Miriam Nagl

LPGA Touring professional Miriam Nagl started working with Somax at the end of July 2004 after experiencing severe back and hip pain as a result of extended weight lifting. During the course of her program at Somax, Miriam began working with our Power Hip Trainer, which has since become a consistent tool in her training regimen.

As Miriam became more flexible through our Microfiber Reduction and Tension Reduction program, she realized how stretching was not helping her to turn the way she wanted to. The pictures below show just some of the improvements in her flexibility through our program.

Leg Abduction Range

Leg Extension Range

Arm Flexion Range

Trunk Rotation

Each of these ranges improves a specific part of the golf swing. Leg Abduction is needed for the legs to work independently. Extension is necessary for full hip rotation. Arm flexion allows a full backswing without bending the elbow. Good trunk rotation allows the golfer to maintain their spine angle while making a bigger turn.

How did a 24 year-old female golfer lose so much flexibility?  Very simple. Since age 14, Miriam has been on a complete physical training program, including lifting weights and lots of 'core' work.  The result has been that overusing her muscles in this way created tension and microfibers, a mild form of scar tissue, that bound her muscles together. Once formed, microfibers tend to accumulate over time, making golfers stiffer as they get older. Most of the work we have done with professional golfers is undoing the damage caused by 'core' work, lifting weights and running. Miriam did all three.

Here are the results of her Somax program in her swing mechanics.

With her added flexibility, Miriam is now comfortable standing more erect at address, can keep her hands and club more on plane during her backswing, and now has her club and hands exactly on plane at the top of her backswing. Stiffness in her shoulders and trunk made it impossible to get in these positions before.  By releasing tension and microfibers that were binding her muscles together, Somax made it possible for her to attain the correct swing positions she wanted.

Now her downswing is more on plane, her spine angle at impact is EXACTLY the same as at address (instead of the 7 degree difference before) and her follow-through is more on plane. Maintaining a constant spine angle is the key to good ballstriking.

Notice also that her hips are now much more open at impact.  This is due to her added hip flexibility and the use of her Power Hip Trainer. Miriam is now hitting the ball longer and straighter.

Here you can see that Miriam's spine is more vertical at address, and her left arm is now 82 degrees above horizontal at the top of her backswing, as compared to just 47 degrees before her Somax program. Her shoulder turn has increased from 115 degrees to 142 degrees.  The modern convention is to restrict the shoulder and hip turn, but this is just because most golfers are so stiff. Flexible golfers can make a 120+ degree shoulder turn and strike the ball well. Sam Snead also had a 142 degree shoulder turn and won more pro tournaments that any other golfer in history.

In the above photos, you can see that Miriam has slightly increased her casting during her downswing. This sometimes happens because of increased club head speed. As Miriam practices more with her new flexibility, she will reduce her casting.  At impact, her front spine angle now is only 4 degrees greater than her address spine angle. Before, her front spine angle tripled from 6 degrees to 18 degrees! This tilt was caused by her sliding her hips instead of turning them.  Golfers with stiff hips always find it easier to slide rather than turn.  The sliding can be seen by the fact that her left hip was outside of the vertical  dotted red line coming up from the inside of her left heel. Now, her hip is inside of that line.

The problem that arises from increasing your front spine angle to your right is that it opens your club face at impact.  Tiger Woods has this problem.  This is why he hits his drives off to the right. Golfers try to correct for this by turning the club face over with their hands. Sometimes it works, sometimes you hook the ball. This was the problem that Miriam had before her Somax program--her balls were going right and left. Now she is hitting the ball straighter than ever before. 

The results are showing up in her earnings. In 2004 she made $38,000 in tour earnings. In 2005, $152,000.  She quadrupled her earnings in one year!  

Miriam also won her first tournament in two years after her Somax program. She won the Euro Q-school tournament with a 72-71-71-71.  Not a bad score for a golfer who had problems with consistency.

Miriam made an insightful comment while explaining her reason for training with Somax "You play golf with your body. If you want to change your game, you have to change your body."

Here is her report of her experience working with Somax:

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 from weight lifting. This pain began to impact my performance as a professional golfer.  I started doing Yoga, went to see different massage therapists and changed my workout routine to get some relief. Yet nothing seemed to ease the pain.  

I noticed during my stretching sessions (which would sometimes last 1 ½ hours) that many of my muscles just wouldn’t give.  I would feel good for the next 4 hours, but by the time I cooled down the pain had returned.  I also noticed very little improvement in flexibility from one session to another. 

I remember how frustrating that time was for me. During all the years of strength training and stretching, the various coaches that I worked with only taught me about the muscles.  Never did anybody mention the connective tissue that surrounds them and what could go wrong with it. 

When I first saw the demonstration tapes of Microfiber Reduction, I was skeptical that this procedure would really help my problems.

I am now into my second year of working with Somax and I couldn’t be happier about the results that I have seen from their work with me. They have enabled me to work on my game with no pain in my body. They have improved my flexibility in areas I didn’t even know were of any importance to golf.

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 statistics on Tour by becoming more flexible and tension free.

One example of the benefits this program has given me is visible improvement in my putting.  My head used to move a lot during my stroke.  I would work on it for hours with little result. After the first year of my Somax program, I have improved my LPGA putting statistics from 1.86 ( T 112) in 2004 to 1.81 ( T 27) in 2005 (Putts per Green in Regulation) and my head movement has decreased dramatically. 

I have also quadrupled my income as a player, and won my first tournament in two years, both of which have made me very happy.

As Somax got rid of the microfibers between my muscles, it enabled me to move the way I know I should move. This is partly what has increased my level of confidence as an athlete.

Tension Reduction is another bonus of the program.  I noticed that my focus and concentration levels have improved by releasing tension.  Nowadays, I feel much more relaxed on and off the golf course. Situations where I felt pressure in the past don’t seem to bother me anymore.  

The biggest lesson I have learned from working with Somax is that scar tissue around our muscles just doesn’t let us perform to our capabilities. Once this scar tissue is released, there is no limit to our performance and well-being!

Thank You Somax.

Miriam Nagl

LPGA and Euro Tour