The only golf stretch DVD
that shows you how to measure and stretch the core ranges of the golf swing.
Most golf stretch DVD's are a mish-mash of yoga stretches (5,000 year-old stretches) and conventional fitness stretches (100 year-old stretches). Most of the stretches, frankly, have nothing to do with the golf swing (yogi's played golf 5,000 years ago? India is a great golfing nation?).
The Somax golf stretch DVD—Are You Flexible Enough for Golf?— is the first and only golf stretch DVD that shows you how to measure your flexibility—and then successfully stretch the core ranges you need for an effortless, efficient swing.
What are the advantages of measuring your flexibility?
First of all, if you don't measure, you are likely to stretch areas that are already flexible, and ignore those that are really tight. Why? Because stretching muscles that are somewhat less tight feels comfortable, and stretching areas that are really tight is uncomfortable.
But if you don't work on the areas that are really tight, you are only making your body more out of balance than it already is.
Secondly, when you measure, you can determine how much progress you are making with your stretches. Are you really getting more flexible? Measurably flexible? Or do you just feel more comfortable?
Core Golf Stretch Ranges
As we said, most golf stretch DVD's throw a bunch of stretches together and call it a system.
But if it is a system, where are the measurements?
In our golf stretch DVD, we show you the core ranges of the golf swing, and why you need these core ranges more than any other.
Here they are.
#1 Arm Stretch Angle for Golf
You need a minimum of 90 degrees of Arm Flexion to get your left arm up at the top of your backswing. Getting your arm up at the top of your backswing is the easiest way to add effortless distance to your swing. One pro who improved his Arm Flexion with us increased his longest drive on tour from 295 to 400.
#2 Neck Stretch Angle for Golf
You need a minimum of 110 degrees of Neck Rotation in order to look back over your shoulder at the top of your backswing. If your neck is stiff, you can't look back over your shoulder and the bridge of your nose will cover up your right eye. This means you lose stereoscopic vision.
When you can't see the ball clearly, you will tend to mishit it.
What do golfers do when their neck is stiff? They either spray their drives, or they shorten their backswing to keep eye contact with both eyes—and hit shorter drives.
You also need a minimum of 110 degrees of neck rotation for putting. One pro who came to us with a stiff neck improved his putting on tour from #113 to #1 after we increased his neck rotation from 45 to 110 degrees.
If your neck is stiff, your head will move as you rotate your shoulders during the putt. This small amount of head movement will force you to mishit the ball, and miss your putt.
The easiest way to improve your putting is to improve your neck rotation. At our clinic in Tiburon, CA, we have all our golfers do 20-foot carpet putts (equivalent to a 60-foot putt) before starting their program. Nearly all of our clients are single-digit players. But they only make 1 out of 4 putts at this distance before we improve their neck flexibility. After we release microfibers that are restricting their neck, they make 4 out of 4, 8 out of 8 and some have even made 12 out of 12.
#3 Trunk Stretch Angle for Golf
Trunk rotation is the key to distance on the swing. You need a minimum of 110 degrees of Trunk Rotation in order to turn your shoulders enough to generate effortless club head speed.
Trunk Rotation is the range that will increase your Y-factor, the differential in turn between your shoulders and hips. Most teachers try to increase the Y-factor by restricting your hip turn. But this is just like putting a restrictor plate on the carburetor of a racecar.
Instead, increase your Trunk Rotation to a minimum of 110 degrees and you will be able to hit effortless, long drives.
#4 Hip Stretch Angle for Golf
The hips are the engine of the swing. You need a minimum of 60 degrees of Internal Hip Rotation in order to turn your hips 60 degrees away from the ball at the top of your backswing. This is what all the great golfers in history did before the current epidemic of hip restriction infected golf instruction. The result of this epidemic is that more and more young players are getting back problems.
Once you can achieve the minimum range of each of these four core ranges, you can hit awesome drives. One of our golfers increased his average drive from 290 to 350 after we improved his Arm Flexion, Neck Rotation, Trunk Rotation and Internal Hip Rotation. His average was 350. We saw him hit 375 on a par 4.
