The Offical Blog of the Baseball Coaching Digest

The Baseball Coaching Digest's blog is your online source to free baseball articles, free baseball drills, and free baseball tips. Our daily posts can help your plan baseball practice, improve your baseball drills, and help make your baseball workouts run smoother. Our daily post and archives provide your with hundreds of recommended baseball coaching posts. Make sure to bookmark this site for future visits. Have a great day and good luck to your team!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Baseball Coaching Digest - Can a Baseball Player Ruin His Baseball Swing by Playing Golf?

StayBackTee.com - The Ultimate Baseball Swing Trainer


By Nick Dixon

One question that I am frequently asked is whether a baseball swing can be ruined by playing golf. I have rather strong feeling concerning this topic. It is my opinion that playing golf can ruin a baseball swing in certain circumstances.

There are four circumstances that determine how harmful or detrimental playing golf is for a baseball swing. Those four different circumstances are:

1. How hard did the baseball player have to work to master his baseball swing? Was it difficult for the player to perfect his baseball swing?

The chances that the golf swing will harm the baseball swing are greater if the player is less skilled, a mechanical learner, or had a difficult time learning to swing the baseball bat properly. And if a young kid has not yet mastered the baseball swing, the last thing he needs to do is to go play a couple rounds of golf. If the player is a baseball player that has to work hard at keeping his swing tuned, I would recommend that the golf be played after he season is over.

2. What time of year is the golf being played?

Timing is everything! That certainly can be said for playing golf in the middle of baseball season. I would strongly try to discourage baseball players from taking to the links right before a big game, the league championships or just as the playoffs are beginning.

I do not see anything wrong with playing golf out of season. But I would not experiment with my golf game during baseball season. I have two reasons for this; 1) Muscle soreness may result from swinging the golf club. 2) The player may pick up a bad habit that may hurt his baseball swing at a crucial time of the season.

3. How much golf is being played?

The main reason I ask this question is that I want to know what is being neglected to get the time to play golf. If golf is becoming a daily activity, then what time sacrifices are being made? Has the player cut back on baseball practice time to play golf? Is the player taking his golf more serious than his baseball? I want my players eating, breathing and sleeping baseball. I do not mind if they play an occasional round of golf. But, if it is being taken to the extreme, I need to know. I want that player to stay focused on what he needs to do to help his baseball team. If he is considering playing golf over baseball, then that is an off season decision that he and his family must make. In the meantime, I need his full commitment and his "sense of urgency" should be in the sport of baseball.

4. How athletic is the player?

Some kids are such a gifted athlete that playing golf every day of the season does not affect their baseball swing. They know that both the golf and baseball swings are basically the same swing but the ball is just at a different level. They feel that playing golf helps them to learn to better focus their eyes on the baseball. These players are so talented and skilled they feel that that each swing type helps the other by relating back certain points to focus on.

Therefore, I feel that the more talented, more athletic, and more mentally confident a player in, the less the chances are that his swing will be harmed by playing golf.

Coaching Point: In all of these factors, there is a mental side to the controversy. You and I know that every player has heard or been told, more than once, "If you play golf, your baseball swing will suffer." If he does go to the course and plays a round of golf and his first couple at-bats are bad ones, there may be a beginning of a "mental slump" or the player may question, in his mind" "Is my swing as good as it was?"

So in conclusion, you may ask, "Should I allow my Child to Play Golf"? My answer is simple, consider, the factors I have discussed and make the best decision for your child. However, if you child shows the potential to be a future prospect in baseball, keep him off the golf course, and in the batting cage instead.

I hope that you found this article to be informative and interesting. I really appreciate you taking the tile to read it. I wish you and your team the best of luck in the coming season. Have a great day, Nick.

The CoachesBest Baseball Store has a great selection of 1400 Baseball Products. Check out the BatAction Hitting Machine baseball pitching simulator. This high speed training machine is 100% Guaranteed to raise Batting Averages and has a full year warranty.

Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, a sports training company established in 1999. Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of the BatAction Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Target Trainer, the SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and the SKLZ Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Youth Baseball Digest, the Baseball Parent Guide, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, and Blog4Coaches.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon

===Advertisement from our sponsor:=====

Baseball2u.com/CoachesBest.com is the ultimate online baseball training and coaching store. With over 1400 products organized into categories Baseball2u.com makes finding that baseball training product easy and simple. Order securely online or by phone. Baseball2u.com is a fully licensed company and has a full time staff available from 8:00 to 5:00 CST. Their toll free customer service number is 1-877-431-4487.

The Categories they have are: Baseball Training Equipment, Youth Baseball Training Equipment, Training Bats, Pitching & Throwing Trainers, Defensive Trainers, Batting Cages, Pitching Machines, Jugs Equipment, Game and Practice Baseballs, Protective Practice Screens and Nets, Portable Pitching Mounds, Baseball DVDs & Books, Clearance Items on Sales, BatAction Hitting Machines, Hurricane Hitting Machines, NEDCO Bataction Replacement Parts, SKLZ Hurricane Replacement Parts and Much Much More! Visit Baseball2U.com today!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hello Baseball Friend,
I welcome any comments or suggestions. If you have a question or a topic that you would like to read about, please leave a comment and I will try to address that topic as soon as I can. Good luck in the coming season!
Have a great day, Nick