Gary Player once passed down some sage advice from Gene Sarazen that should help amateur golfers improve one key thing before they’ve even played a round.
When he’s not criticizing modern-day professionals, Player is often found sharing his wisdom and providing golf tips to amateurs who are looking to improve.
Player has shared golf tips aimed at improving bunker play, putting, driving of the golf ball and iron play.
- Read also: Gary Player tells amateur golfers the three clubs they need to throw out of their bags immediately
However, this time the South African golfing legend’s advice focused on something you can do before you’ve even hit a golf ball.
The tip that Player has now passed down was once shared with him by his fellow Grand Slam winner, Gene Sarazen.
Gary Player suggests everyone does one thing in practice which ‘beats anything’
If you are an amateur golfer looking to improve, Player’s wealth of experience in the game means he is a man whose advice you should take on board.
The nine-time major champion once revealed one of the best three tips he has ever been given in his career.
And it could well help every single one of you who is struggling with flexibility.
Player said: “Gene Sarazen gave me this tip as a young man, one of the three best tips I’ve ever had.
“For 61 years, I’ve been working on stretching. Stretching is a vital ingredient in any sport, or even sitting at a desk in your office.
“I’ve tried all kinds of things and I do all kinds of things when I’m in the gym and in my room.
“But a simple little thing like being able to pull your leg right against your chest, that’s stretching your hamstrings or your lower back.
“But here’s the daddy of them all, this beats anything in the world for golf. It’s a heavily weighted club. Get one according to your strength.
“I’m going to swing it back with a full turn and really stretch and then follow through. You must swing it left-handed as well. If you swing right-handed, you must swing it left-handed.
“For every once I swing right-handed, I swing it twice left-handed. Gene Sarazen gave me this tip as a young man. Play well.“
Why stretching is so important for golfers
The National Institute of Health has outlined why ‘dynamic stretching’ is so important for golfers.
“The physical demands required of the body to execute a shot in golf are enormous. Current evidence suggests that warm-up involving static stretching is detrimental to immediate performance in golf as opposed to active dynamic stretching.“
This obviously means that sitting down stretching isn’t actually helpful, but something dynamic, just like Player’s golf tip above, could be really useful before you hit the links.
Fail to prepare and prepare to fail.
If you put the correct practices in place before you play, you will have a much better chance of succeeding.
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