By: Arthur Anderson
I was going to say I started golfing in college, but that would be a stretch. I hit a bucket of balls once while I was in college and I sucked horribly.
Fast forward 20 years, late 1990s, and I am running my own company. As a company owner/salesperson I was expected to take my customers golfing, at least that was the expectation in our industry. Well after 20 years I hadn’t got much better at golf, my only saving grace is that I brought along a lot of golf balls to each outing. As I would go through at least 12 – 15 balls a round, either lost in the woods, someone’s backyard or a water hazard.
When I retired I was going to have lots of time to improve on my golf game. Right. I did get out and play more golf but my game did not improve. Then one day I had an epiphany. I had been doing Crossfit for a couple years and thought about one of the basic fundamental things they teach us in Crossfit… Bracing. So I began to focus on my core when I’d address the ball. I would go through a bracing sequence, tighten my core, keep it tight into my back swing and follow through. And it worked, my drives started to straighten out. Not perfect by any stretch, that takes lots of practice, but I was not losing as many balls. Now golf was becoming more fun and I shaved about 10 strokes off my game.
Another, more subtle influence, was not pulling too early. I had a tendency to control, or pull on my club in my downswing as I was hitting the ball, causing me to top the ball more often than not. Yep, you got it, I used what I learned in my clean and snatch practice to use my core to do most the work and let my arms be the guides. I know that sounds like a stretch but it worked, now I very rarely top the ball.
I never would have thought the HIIT of Crossfit could apply to the casual sport of golf but for me it did. I’m enjoying the game more, I’m still not that good, but I’m having more fun and saving money on golf balls. If you think about it you might find unique ways that Crossfit has or can improve the things you do in your life. Whatever it is, have fun.