My name is Fred Mannix, and today we're going to be talking about the offside forehand.

It's the most important shot that you're going to have in polo, and it's absolutely critical that we do a few things correctly. One is we want to have our balance be on the balls of our feet with our heels pointed down. What's going to happen there is when you stand up, you're naturally, your knees are going to squeeze the saddle.

That's going to give you the ready position for when you stand up out of the saddle. In the athletic stance, your hips will move forward over the pommel and we're going to take your hand straight back and that is going to naturally turn your shoulders to the tail and the ears of the horse.


We're going to let the gravity do most of the work and keep your eye on the ball. Sufficient distance between the ball and the horse.

Hit the ball at impact and throw your hand on through the goal.

You're going to find yourself using the offside forehand shot often in the game of polo. It's utilized on penalty shots and on knock ins. These moments where the ball isn't moving is the best time where you're going to be able to deliver maximum force to the ball by using your technique we just spoke about previously.

When the ball is moving inside the center of the field, you're going to use this shot to pass the ball to your teammates or make approach shots to goal.

What you're going to find is in practices that the speed of the practice is not up to the speed of a game. So it's a good time to work on your technique. You're going to find the offside forehand shot useful for you to practice hitting and driving the ball as far as you can in an accurate manner. Once we move into a game situation we all know that it's easier to do things when you're moving slowly.

Tougher to do it when you're moving quickly. So what we're going to focus on in the game is making sure that we make great contact with the ball. And that comes into an area where we need to concentrate until we hit impact of the ball. That'll give you a cleaner swing. The time really to focus on the fundamentals is on the practice field or when you're sticking balling.

In the game the offside forehand shot, unless you're taking the penalties or the knock in, often the ball is moving. So maximum power can't be applied in those situations. However, this is the situation where you are most likely to hit it farthest. So take your time, utilize the technique required. 

The professional players, what we want to do is become more accurate. Almost all the professional players can hit it at least 100 yards. So distance isn't the main consideration. But repetition of this straight, long shot is critical. And for those who are able to do it on a continuous or repetitive basis, often have a higher handicap.

Well, the most important thing for the beginning players is you really get out what you put in. So if you're prepared to Take the time that's required to become a competent rider. If you're going to take the time that's required to understand the mechanics and the fundamentals to hit the ball, that alone will be much more useful than just if someone is talented.

I know from experience that if you put in the time, if you practice your penalties you will learn how to hit it longer and straighter on a more consistent basis. When we're utilizing the offside forehand The most important thing I can recommend is getting up and out of the saddle and arm straight back.

Up and out of the saddle gets you in the ready position, the athletic position, much like shooting a basketball. As it's difficult to shoot a basketball from sitting in a chair, the same can be applied from hitting the ball sitting in the saddle. Up and out of the saddle allows us to be utilizing our whole body, all our muscles, our legs, core.

And when we throw our arms straight back. We generate tremendous power in our core through that twisting motion of the shoulders becoming parallel with the horse's head and the horse's tail.

Often from beginners, I see the common errors in the offside forehand shot being lack of aggression. They end up sitting in the saddle, so unable to generate power because they're not in the athletic standing position. Many amateurs, instead of for the full swing, they do a half swing. And I also see... That they're not utilizing the full capabilities of their body.

So they're not getting the arm straight back and loading their core full of energy. And they'll often break their elbow and thus breaking that pendulum like action. 

So not getting the power that they require on the ball. Often it's easy just to sit in the saddle and utilize your shoulder, elbow, and wrist to generate power. However, you're leaving out the biggest muscle of all, which is your core, and so it equates similarly to a baseball player only using his arms to try and hit a home run. Very, very difficult to do and very hard to replicate on a consistent basis.

The more experienced player for the offside forehand shot, what I would recommend is getting in a consistent rhythm of practicing, hitting a bucket of balls a couple times a week. And very quickly after you hit five to eight buckets of balls, you're going to notice you're hitting it farther and Simply because you're practicing that repetition that's required.

Your muscle memory is building itself up. And you're strengthening your body. Mentally, you already know what's going to happen. You're anticipating the shot as you approach it. Because it's not a new thing that you're experiencing just on the weekends. You've already been working on this skill during the week.

So for the professional players, I would say repetition. It's absolutely critical because they already are able to drive the ball. Now can you do it nine out of ten times in a row? I'm proof of that. I practiced many, many times, many, many years. Until I got to a point where it became natural and part of the routine.

And now I'm able to drive the ball almost half the field. So consistency on working on that shot is key. And what you're going to find is that your miss hits become fewer and your great hits become more available. In my opinion, the offside forehand is a shot that the more you master, exponentially you become better.

With the field being 300 yards long, if you can learn to hit it consistently 100 yards, That's three shots down the field, which is a challenge to most players. However, if you spend one hour a week, six weeks in a row, I can guarantee at the end of it, you're going to be hitting the ball farther and cleaner.

Well, I think, uh, it's always a balance for the experienced players. They have, you know, obviously tremendous responsibility placed upon them to organize the team, captain the team, look after their own horses, and then at the same time, make sure they're in fit and strong shape. to be able to compete out on the polo field.

So dedicating the time that's required to practicing the offside forehand shot is probably the most challenging. But once you're out there, I would say having a coach or a mentor that can give you little tips to help optimize the swing is important. Obviously, being on the ground and observing someone else's hitting, you can see little inefficiencies in the swing.

So having that partner, that mentor, that coach that's able to be there with you to help you optimize is critical.