as distance; otherwise you will be in a worse situation. Here are 5 quick and easy tips to help you drive long off the tee:

(1) Position the ball off your leading foot’s instep and tee the ball up higher so that you hit the ball on the up-swing; (2) Resist trying to hit the ball with all your might - instead, use a steady rhythm and work on increasing your swing speed gradually; (3) Use the correct shaft flex for your swing speed - use a flexible shaft if you have a lower swing speed (stiffer for faster swing speed); (4) Cock your wrists early on the back-swing and release them just before impacting the ball; (5) On the backswing, turn your shoulders a full 90 degrees for maximum distance off the tee.

5 Tips on How to Master Golf Irons

How to master golf irons is a subject that is often ignored. You will find many resources available to help you improve your driving or putting but not much importance is placed on golf iron play. Learning to dominate your golf irons is easy with these 5 tips:

(1) Practice on the driving range to know your average distance with each golf iron in your bag; (2) Use the right iron for the distance you want to hit it and use a full swing; (3) Take into account the wind strength and distance as well as other factors like height and slopes; (4) Playing from the rough is different from playing from the fairway - you will need to adjust the ball position, stance, iron loft, and attack angle; (5) Learn proper course management - going for the pin is sometimes not the best option.

5 Tips on How to Improve Your Golf Short Game

One of the most important areas of the golf game is the golf short game. Being able to hit long and accurate drives is all well and good, but if you can’t chip the ball on the green, all that effort will be wasted. The short game of golf is where you really need to put more practice time into, so check out the 5 tips below:

(1) Use a slightly open stance and place your feet closer together; (2) Choose one club (7, 8, or 9 iron) and practice your chipping from different distances with it; (3) From under 50 yards, use a bump and run and get the ball rolling as soon as possible; (4) When playing over a hazard, use a more lofted club with a pitching swing; (5) The length of your backswing will determine the distance the ball will travel.

The above 15 tips on golf swing techniques cover 3 areas of the game that are important but there are other areas that you have to master. They are putting, sand trap or bunker play, pitching, and learning how to cure a slice or a hook (if you have on of those swing faults.). As golf is an all round game, you have to be proficient in every aspect of the game to succeed. You can’t just concentrate on how to be a long drive champion; you have to practice with every club in your bag.

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Coaches Should Reinforce Mechanics During Pitching Workouts

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

In baseball, the starting pitcher may stand in one spot for the vast duration of an inning, but he’s the one guy on the team who does the most physical work in a game. Pitching requires an incredible amount of attention, patience, and stamina. It is both a mentally and physically exhausting job, yet extremely rewarding when the job is done right. No less than any other team member, the pitcher has to train hard, although his training will require quite a different approach than that of many other players of other sports. What comprises effective pitching drills?

Is weight training a vital part of pitching workouts? A pitcher needs to have a strong arm to achieve better velocity, doesn’t he? Actually, weight training is a bad idea for a pitcher. First of all, the arm doesn’t control pitching velocity, but the body. Neither does this mean that a pitcher should do a full body strength training workout. At the heart of speed is good pitching mechanics, period. All weight training does is provide the pitcher with further opportunity for injury.

Do other types of exercise make for good pitching workouts? While full body strength training is not recommended, full body explosive exercises are. These may include sprinting and aerobic training. One reason behind this is that while good mechanics improve pitch velocity, exhibiting speed, in turn, improves the acquisition of good mechanics. Besides, pitching is not slow and deliberate, like weight training - pitching is fast and explosive, like the aforementioned sprinting and aerobic exercises.

The best practice routines are those that most closely resemble genuine game intensity and play. Therefore, workouts should stick to explosive exercises as previously mentioned. Practices should also be extremely intense. The pitcher should throw from a mound and not the flat turf. Drills and concentrating on the long toss should be traded in for practicing pitching mechanics. Pitches should not only mimic game intensity, but also quantity. That is, the pitcher should try to throw in practice as many pitches as he would in a game. Throwing fewer pitches, again, actually creates greater risk of injury.

Really, these approaches to practices only make sense. Just as standing still at the foul line and taking large quantities of shots doesn’t really prepare a basketball player for a real game, neither is a pitcher prepared for a real game simply by tossing the ball back and forth. The key is in doing exercises.

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The Most Important Factor in improving a baseball pitcher’s velocity and control is pitching mechanics

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Football is a physical sport, so it makes sense for players to want to bulk up with plenty of muscle and weight to hustle down the field making tackles. Baseball, on the other hand, is not a contact sport. While physical skills are certainly required by the game, brute strength isn’t one of them - most especially if you’re a pitcher (who isn’t expected to be the world’s best hitter or runner). Why, then, do too many pitchers train for strength when they should be working on improving pitching techniques?

Which physical skill is more important: strength or speed? When it comes to pitching a baseball, speed wins. No, strength training is not required to gain speed, either. First, the mind has to understand pitching mechanics, then the body has to practice them - so that executing proper position and form is as natural as slipping a hand into a batting glove. Since the body and not the arm controls speed, once one learns the proper body mechanics, everything else falls right into place.

What are some things to think about that will encourage a pitcher to gain speed via pitching mechanics instead of attempting to increase strength? Don’t do weight training, throw heavy balls, or focus on the long toss. Remember, this will only make the arm stronger, not increase speed. In fact, these are sure ways to simply increase chance of injury, so it is doubly important to avoid them. Neither are pitching drills or other excessively repetitive exercises helpful.

Should the pitcher, then, instead do the complete opposite and simply try to improve by playing “catch” or doing anything less than game intensity pitching? No.  Just because the pitcher should be working on training his whole body to use proper pitching mechanics - instead of focusing on his arm through tunnel vision - doesn’t mean his practice shouldn’t be intense.

Keep the body under control by eliminating unnecessary and speed-decreasing movements. Don’t rotate your trunk or hips. Don’t step to the side before lifting your leg or lift your leg too high. Do have a longer stride, however, to put you closer to the plate and add to your overall control. While position is important, don’t obsess over “staying tall”, as this can actually shorten your stride. Don’t forget: In pitching, speed outranks strength, and speed is gained not through strength and pitching drills, but through mechanics. With good mechanics, a pitcher will simultaneously acquire both faster speed and better control.

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