THE QATSPY® Quapaw Athletic & Tactical Sportswear Performance Company Outfitter’s
INSIDE THE LEATHER HEALTH & FITNESS SPORTS PERFORMANCE
By: Charles W. Boatright
Why is it Important to Preset the Golfer’s Wrists– Two Reasons: 1- Prevent Injuries/Long-Term Wear on Joints, 2- More efficient/Consistency
I’m having a young golfer, former football coach, come by for some coaching tips before heading out to play a round with his friends on Sunday. I usually don’t like to give lessons on Sunday, but this young man is trying hard to improve his golf game; so I made an exception.
Besides, this young man is trying to improve and compete with his friends and enjoy this wonderful sport of golf. He is also dealing with an old wrist injury that he had surgery on several years ago. He explained that every time he played golf before our sessions he irritated this injury in his left wrist. He was just as much concerned about avoiding pain in his left wrist as he was improving his golf game. These are actually synonymous with each other.
Ergonomics has a Huge Role in all Sports
Ergonomics has a huge role in all sports; and particularly golf, especially in the areas of the lower back, elbow, wrists, and knees. A huge part of my approach to coaching golf and fitness is applying ergonomics and Kinesiology that I have learned and applied to my coaching techniques. I went back to college in order to take advantage of the body’s mechanics, while avoiding injuries and long-term wear and tear on the body.
Any discomfort in muscles, nerves, ligaments, tendons, and/or joints robs the golfer and athlete of performance and then they have to take time off to rehab or rest. The golfer loses any advantages that they might have gained up to the injury. Disruptions due to injuries have setbacks that have long-term ramifications, both mental and physical; especially with age. The older we get, the slower and longer the recovery time is for us, especially me being over 65 years old.
So the first objective in sports is to avoid injuries by having the body function in the manner God intended it to work. This means using an Ergonomic technique of having the low threshold (small quicker) muscles to lead and engage the high threshold (large slower) muscles. For golfers, this means presetting their wrists by syncing and cocking the wrists and elbows into the Lock Position.
Improved Performance without Discomfort
The young golfer that I referenced earlier after playing golf after our session using the Sync-Cock-Preset technique felt significant relief from tension and pain in his wrists. Syncing, Cocking, and Presetting the golfer’s wrists also takes advantage of a huge coaching technique called Apperception, where an athlete can take skills from one sport, like baseball, that are instinctive and use these highly-developed and confident skills in another sport, like golf. Use the time-elapse photo below to compare the two wrists action in both sports:
This is like a baseball player taking highly instinctive skills by standing in the batter’s box, since childhood, and using these same confident, instinctive skills on the tee box to the green. What is especially nice about the preset technique is that it only has two maneuvers of Sync (Hinge) and Preset (Cock) that place the wrists into the Lock Position, shown below.
When the young man was here Sunday morning for some pre-game coaching tips, he made the remark that he experienced no discomfort or stress in his left wrist by using the Sync-Preset-Cock Lock Position. Not only did the young man gain more use of his left wrist, but he gained 20 more yards with his clubs. He is now hitting his 7-Iron 173 yards.
Why it is Important to Engage the Low Threshold Muscles in the Wrists and Forearms
In kinesiology and ergonomics, we found that engaging the low threshold muscles before the high threshold muscles prevented injuries, This prevents wear and tear on joints, while improving proficiency in the movement of the entire body. It also simplifies the golf swing significantly to become instinctive on the golf course. The golf swing has to be instinctive to be used on the golf course, PERIOD! They refer to this as the Kinetic Chain, where the smaller and quicker muscles fire naturally to trigger the larger muscles.
NOTE: Lowe threshold muscles are muscles located in the wrists and forearms while High Threshold muscles are in your arm (referred to as the upper arm), shoulders, torso, and the powerful quad muscles.
After my young friend hitting various golf shots on my range, the young man didn’t have any pain that he usually felt playing golf. Not only did he eliminate the pain, he also saw more consistency in his golf shots along with more distance. Personally, I was more relieved that he wasn’t experiencing pain than his improved consistency. Because I knew we could work on consistency, but the pain was another hurdle to overcome.
If you are in the Madison, Mississippi area, you can purchase a lesson or a series of lessons by using the link below. If you are not going to be in the Madison, Mississippi area and aren’t going to be in the vicinity anytime soon, you can purchase my book The KASPER Golf Coach Technique that has all of my golf and fitness coaching techniques and videos for a healthier and younger look and feeling■
I did a series of golf videos for a local sports show called SPORTS ZONE where I demonstrated The KASPER Golf Swing Technique using what I call the Orange Bucket Drill in a video below. In this video I hit five (5) 295- yard tee shots within 15-foot of my orange bucket at the end of this practice field:
Below, I’m 65- years old while leaning on my INDIAN Motorcycle after we did a photoshoot for our TOP GUN: Maverick Collection. This shows how effective my DELPHI DIET & CAST FITNESS System is even at age 65:
I also have a new book out on Developing the Mental Edge in Sports and Sportsmanship to improve your performance:
