So, coming off our training series, today we are going to discuss fitness for golf. Golf is a game of rotational power just like baseball, softball, tennis, and lacrosse. In order to effectively swing a golf club there are some underlying physical requirements that we should possess to the best of our ability if we want to continue to play the game frequently and into our later years. If we look at today’s professional golfers, we will see a very fit group of ladies and gents, which has not always been the case with the sport. Let’s face it one of the most popular holes on the course is the 19th or watering hole, which has nothing to do with playing golf, but rather where we discuss how good or bad the round went over a typically adult beverage or two. Not that there is anything wrong with enjoying the social aspect that the game of golf has to offer, it just shows that sometimes we prioritize that aspect of the game more than being able to play it effectively while on the other 18 holes, which makes discussing the round more rewarding and fun.
Our focus here will be on the required physical aspects of being able to have an opportunity to have an effective and efficient golf swing. Understanding that, it is also highly recommended that you consider working with a golf professional who can take your physical abilities and transfer them to the proper technique for having an effective swing.
The Key to a More Effective Golf Swing: The Physical Requirements of Unlocking Rotational Power
Let’s get into discussing the physical foundational requirements to unlock rotational power that are necessary to an effective golf swing. Since we are talking about rotational motion it is obvious that it will require certain areas of our body to have a good ability to move through rotation. The primary areas that should have good rotational mobility for golf are our mid back (thoracic spine) in our upper body and our hips in our lower body. Good mobility in our thoracic spine and hips, requires a solid foundation for these areas to move from, which is created by good core stability. Core stability is also necessary for us to have a proper transfer system to transfer energy and power from our lower body into our upper body, which is very important to improving the ability to power production. This is demonstrated in throwing mechanics. If we attempt to throw a ball with just using our upper body and keeping our lower body still compared to throwing a ball in which we are able to use our lower body to assist with the throw, it is obvious which ball we will be able to throw further. This is the same effect to hitting a golf ball and the ability to transfer the power we create in our lower body through our upper body. Another big factor to generating power through our upper body is gluteal strength (many refer to the glutes as the “king” of the swing, as they are vital to the ability to generate more power through a golf swing). Core stability and hip mobility is also required to maintain our spine angle through a golf swing, which allows us to comfortably stay down on the ball through our downswing to maintain our club in a good position and plane to make proper contact with the golf ball.
In addition to good mobility in our mid back (thoracic spine) and hips along with good core stability. We also need good ankle mobility and balance to effectively swing a golf club. In addition to hip mobility, allowing us to maintain our spine angle and stay down on the ball, ankle mobility is also required for this same purpose. As previously discussed in our balance post, ankle mobility is also vital to balance. Good balance is a necessary component to being able to transfer your weight and energy from your back leg in your back swing to your lead leg in your fore swing. The ability to transfer your weight through the golf swing is extremely important to creating power and maintaining the speed and inertia of the golf club through the golf ball. Balance also is necessary to reduce excess motion of the lower body referred to as sliding and swaying through the golf swing, which helps improve our power output.
The next part of a golf swing that is important is shoulder mobility, particularly the ability to raise our arms overhead, which is required in the backswing to help get the club in a good position prior to initiating our down swing. This helps us to avoid taking the club off plane at this part of the swing, known as “coming over the top”. Another factor that helps us to avoid “coming over the top” is the ability to properly dissociate our upper body from our lower body. The ability to dissociate is very important to proper initiation of our backswing and downswing in golf. Our backswing should be initiated from the upper body with the lower body following, whereas our downswing should be initiated from our lower body with our upper body following. Many golfers have difficulty with the ability to initiate the downswing from the lower body, which results in our upper body getting ahead of our lower body during the downswing and causes our club to get off plane (bringing the club too far to the inside instead of on plane) and “come over the top”. This is a common cause of slicing or pushing the ball in golf. As we have previously discussed in our shoulder mobility post, good shoulder mobility requires good scapular (shoulder blade) stability to provide a strong foundation and anchor for mobility of the shoulder joint.
