1. Grass simulates hitting on the golf course.  This is important because you want to have your practice session as closely emulate  a real drive as possible, otherwise you may be practicing techniques that won’t work on the actual golf course.
2. The grass is much easier on your equipment, which will save you money in the long run.  If you can’t afford to have a set of golf clubs exclusively used for practice and one just for play, then you want to choose grass over using a mat.
3. Using a mat is very hard on your wrist and hands.  Why deliberately choose something which will cause you possible pain in the future?

Overall, there are few reasons I can think of to use a mat, but the three above are just the beginning for why to use grass on the driving range.  If you have to drive a few minutes more to get to a grass range, we recommend it! Good luck!

A lot of great things happened with Black Belt Golf in 2011.

• We started working with the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center doing a self defense program with them.  We are really excited that this will continue on in 2012 and look forward to working with them in the years to come!
• We also began an after-school program for kids that has had some success.  You can find more about that program here.
• We were privileged to be part of the 18th Annual Palm Springs Celebrity Golf Classic, which is put on by the Palm Springs Youth Charities to benefit Palm Springs High School students with scholarships for college.  This was our first time participating by providing a free warm-up for the golfers and we plan to do this again next year.  What a great cause to contribute to!

These are just a few of the highlights of the year and we know 2012 will continue in the same fashion.  Black Belt Golf isn’t just about golf training, we are passionate about helping others and especially working with kids.

From our family to yours, Happy 2012!

The great thing about stretching is that you can do it anywhere. You can do it at work, in the gym, or at home.  The important thing is to do it!  And if you happen to be on a hard surface, then I suggest bringing a mat along.  Otherwise, the grass is always nice!

Touch your toes!

How Often Should I Stretch?

Stretching is something that can (and should) be done on a daily basis. I always suggest 5 to 10 minutes of stretching at least every other day. If you decide to stretch every day, you can always take a minute or two at work or at home. Be very careful of this though, because if you just stretch for a minute or two, you are probably not doing a warm-up. Do very light stretching to help prevent you from pulling any muscles.

If you are really serious about becoming very flexible, stretching can be done in the morning and the evening every day of the week. Make sure again that you warm up your body before you get into your stretching exercises.

Stretching Before the Golf Round

It is very important to stretch out all of your muscles before you hit your first golf shot either on the practice range or the first tee. The reason for this is that your muscles are naturally stiff, and in order to prevent any kind of injury to your body, stretching and staying loose is important before that first tee shot.

Stretching During the Round

Often, the weekend golfer can be out on the golf course for quite some time. Sometimes the golfer can go 30 to 40 minutes before a full swing golf shot depending on the circumstances. During that time, it is so easy for the golfer’s muscles to get tight. This is an important time to take a minute or two and loosen up the body by doing a warm up and some stretching exercises and you should take an extra 5 to 10 practice swings so the body is loose and ready to hit the golf shot.

Stretching After the Round

If you are like most people, emotions can set in toward the end of completing your golf round. The golfer is trying hard to finish strong and make the goal of shooting a certain score. These things can cause the golfer to become stressed and tight. Two to five minutes of stretching can really help the golfer keep loose and eliminate aggravation to the body for the rest of the day.

So how will stretching actually help you? First, it will allow you to kick higher. The higher you can kick, the more you are using your hip flexors and gluts. Also, the more flexible you are, the harder you will be able to kick because your hip flexors will be like a rubber band and you will be able to explode your kicks.  This will make you explode through the golf ball like never before! The hip flexors and gluts are the same muscles used on the downswing when you swing the club and are also the same muscles used to generate a kick.

Touch your toes!

The best time to stretch is after your warm-up, because your body is less stiff after you have warmed up and you will be more flexible. The thing that is great about stretching after your warm up is that you decrease the chance of injury. Bruce Lee actually hurt his back because he decided to pick up a 135-pound barbell and he had not done any type of warm-up. Bruce would have had no problem with that kind of weight if he had properly warmed up, so take your time with your warm-up so you can truly benefit in your stretching.

Lining 'em up

One of the greatest things to watch from the professional golfers is that they do the same thing every time.  They make the same swing every time with different clubs.  But if you watch carefully, they also do the same thing before they hit a golf shot, their pre-shot routing.  The pre-shot routine might be different when they hit a drive compared to a putt, but if you watch closely, they will do the same pre-shot routine when they drive the ball off the tee.  It will be the same on the first hole as to the final hole on 18.  Same goes with a putt.  The pre-shot routine will be the same on the first hole when they putt as the final hole when they putt.

Some people do not understand how some guys can be such great players.  A great example is Jim Furyk; he has a very unorthodox swing but he has a pre-shot routine and he makes the same swing every time.  So, even thought it might not be a thing of beauty, he has perfected himself to do the same thing every time and he knows where his ball is going and he knows his distances to the tee.  When it all comes down to it, the most important thing in the game of golf is knowing your distance!  Remember, the scorecard does not care how you shoot par or better, just as long as you can do it.