The Myth and Danger of
'Average Flexibility'
Most of our golfers have been told by a teacher or trainer that they have 'average' or 'better than average' flexibility for their age. When they come to us and we measure their flexibility and then show them the flexibility of historically great golfers, they are appalled. The complain bitterly that no one told them how bad off they were. They are even more angry when they find that most of their problems in golf are the result of their 'average' or 'better than average' flexibility—and not 'lack of concentration'.
As we improve their flexibility beyond 'average' they:
- improve their putting
- improve their distance
- improve their accuracy
- improve their consistency
- get rid of their back, neck, shoulder and hip pain
- increase their enjoyment of golf
You see, the thing that teachers and trainers don't tell you is that the golf swing requires more flexibility than any other sport-except swimming breastroke (breastrokers need a minimum of 80 degrees of internal hip rotation, golfers need only 60).
Since teachers and trainers see so many stiff golfers, they set their sights too low. They also know, with the stretches currently available, that little or no progress is made in improving flexibility in their golfers. Since they can't do much about the flexibility of their clients, they just say 'You're average'.
Our question is 'Why settle for average?'
If you want to be average, then you will shoot over 100, have a yearly income of $39,403, get a sore or stiff back after you play, and have poor flexibility—that's average.
Is this what you want out of life? Is this what you want out of golf?
Stretch to Improve Performance
Most golf stretch DVD's show you stretches to improve your flexibility.
We show you stretches to improve your performance.
What is the difference?
Stretches to improve your flexibility are just that—stretches to improve your flexibility.
Stretches to improve your performance are based on the biomechanics of the swing—not on some 5,000 year-old system designed to help people meditate. As we said before, if yoga was good for golf, then India would be the greatest golf nation in the world. Indian players would be on the leaderboads of all the tournaments played around the world. After all, they have been doing yoga for 5,000 years.
By carefully measuring the ranges that historically great golfers went through during their swing, and then carefully duplicating those ranges in our golfers, they went on to win the US Open as a rookie, quadruple their tour income, improve their putting from #113 to #1, and increase their longest drive from 295 to 400. Our recreational golfers have added up to 60 yards to their average drive and cut 5-11 strokes off their handicap.
Not to mention that they got rid of chronic hip and back pain.
One of our client's back pain was so bad that he had to stop playing for two years before he saw us. After we improve his core ranges, he went to Florida and played two rounds a day for four days (against our advice) with no pain at all.
Another golfer had to take four 200mg tablets of ibuprofen every four hours before and during a round just to be able to play. After we improved his core ranges, he was able to leave the pills at home.
What Comes with your DVD
Since not all golfers have the same flexibility, we include specific stretches for different flexibility levels.
We know, for instance, that if you have 30 degrees or less of Internal Hip Rotation, you won't be able to do the Z-stretch. So we show you a stretch that you can do. As your flexibility improves, you can then graduate to the Z-stretch.
The same with your arms, neck and trunk.
One size does not fit all, which is why we show you how to use your home camcorder or digital camera to record your range. We also include a transparent protractor so that you can measure your ranges.
Once you know how many degrees you have on the right and left sides, you will know which stretches to do.
To help you keep track, we include a record book to write down your ranges. As you do your stretches you can keep track of your progress from week to week.
"Feel is not real in the golf swing"
As one of our golfers said 'Feel is not real'. Our golfers are constantly surprised to find that they are very stiff in one range, but loose in others.
They never 'felt' the stiffness in this range.
The reason is that when something in your body is always the same, you don't notice it. Your brain is wired to notice changes. So, if you are stiffer in your left hip that your right, you will probably notice the stiffness in your right hip, it may even be sore from time to time, but the left hip, which is totally locked up, will feel 'normal'.
The only way you will know is to measure.
Everything that is important in life is based on measurement. Medicine, engineering, architecture, economics, construction, manufacturing, investments—all are based on metrics.
We don't say 'I felt like I took 3 strokes on that last hole', we count the number of strokes.
Your doctor doesn't look at you and say 'I feel like your cholesterol is high; I'm getting high cholesterol vibes from you.', he orders a test and then gives you the numbers.
Doesn't your flexibility deserve the same precision as the rest of your game and your daily life?
Why continue to be in the dark about your flexibility? Why bother to stretch without measuring?