So let’s review some of the big physical traits that are necessary to an effective golf swing include:
- Mobility of the hips, mid back (thoracic spine), shoulder, and ankles
- Core and scapular stability
- Gluteal strength
- Balance
- Ability to dissociate upper body from lower body; and lower body from upper body
How to Prioritize Your Time & Energy: The Golf Fitness Assessment
The next question is where you should be spending your time and energy to have a body that is better built to swing a golf club. In order to answer this question, we advise our golf fitness assessment. This assessment involves taking our clients through a functional movement screen as a foundational baseline to assess overall mobility and stability and to verify adequate function of these areas after which we will move on to our TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) Physical Screen, which is a physical screen that is specific to the physical functional needs of golf, think of it as more sport specific to golf. Many want to jump right into the TPI screen, however confirming and owning a strong foundation of mobility and stability is a requirement to progressing into more sport specific assessing and training. Having access to these screens through our certified staff provides our clients with a great resource that is utilized by all levels of golf from amateurs to the PGA. Once we have taken our clients through the screening process, we will develop a program that is designed to help them reach their goals, which we will also discuss at the time of our assessment and take into consideration along with their physical screen findings.
Let’s review some of the strategies that we may use to improve these areas with training. Many of these topics we have covered in previous posts, as a result we recommend going back and reviewing these posts to learn more about how to improve these areas. We will supply links to these posts below:
The “King” of the Swing: Ways to Improving Gluteal Function & Strength
In addition, we covered a good portion of gluteal strengthening in our strength, part 1 and part 2 posts. However, let’s review some strengthening exercises for the glutes, that have a good transition into improving gluteal function during the golf swing:
(Again, we will demonstrate from the ground up as that would be the typical progression with training however not all clients would require starting from the ground, this would be dependent upon our assessment findings):
The above examples also demonstrate how we can utilize full body movements to help improve gluteal strength. This is a more functional way to improve glute strength that creates a challenge to the glutes with a better carryover to golf, which is also a full body activity. This is not to say that doing more glute strengthening exercises that do not require as much upper body activity (deadlift, squats, etc.) would not be an appropriate or effective way to improve glute strength that can also benefit golf.
Dissociation is a Key to Proper Swing Path
Next, let’s discuss some drills and exercises to help with the ability to dissociate upper and lower body. Dissociation can certainly result from loss of mobility or a stability issue. The ability to differentiate between these two is determined during our TPI physical screen. Our general rule is to correct mobility issues first followed by stability issues. The strategies noted above in our shoulder and hip mobility posts are some of the ways that we would work to correct underlying mobility issues limiting dissociation. Let’s talk about some strategies that we utilize to assist with the stability component of dissociation. The most fundamental stability exercise to assist with dissociation is rolling. Rolling is a great way to create dynamic stability and core communication that connects the upper body to the lower body and vice versa. The ability to be able to transfer momentum and movement from your upper body to your lower body and your lower body to your upper body through a core connection is a critical component of being able to dissociate.
In addition to rolling, other options to improve the ability to dissociate include:
…and Finally Rotational Power!
The next step to creating an effective golf swing would be to train rotational power, it is important that we work to restore mobility, stability, and strength prior to considering power. However, we certainly can work on these factors simultaneously in a plan, but we would not want to jump into training power without building a good foundation, as this is often where we will create compensations that will likely result in overuse and increase our risk of injury.
Of course, the techniques and exercises that we have previously discussed in our training power post would also be effective in training power for rotation as well.
It is obvious that the training to build a body that can produce an effective golf swing does not mirror or mimic a golf swing itself. We always advise in addition to training a body that has the ability to produce a good golf swing that you consider a golf coach who can take the body that you build through training and teach it how to properly swing a club.
Other things that need to be considered to producing your best golf swing and round include:
- Hydration
- Sleep
- Nutrition
We will not cover these topics in detail here, but it is important to realize that these lifestyle factors can positively and/or negatively impact our ability to perform just as much as training. In other words, they all are important to improving your golf game.
If you are interested in learning more about how we can work with you to improve your golf fitness take the opportunity to come in and begin your fitness assessment through our No Stress Fitness Strategy Session, which is the first step to getting on the correct (swing) path! There is no-obligation to come in for this 30-minute process, other than your time! Given the amount of time and money spent on playing golf, is it not worth finding out what may be holding you back from your best round yet? Hint: It’s probably not the equipment you’re playing with, you may want to consider investing elsewhere first! We understand that it feels good to have that nice new driver in your hand, however the inability to effectively swing it is probably not going to make a big difference regardless of the club in your hand.
…Till Next Time!
