A few of the more common limitations that I see when testing players and how they affect the swing;
Lead Hip Rotation – When the Lead Hip(left for a right hander) has limited mobility, the player may resort to sliding through the downswing in an effort to regain what has been lost in the hip.
Thoracic Spine (Upper Spine) – Many players who have limited rotation away from the target may use lifting their arms and coming out of posture to try to compensate for their lack of a full turn.
Trail Shoulder (right for a right hander) – Some players who have limited rotation in their trail shoulder will create a very vertical backswing with their hands because they cannot physically get into the ‘pizza tray’ position at the top of the backswing.
Loss of X Factor – Also known as separation, the X Factor generates 80% of your power! When one loses the ability to separate their pelvis from their torso…so do they lose the ability to generate power.
Clearly, these limitations are a major part of all our golf swings, which begs the question; what are we to do about it?
1. The first step is to find out what your limitations are so that your and your golf coach know if a problem is something your can handle, or if you will need to find a way to work around it.
2. Find yourself a good TPI Physical Therapist to help you work on your limitations. When the limitations have been improved, you and your golf coach may now entertain a real fix for that problem instead of the original ‘work around’.
3. No matter your age or physical ability, you must stretch before any physical activity, but especially golf. Go get some great stretches from your PT or golf coach that are strictly for warming up. You must Never warm up to hit golf balls by hitting golf balls. This is begging for injury.
Now that you understand a little more about how your body creates your swing, do your game a favor and get your body on the right track!