30-day Money Back Guarantee
Try our golf stretch DVD for 30 days. Videotape or photograph your ranges. Measure your ranges. Do the stretches. Photograph and remeasure once a week for four weeks.
If you don't measure an improvement in your ranges, and don't see a measurable improvement in your game, send us your photos and measurements with the DVD for a full refund (less S&H).
We have been in business for forty years. Our Olympic athletes (who all measurably improved the ranges for their sport with our program) have won 44 Gold Medals and have set 11 World Records. We have written for Golf Magazine, The New York Times, The Runner, Swim and numerous other periodicals. Our discoveries in sports mechanics have been presented in scientific conferences and coaches meetings from Europe to Australia. Clients come to us from Singapore, South Africa, Germany, Latin America, and all over the US and Canada to improve their performance by improving the ranges needed for their sport.
Don't order if you are not serious
about your golf game
Each one of the stretches in this video is a total of 12 minutes. If you don't have the self-discipline and resolve to devote at least this amount of time every day to measurably improving your flexibility and golf game, don't order this video.
If your M.O. is to look and something and put it on the shelf, don't order this video.
If you are easily discouraged when you don't get instant results, don't order this video.
If you are happy with your flexibility and your handicap, don't order this video.
But if you want to change your body and change your game, and you have the will to do something about it, then this is the golf stretch DVD for you.
If you have ordered other golf stretch DVD's and found they just don't deliver, even though you did all the stretches they recommended, then this is the golf stretch DVD for you.
Our secure shopping and privacy policy
Somax Performance Institute
4 Tara Hill Road
Tiburon, CA 94920
1-800-227-6629
1-415-435-9880
Meet Bob Prichard
Since 1970, Bob Prichard, author of Are You Flexible Enough for Golf? and director of Somax Performance Institute, has been training elite athletes to improve their performance by improving their flexibility and efficiency—rather than their strength and endurance.
His athletes have won 44 Gold Medals and have set 11 World Records.
His pro golfers have won the US Open as a rookie, improved their putting from #113 to #1, quadrupled their tour income and increased their longest drive from 295 to 400.
His amateur golfers have increased their average drive from 290 to 350, reduced their handicaps by 5 to 11 strokes, and eliminated back, neck and hip pain.
His runners cut a minute per mile off their running pace, tennis players add 20 mph to their serve, rowers have made the Olympic Trials in just six months, and age-group swimmers have won state and national championships.
Bob has done on-air broadcast analysis for NBC Sports Olympics, written a monthly column for The New York Times and articles for Golf magazine, Swim, The Runner, and Metrosports. His work has been the subject of articles in The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, Sport magazine, and Golf Digest.
Bob has written the first book -The Efficient Golfer-to show golfers how to use their home camcorder to videotape, analyze, measure and improve their golf swing. He also invented, patented and manufactured the Somax Power Hip Trainer, the first aerobic exercise machine to increase the strength and speed of hip rotation for golf.
Bob has made presentations to scientific conferences in the US, Europe and Australia on his ground-breaking discoveries on the origin of running injuries in the movement of the arms, and the source of power in swimming in the rotation of the hips.
What they say about Bob Prichard
"I now understand the great damage weights have done to my performance overall and that my flexibility is a key part of my game. In a recent tournament, I was back to shooting eagles, birdies and pars. It feels like I have my life back again, instead of living in a state of constant frustration over my golf game.
Also, with the increased flexibility and change in my swing mechanics taught to me at Somax (hands on swing plane, starting my downswing with left knee instead of left hip), I'm hitting my driver 350 yards and my clubs are all straight.
I also developed low back pain after lifting weights, and now that is gone
Thank you for making me believe in myself again."
—David Huertas, Bogota, Colombia
"Since my participation in your program, the most important thing has been the elimination of lower back pain in my everyday life. I consider this fact much more important to me than my golf game.
Just as an aside, I have won two long driving contests during tournaments this year. The first was against 65 golfers on the second hole at Pebble Beach. The other contest was also during a tournament, at Rancho Las Palmas against a field of 120 golfers.
I have not won such a contest since the 70's when my back started to restrict my swing."