The pros have a pre-shot routine and make the same swing every time to program their mind and body for success.  We have all heard that repetition is the mother of all skill and this holds true in golf.  If a golfer can find what works for them and consistently do the same thing over and over again until done with perfection and without even really thinking about it then a person’s success is inevitable.  If you can do this under any kind of circumstances especially when the chips are down and the pressure is on, you will be successful.

Black Belt Golf believes in having a pre-shot routine not only in your golf game but also for your physical health and in your life.  If you apply the principles of correctly programming your mind and body for a healthy lifestyle utilizing the Black Belt Golf system, you are not only going to feel physically stronger, but you also will feel mentally stronger.

Some of the things to watch for regarding over practice are: when practice is not productive anymore or you are not getting any benefits (not improving) from the practice sessions, practice is no fun, or you are dreading going out to practice.

Some of the things to watch for when you are burned out from playing too much include: not focusing on one shot at a time, thinking about what you have planned after the round, not having fun or enjoying the round, comparing the last 10 days of scores to the current round that you are playing, thinking about what you did on a hole from yesterday when you are currently playing the hole today.

Burn out can not only affect you physically but even more so mentally.  With this in mind, some of the cures are to step away from the game for a week or two.  Spend time doing other things, like spending time with your family or playing another sport.  For most golfers (except for professionals or amateurs trying to make golf their careers) it is very important to remember that golf is just a game.  Treat it like a summer hobby, go out and have fun with it when you are practicing or playing and then get away from the game and put your mind on something else.  If you treat golf like a job, it will not become fun.  Actually, this is great advice even for those who either already do or want to make this game their profession.  If you find yourself over thinking all the time about your swing because you are constantly trying to make your swing perfect, sooner or later the game will not be fun.  Do your best to keep things simple, a thought or two on the way back and a thought or two on the way down.

Keep balance in your golf game and your life with the Black Belt Golf System.  It does not take all day to do and the cool part is that you are developing your golf skills 2 to 3 days a week, learning good training habits for your mind and body and learning healthy eating habits for your life.  Keep your balance and stay away from becoming burnt out.

Practice Makes Perfect

Maybe your ball striking is great and you’re getting your ball to the location you want it to go, but your score is not where you want it to be.  In this case, a simple solution of spending more time with the flat stick (the putter) andworking on pitching and chipping may be just what the doctor ordered.  Focus on the solution, practicing your short game, versus the problem.  Stay positive and again, get help if you just can’t quite manage to make the changes necessary.

Another important area to focus on is your health and wellness.  You can be a great player and score low on the front nine consistently but the back nine lets you down.  This is unlikely a case of bad golf skill but instead a case of you consistently being mentally or physically fatigued after nine holes because your health is not where it needs to be.  The solution here is to work on your health.  One of the easiest ways is to make sure that you’re eating right by having good, balanced meals.  Along with that, another great solution to your health is to exercise 2 to 3 times a week.  The White Belt Lesson from Black Belt Golf is great place to start with an exercise routine that is tailored for a golfer looking to stay in good shape.

This topic is not only for golf and for your health but also can be applied to your life.  It is a simple concept but is so often overlooked.  Instead of dwelling on what is going wrong in our golf game, switch that mental thought to what the solution is and you will get to where you want to go a lot faster.

You can increase the intensity of your work-outs by using time as a factor.  Here is an example of using time when running a mile.  If you usually run a mile in 10 minutes, a great way to increase the intensity of that mile run is to bring the time down a little.  In the first week, time yourself to see if you can get it down to 9 minutes and 50 seconds.  As the weeks go along, dropping that time even 5 seconds per week can really add up and you will be at a higher intensity level each week.  The only way to bring the time down is to jog/run a little bit faster than the previous week.  What this will do is make the legs and cardiovascular system stronger which is important for the golfer because you need to have strong legs to be able to swing the golf club and keep good balance and if you walk a lot, this will help you make that back side walk, especially on the last few holes, much easier to make.

You can also increase the intensity of the work-out by using quantity.  Now, instead of going by time, you can increase the intensity of your work-out by increasing the distance each week.  If you are accustomed to running just a mile, increase the distance in the next week to a mile and a quarter.  By keeping the same pace (a 10 minute mile), adding distance to the mile will, over time, increase the intensity of the work-out.  Going from one mile to two miles is a pretty big increase in distance and should be gradually done over some time.  In this case, we would suggest adding a quarter of a mile for each two weeks.  So in a month you are up to 1.5 miles.  And in two months you are now at 2 miles.  You will feel the intensity level increase as the distance increases.

There are many ways to increase the intensity of your work-out.  A lot of gyms are getting very creative now a days with increasing the intensity of work-outs to maximize weight-loss.  As an example, where I work out, the trainers will turn up the heat of the room (90 degrees or more) and turn off the lights so the trainee can sweat a lot and stay focused and not think about time or where they are at because they are in the dark; therefore giving them no excuses to give it all they got.  While this can be effective, it is hard to do this on your own!  The two examples I gave can be done without the use of extra equipment or asking the gym to turn up the heat.  Instead you can gradually increase your intensity level over time.

The main reasons for increasing the intensity should be for weight loss, strength, and peak performance.  When you do a higher than usual intensity work-out, make sure that you give your body plenty of time to rest up with sleep and make sure you keep hydrating yourself with water!