10/10 for keeping a good posture and spinal position

17 September 2007

Robert Phipps is one of the UK’s best known body language experts. He has been featured on BBC Radio 4’s “In Business” programme and was part of the team on BBC1’s prime time show “Rogue Traders”. He is called upon regularly to comment on political events for the BBC’s radio and news broadcasts and has given his analysis of all the major political party leaders for the BBC, GMTV and Sky News. More recently, Robert has expanded his private hypnotherapy and NLP life coaching practice.

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Wow, from the moment the box arrived I was excited to see just how much fun this piece of trolley technology would be and how much it would improve my game, if at all.

Once out of the box the excitement didn't wain, in fact in increased as I looked upon this wonderfully metallic blue R2D2 of golf, I now couldn't wait to get out on the course to give it a real test. Looks are one thing but I was more interested in how it was going to affect my round of golf on a purely physical level but I found out other things I didn't expect.

Posture in golf is a key part of your whole set up but it goes much further than that, let me explain. Over the last couple of years I have represented the British Chiropractic Association on a couple of campaigns doing radio interviews all over the country on the importance of keeping your spine in good condition and golf is all about movements of the back.

So I thought I'd see just how good the Stewart X3R was by taking it for a test drive out on the course.

Well the evidence for me was very clear, unlike pulling a trolley, which creates a stooped forward tilt in the spine, I was able to walk with my head up and level looking straight ahead keeping my normal walking posture, it also meant I could study the lie of the course much better.

It's also very different from a buggy, one you can't always get your buggy near your ball, as a lot of clubs have a buggy track you have to stick to, which means sometimes you make wrong club selection when you actually get to play your ball and either have to walk back to get the right one or play it with the wrong one!

So, on a purely physical level the X3R works great, it gives you a feel of freedom, which in turn naturally makes you feel good, if you feel good you generally play better.

As an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) performance coach the other area that was a pleasant surprise and something I wasn't expecting was the absolute confidence it seemed to give me walking round the course with this beautiful piece of equipment and getting some pretty amazing and complimentary comments from other players who'd never before seen a trolley like it.

On balance I give the X3R 10/10 for keeping a good posture and spinal position walking round the course, which also means you don't ache as much in the lower back as when pulling a trolley.

I also give it 10/10 for the unexpected bonus of prestige and confidence, which took at least a few shots off my game.

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For more information about Robert Phipps, please visit his website http://www.robertphipps.com/.