—Walt Stryker, Belevedere, CA
"Before I started working with Somax, I only knew one thing: lifting weights would change my body and therefore help me improve my performance. What I didn't know was that the muscles, although getting stronger, were also becoming glued together with microfibers, a mild form of scar tissue.
In the summer of 2004 I was experiencing severe back pain and discomfort around my hips. I started doing Yoga, went to see different massage therapist, and changed my workout routine to get some relief. Yet nothing seemed to ease the pain.
When I first saw the demo tape on Microfiber Reduction, I was skeptical that this program would really help my problems.
I am now into my second year of working with the Somax Professional Program and I couldn't be happier. Somax has enabled me to work on my game with no pain in my body. I have never seen a program that is as individualized as this one and that carries as many benefits.
I have improved all of my stats on Tour."
—Miriam Nagl, LPGA and Euro Tour
"After just a couple of weeks work with Bob Prichard, my chest expansion has increased two inches, my golf swing is more fluid, my posture has greatly improved and my general flexibility is better than it has ever been.
I sincerely urge my retired partners, faced with the prospect of decreasing flexibility, who want to improve their golf, tennis, posture or running, to look into this approach."
—Richard B. Troxel, Retired Partner, KPMG
"Today I consistently hit at least one club longer with my irons. My driving is now regularly farther. Before my Somax program, I was driving 235 yards, but it was hard to keep it in the fairway. Now I consistently hit the ball over 250 yards with pretty good accuracy. I do occasionally hit the ball 300 yards. When I am not hitting the ball as good as I know that I can, I just go back to the basics we worked on and can begin hitting the ball solidly, with accuracy, fairly quickly.
When I first came to Somax I was having serious lower back problems. They had become so severe that I was suffering with pains down my leg that were affecting my quality of life significantly. I was taking four 200mg ibuprofen tablets at a dose every four hours during the day in an effort to cope with the pain.
When I played golf it would irritate my back significantly and would literally put me on the floor in pain. My pain began to subside as more and more parts of my body were loosened up with the Microfiber Reduction. Today I seldom have any pain in my lower back and virtually none running down my leg. My quality of life has improved significantly and I attribute this all to the Somax program.
The most amazing thing is that I have not had any loss of flexibility since I have finished my program. I still stretch on a regular basis, but the flexibility is there even before I stretch. The process is also so sudden in the manner in which it works. As soon as the microfibers are released, that area just loosens up right away and has stayed loose."
—Dan Henrichs, Conroe, TX
"Not everyone can get a New Body at age 65.
I did!
Although I was attracted originally to the Somax Program for golf, I found the whole experience to be far greater than I had anticipated.
My poor posture of 65 years improved dramatically as did my flexibility. I first became aware of my posture in my teens. My Mom said 'stand up straight'. I carried a book on my head, one of many drills I did to improve my posture. The book, of course, fell off. Didn't help my posture at all. Standing up with my back against the wall was another drill. I tried it a number of times, but it did not improve my posture in the least.
When I was 16 I was carrying golf bags as a summer job. The caddie master said 'stand up straight' 'stop slouching over the bag'. It didn't help, either.
My fraternity brothers in college nicknamed me the Tortoise, or «Tort», because when I played hockey I bent over a lot, with my head stuck out of the uniform with large shoulder pads. The nickname stayed with me my whole life—until Somax.
Now my nickname is «Too Tall Tort». My friends notice I am now standing much straighter and taller.
In addition to visibly better posture, I am a better low handicap player now than I was before I started the program. My distance has increased and I am hitting more greens in regulation. The changes in my body experienced through Microfiber Reduction and the whole Somax program have made a drastic improvement in my whole life, altering it much for the better."
—Jim Deveney, Manchester, MA
"Thanks for your help in converting the disbelievers, and in great appreciation for all the help you've been to me. As a result of your flexibility program, there is absolutely no question in my mind that my flexibility has increased.
The impact of this increase is directly related to a decrease in my time to run a mile from 7 minutes to 6 minutes, as well as a decrease in my golf handicap from 21 to 16 within three weeks after your program. I'm hitting the ball about 15% farther. I must add that it is a lot of fun to be able to hit a six iron 175 yards rather than my prior capability which was limited to 150 yards."
—David Meredith, Norwalk, CT