Body Swing Connection
The marriage of the golf swing and our body’s capabilities is akin to the differences in snowflakes. Think of Jim Furyk, Matt Wolf, Sergio Garcia, and John Rahm, all very efficient ball strikers, all very different swings, all very different bodies. The Titleist Performance Institute, the organization that has worked with thousands of golfers across 63 different countries stated, “ TPI seeks to educate golf industry professionals and the playing public on the importance of the body and how it relates to the golf swing.” They have gone as far as to coin the term, “Body- Swing Connection.”
Exploring the Swing Body Connection
Let’s dive a little deeper into this body swing connection. When we use current technology to assess a golfer’s swing, we see some commonalities in some of the best ball strikers in the world. From a body perspective, which is my wheelhouse, we notice that the body is made up of an alternating pattern of mobile and stable segments.
When a good golfer is put on 3D motion analysis, we notice that the mobile areas of their body are mobile and the stable areas of their body are stable. Take the hips for instance, the average tour player has over 45 degrees of hip internal rotation (posting in the back swing and posting into the lead leg). If your hips are not able to rotate you will likely sway or slide into the ball, lose club head speed, have poor consistency in your swing, and put increased torque through your lower back!
This is just one example of what is required of the body to make a consistent and repeatable golf swing for YOUR body! The Titleist Performance Institute developed a body screen that is pivotal in setting the foundation for determining how your body will perform the golf swing. This screen is a head-to-toe analysis of how you move and what areas may be limited and how that will show up in various swing flaws we see. Not all swing flaws are related to body impairments.
Get the Most Efficient Golf Swing
This is also a critical point of education. If it were just our body limitations we would not need our teaching professionals. As a TPI Level II Physical Therapist, it is my job to communicate with your swing coach to let him/her know of my findings. We have a few ways we can attack the limitations. We can teach you some workarounds while we address the limitations which may include weakness, stiffness, lack of balance, and poor movement coordination, to name a few. The key point is that it takes a team effort to produce the most efficient golf swing for your body. It has to start with a TPI body screen to see what you are capable of doing and what we can do to address your body impairments to help you play more consistent golf while at the same time avoiding injury!
We are just scraping the surface with this article. Just like I mentioned earlier, each golf swing is different because each body is different! The critical factor is finding what your unique body needs to help you make 2024 a year of great golf without being sidelined by pain or injury. Be on the lookout for more education revolving around these topics and my upcoming offering of a TPI body assessment!
Always my best,
Dr. B