Any cricketers out there that play golf in their spare time?

if so how do you find the transition?

I know i’ve been playing some great golf and rubbish cricket, then it swings around.

the only problem i find is being a cricketer and golfer it tends to make you hit hooks as in cricket you roll the wrists to keep ball down and in golf that will promote a hook

greg blewett and ricky ponting never had hassles… but my skills in both games are far worse than theirs :)

played cricket for years and practiced alot of technique early on – find it a lot easier to master.

i agree about the rolling of the wrists comment above.

A mate of mine used to play state cricket, and has recently taken up golf, his Drive is a dead ringer for a cover drive. Straight and right every time. His irons hook but he has a great short game, chipping and putting he finds easy.

Yeah i play a bit of golf and love my cricket. I have actually found that my golf swing has changed my batting. After i do a drive i role my wrist around and finish up alot like my finish position in golf. I should be keeping my elbow straight, which is my i batted so bad this year.

In cricket depending upon the shot, you are hitting or swinging. Cricket you can also deflect using changes to the left wrist and right wrist angles.

In golf we need to keep the latter the same.

I watched Hayden swinging top hand only in the nets one day. My 11 year old piped up “hey dad he has a great Flat Right Wrist roll like when I play with your flail”. A few shots later ” hey that was a vertical hinge to get the balls to go the other side of the bowler!”

greg blewett and ricky ponting never had hassles… but my skills in both games are far worse than theirs :)

played cricket for years and practiced alot of technique early on – find it a lot easier to master.

i agree about the rolling of the wrists comment above.

..i’ll come up with one soon..

I know Ponting playes off scratch, what about Blewett?

I stopped playing cricket for a couple of months and took up cricket and found when I played again I came out in pain due to flicking my wrists playing leg side shots, mainly because of the differences in actions between the sports.

Come to think of it my golf game has dropped since I took cricket up again

Yea I am a cricketer first and a golfer second. I found when I first started playing golf my body was overactive in my swing (being a batsman my feet just want to move!). I found that as a fixed up that side of my golf swing, my batting deteriorated because my feet stopped moving. I think the best way to do it is look at the golf swing and batting technique as two totally independent things, as IMO, they are totally different and trying to relate them only harms your performance.

Yea I am a cricketer first and a golfer second. I found when I first started playing golf my body was overactive in my swing (being a batsman my feet just want to move!). I found that as a fixed up that side of my golf swing, my batting deteriorated because my feet stopped moving. I think the best way to do it is look at the golf swing and batting technique as two totally independent things, as IMO, they are totally different and trying to relate them only harms your performance.

Work is for people who don’t know how to play GOLF.

http://www.golflink.com.au/...

so true… i’ve played many a ‘golfing cover drive’...

Just analyzing what moves what in a cricket shot allows you to relate the two and what differentiates them. I know the bowlers that I taught golf had a major improvement in their batting averages once they grasped a bit of technique vs brawn.

My problem with mixing the 2 is I have a very open batting stance so when I change to the squarer golf stance I feel uncomfortable.

To put it in perspective; my cover drive would go more to mid off than covers. Often one of the sledges I copped was when driving back past the bowler fielders would often comment on it being a nice cover driver. (Best part was when I would be in form and comments like that make me hit harder) so Guru could this be adding to my hooking problems?

Yes and no:)

When u bat, ask yourself if you are a top or bottom handed player. Then consider that answer for a drive, vs hook, vs cut vs deflection.

Standing open is in golf more of a hitters stance – bottom hand dominant with lots of right arm muscular action. For a hitter to hook, then that open stance line has the face hitting the ball left if there is any over rotation of the torso and or hands.

Being very open in golf is v tricky as now you have to time so many moving parts to line up in the right place at the right time. All you have to do is work out to drive down and out using the same swing and trust it.

Well I played yesterday and was concentrating on my rotation but still struggled…dont think I hit one straight one. Sadly I birdied the first because of my hook (dog leg left). I will be spending a bit of time at the driving range on the weekend because it is pi$$ing me off haha. I got to a point yesterday where the woods didnt get touched for all but one shot on the back 9. Bonus for me was the back 9 was more iron friendly so I played far better.

In cricket I am very bottom hand but in golf I personally think I am using my hands more to guide and using my shoulders for power.

Make sure to keep that lower body quiet and still. No matter how many times I thought I had that down, I found that it needed to be moving even less. Might be something that you aren’t having trouble with, but for me it was a biggy so I thought I would let you know.

2Brag: spending time of the range needs to be done with help. Otherwise you are just putting a hole in your wallet and doing the same old without understanding why changes make changes.

I played cricket for 10 years. One thing that some cricketers do with a golf swing is they chicken wing … a flying left elbow.

batsmen like a high left elbow on front foot shots and some bring that to golf…

however that said there are some great cricketers that are also great golfers… story going around that R Ponting plays off single digits… and sledges well to boot.

my 2 cents worth.

know the problem.
cheers peter

This was a good read for cricket and golf!
www.cricinfo.com/magazine/c...">

I played cricket for 10 years. One thing that some cricketers do with a golf swing is they chicken wing … a flying left elbow.

batsmen like a high left elbow on front foot shots and some bring that to golf…

however that said there are some great cricketers that are also great golfers… story going around that R Ponting plays off single digits… and sledges well to boot.

my 2 cents worth.

who needs driver when a 3 wood will do???

I think Punter is off scratch, I just finished reading the Glenn McGrath World cup Diary and that was mentioned in there.

But I can picture what you mean and believe you may be onto something haha. I will be going to the range this weekend and having someone watch my swing as everything feels right, but then again what feels right to me is cricket shots.

This was a good read for cricket and golf!
www.cricinfo.com/magazine/c…”>

could you please try the link again as it wont work and ive searched the cricinfo website

hmmmm that was a cut and paste job. working on it again:)

http://content-www.cricinfo...

Funny looking start to the link but this got there this time:)

Thank you, I will now read it…which also means no work haha its friday afternoon…why should I work hard

A young Aussie by the name of Mitchell Brown represented Australia at U/15 or U/17’s before concentrating on golf. He was the number 1 world ranked amatuer 4 years later, and is now having a go at the Asian Tour as a pro.

But that’s just damn natural ability.