FIXING YOUR GOLF SWING WITH EXERCISE
When people think of difficult sports, golf usually isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Golf looks easy. But, in fact, it requires muscular strength, joint flexibility, and neuromuscular training. And it all comes down to the golf swing; possibly the most complex and coordinated movement in sport.
People spend countless hours trying to improve their golf swing. Accessories, Books, videos, and golf pros can help identify and solve problems with stance, grip, and hip turn ratio, but they often overlook the biggest fault to the golf swing; the human body. Physical limitations such as shoulder girdle instability, poor flexibility, or limited core strength are often the underlying faults in a poor swing. So, it’s often not about correcting your swing, but correcting your body. Let’s look at the most common swing problems, what causes them, and how to fix them.
Chicken Winging. If your non-target (side farthest from ball) elbow lifts on the backswing, the angle of the club moves and you will end up smothering the ball or hitting the top of it. This is a common problem in people with shoulder girdle instability. To reduce this problem, focus on exercises for the infraspinatus, teres minor, and posterior deltoid. Lie on your side with a light weight in your hand, rest your upper arm on torso, and bend your elbow to 90-degrees with your forearm parallel to the floor. Then, keeping your elbow in contact with your body, slowly lift the weight towards the ceiling. Repeat 2 sets of 10-15 reps 2-3x/week for optimal results.
Backswing Sway. Does your ball slice or hook dramatically off the tee? This happens when your hands drift too far away from your body and pull the torso on the backswing, causing too much lateral movement. Physically, your body has an inability to rotate the upper torso and a lack of balance. To fix it, focus on balance exercises that stabilize core muscles. Stability balls and foam rollers are great tools to train balance. To improve torso rotation, try an exercise like the Pilates Spinal Twist.
Dipping. Can’t drive the ball as far as you would like? You could have a dipping (also called reverse spine angle) problem. Dipping pushes your body weight to your front foot and causes your hips to move laterally, instead of rotating. This is a problem for golfers with poor hip stability. You need to strengthen your hip flexors, external obliques, and rectus abdominis. The pilates crisscross is a good exercise choice.
Casting. Do you top or smother the ball, losing power on impactl? This happens when you uncock the wrists too quickly and the club head comes ahead of the hands. The main cause for this is a weakness in the wrists and forearms. Exercises such as wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, and reverse bicep curls can alleviate this problem.
Lower-body lunge refers to the body not being in the correct position at the moment of impact. As you try to transfer your weight quickly to your target side (side nearest the ball), your body will lunge past the ball, the club face will point downward, and the ball may not get off the ground. The cause of this is weak hips and legs. Lunges, leg curls, and leg lifts are good exercise choices.
To succeed at golf, your body must maintain muscle balance and flexibility, postural stability, strength, and power. Spending a bit of time in the gym or at home doing a few basic exercises can go a long way to improving your game.