Ok so last time we left off I was delving into the crux of golf fitness- the Body-Swing connection. Or as the Titleist Performance Institute states their swing philosophy; “We don’t believe there is one way to swing the golf club; we believe there are an infinite number of ways to swing the golf club. But there is one efficient way for every golfer to swing, and it’s based on what they can physically do” A fairly simple and I think logical way about going about the body and swing dynamic. Futhermore, as golf fitness/performance professionals we also hope to see our client’s full swing match or at least come as close to possible the ideal Kinematic Sequence. What the heck is that Kinematic Sequence!? In short we like to see the full downswing sequentially transfer power from the ground/feet, to the legs > hips/pelvis > thorax/ribcage > shoulders/arms > wrists and finally club:
Hopefully this graph makes some sense to you where the verical axis is basically how fast particular body segments are turning and the horizontal axis is depicting how this is occurring over time. In simplistic terms - the pelvis “slings” the thorax, the thorax “slings” the arms (represented for measurement by the lead arm) and the arms “sling” the club. Further, as evidenced by the peaks and subsequent descent of the graphs (after about 1.0 seconds) there is a corresponding Deceleration in the same order. Why? Because the subsequent body segment that is “scheduled” to accelerate, kind of “pushes off” the previous body segment-effectively slowing down the rotation of the previous body segment. Any breach in the order of these movements, we as golf performance professionals would consider “power leaks” or inefficiencies. So this is all good and dandy Jeff, but how does this all relate to “golf fitness”? Well…there’s a good chance that there is some type of swing inefficiency that corresponds to some movement limitation or strength/power deficit as presented in a proper golf fitness screening. Now there can be any number of movement/strength/power limitations present in any golfers screening, but for example- let’s take a look at a golfer that fails to perform a successful pelvic rotation test. The pelvic rotation test can be used to determine if the golfer is physically even able to dissociate the upper body from the pelvis. As the graph demonstrates, the hips should lead prior to the the thorax in a proper downswing (and should decelerate earlier as well) In individuals that fail to dissociate the thorax from the pelvis, it is common to see the upper body kind of dominate or “outrace” the hips in the downswing. Consequently we see these golfer often coming “over the top” or out to in, as the golfer is unable to swing on plane or deliver the clubhead at all from the inside. The resulting ballflight is typically-NECESSARILY even! - a slice or dead pull. It is then up to us as golf fitness pros to recommend programs that address these and other possible corresponding movement limitations.