Instruction
3 Big Reasons Why You Need Flexibility
In this article, we are going to briefly address three critical reasons why golfers over the age of 50 need to work on golf flexibility to continue to have fun playing good golf. Golf flexibility is not just important for a full, fluid golf swing for power, but poor flexibility can also result in inconsistent contact with the golf ball and poor accuracy.
Neglecting your golf flexibility results in poor golf mechanics because the body is too stiff to get into the correct positions required for a sound, fundamental golf swing.
Swing faults such as a flying elbow, excessive head movement, swaying, coming over the top, etc., are often the result of stiffness and can not be corrected without improving flexibility.
The white poles represent upper body turn versus lower body turn.
1. Consistency in Golf
The No. 1 reason to work on your flexibility is to improve your consistency. Not many golfers relate flexibility to consistency, but it is incredibly important for several reasons.
Head Movement
First, golfers over 50 tend to lose flexibility and their ability to rotate their heads to the side due to stiffness in the neck. For the right-handed golfer, it is vital that you can rotate your head 70 degrees to the left. How well can you turn your head to the left and look over your left shoulder.
How does this relate to consistency? When a golfer is taking his/her backswing, the shoulders are rotating to the right while the head needs to be relatively still so the golfer can keep their eyes focused on the ball. If the golfer has neck stiffness, the head will be forced to rotate with the shoulders, moving the head and the eyes along with it.
To get an understanding of how difficult it is to consistently hit the golf ball well when your head is moving, trying chipping a golf ball while turning your head side to side. Then send me the video because I could use a good laugh!
In this case, flexibility will help you keep your head stable so you can keep a steady eye on the ball for consistent ball striking
Swing Center Movement Factor
Second, you need good spinal flexibility to master the swing center movement factor. Basically, when golfers have poor posture and the spine is C-shaped or S-shaped, the spine is no longer able to purely rotate in the backswing without the body moving up and down. Trying to hit the ball when your spine is having to move up and down and to the side is like trying to hit a golf ball that is bouncing up and down. It is nearly impossible to hit the ball consistently. Golf flexibility will help you keep and/or regain pure spinal rotation.
Correct Weight Shifting
Finally, you need good hip flexibility for correct weight distribution which is critical for consistency. During the backswing, it is important that you can rotate your body to the right against a stable right leg. Ideally, the right knee should maintain its bend, the knee cap should rotate only minimally, and your body weight should stay over the inside of your right foot. In order for this to occur, your right hip needs to have at least 35 degrees of internal rotation.
Correct right knee position achieved with good right hip flexibility
If you lack this flexibility, you are more likely to lose accuracy due to a reverse pivot shift and/or excessive swaying in your backswing.
2. Golf Power
For golfers over 50, the loss of golf power is a major problem. Golf is a lot more fun when you are hitting the much easier short irons than the more difficult hybrids into greens. You hit a lot more greens, putt for more birdies and your scores become very respectable!
Research has proven over and over again that until the golfer reaches the age of 75 (approximately) most of this power loss is preventable and directly related to flexibility.
Most research has pointed to the following key points that can be changed for substantial increase in golf power.
X-Factor
First, improving specific golf flexibility will improve your “x-factor.” The x-factor is the difference between your hip rotation and your spinal rotation. For instance, when the golfer is about to impact the golf ball, players with a good x-factor will have their belt buckles already facing the target. This is the key to effortless power!
Without a good x-factor, you can swing as hard as you want to but you are not going to add much distance. Flexibility is the problem and working on your golf flexibility is the only solution. The more you neglect it, the worse it will become.
Swing Width
Second, improving golf flexibility will improve your swing width. Swing width is how far your hands and club are away from your center of movement (a point just below the center of your chest). The farther away, the faster the club head will travel.
The best analogy that I have used to understand this is with the rotary sprinklers used to sprinkle your yard. If you stand right next to the sprinkler, you don’t have to walk around it very quickly to avoid getting sprayed with water. But if you are standing at a distance from the sprinkler (the farthest point the water reaches) you have to run very fast in the circle to avoid getting sprayed on.
Pro golfers have a lot of width in their golf swings and the easiest point to see it is at the top of the backswing. Because of flexibility, the flexible pro golfer can get a full backswing while keeping the left elbow straight. Golfers with poor flexibility tend to sacrifice their power in two ways. They either allow their elbows to collapse in order to get a full backswing, or they keep their width with a straight left elbow but have to significantly shorten their backswings.
3. Golf Accuracy
The reason that golfers with poor flexibility lose accuracy is related back to the x-factor. We have to back up a little to explain this one. Initially, when Jim McLean coined the term “x-factor,” it was the difference between the rotation of the hips and shoulders measured at the top of the backswing. This is now called the “old” x-factor. The “new” x-factor, which is much more critical for power, is the difference between hip and shoulder rotation at the point of impact with the golf ball.
The “New” X-Factor and the Transition Move
To maximize the new x-factor, you need to master the transition move. The transition move is the first move you make toward the golf ball from your position at the top of the backswing. Typically, the first move is the hips rotating forward, but it is easier to practice if you focus on the left knee sliding toward the target.
Most golfers who have neglected flexibility are not able to rotate the hips separately from the upper body. This is where accuracy is sacrificed. Since the hips cannot rotate before the shoulders, the golfer will be unable to swing the club down from inside of the target line. The golfer will swing from the “outside to in” swing plane, aka, the over the top swing. This results in pulls, slices, and makes it more difficult to make clean contact since the swing plane will be so much steeper.
So Get Going!!!
If you want to continue playing enjoyable and respectable golf after 50 and into retirement, flexibility is not really an option, it is required. Luckily, flexibility training is really easy.
You can work on your flexibility sitting in your lounger, standing in line for tacos, lying in bed watching “Bonanza” or wherever! The only difficult part is remembering to do it consistently. So punch in a reminder in your new fancy phone and get to stretching today!
There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.
And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.
But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.
When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.
Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.
For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!
Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.
Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.
If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.
1. Cultural mindset
What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!
It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.
2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling
Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.
3. Learning theory basics
It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.
As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.
So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!
Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.
The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).
But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.
Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)
Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.
What Woad did:
• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances
• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins
• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets
• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”
Why most golfers mess this up:
• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”
• Distance becomes more important than accuracy
• They try to be heroic instead of smart
ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.
The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire
Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.
How she responded to pressure:
• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th
• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys
• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th
• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked
What amateurs do wrong:
• Get conservative when they should be aggressive
• Try to force magic when steady play would win
• Panic when someone else makes a move
ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.
Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game
Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.
Her mental approach:
• Focused on her process, not the competition
• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)
• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”
Her physical execution:
• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)
• Methodical iron play
• Steady putting
• Everything effective, nothing spectacular
ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.
Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built
The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”
Her winning mindset:
• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself
• Focused on playing well and contending
• Made winning a byproduct of a good process
• Built confidence through recent experiences:
- Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
- Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
- Each experience prepared her for the next
What this means for you:
• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up
• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine
• Commit to every shot
• Stay present in the moment
ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.
The Real Lesson
Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.
The fundamentals that won:
• Hit more fairways
• Find more greens
• Make the putts you should make
• Stay patient under pressure
That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.
FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!
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marty
Jun 2, 2013 at 11:24 am
man, just think how far ryan winther could hit it if he only would achieve these ‘correct’ positions!