Golf Biomechanics
Golf Biomechanics
So, the question on your lips, is what exactly is Golf Biomechanics?
Is it not just another sexed up term for the way you swing a club?
Well very loosely yes, but more specifically, golf biomechanics concentrates on assessing every aspect your swing, from your posture both before and during your swing, your flexibility and strength.
After a series of complex assessments and muscle tests, a qualified golf biomechanic can tell what improvements can be made to your swing to make it:
• More Powerful
• More Balanced
• More Consistent
and arguably most importantly
• Safer - to help prevent injury.
Golf Biomechanics and Injury prevention
The power of marketing makes it impossible to ignore the latest beasty driver from Taylor made or Ping but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that just because you have paid £300+ for a new driver, it means that your swing and handicap will automatically improve.
No matter which driver you invest in, the way you swing the club will change very little and certainly not enough to make your swing consistent. The only way to improve your swing and maximise your potential as a golfer is to combine the skills of a Golf Pro and a Golf Biomechanic.
Irrespective of whether you are a weekend golfer playing off 28 or a Professional, swinging a club to hit a ball 300 yards down the fairway, or chipping out of the sand, places a massive strain on a number of structures, particularly the lower back and unless you take measures to protect it, it will only get worse if there is muscular imbalance and inflexibility in key areas.
By having you trunk strength and flexibility properly assessed by a golf biomechanic, you can be told the areas you need to strengthen and stretch, to help rebalance your swing and make your round of 18 a pain free one, but above all a better one.
An example of how Golf Biomechanics can help you:
Take the UK’s most common ailment – low back pain.
Its estimated that up 70% of golfers suffer or have suffered from some form of back pain either before they took up the game or since they started playing.
Lower back pain can affect the body in a number of ways but by far the most common is its effect on the rotational ability of the trunk. Once the Sacro-illiac (where your spine meets your pelvis) joint stiffens up, it makes rotating either painful or just plain difficult.
When you consider that a lot of your power for any shot, particularly the drive, comes from the trunk, if you lose trunk flexibility and try and generate power by other means, you lose the fluidity of the swing and the ball can end up anywhere.
Try it out for yourself and see what happens.
Have a look at Paul Mcginley's backswing. See how much he rotates the trunk to generate power.
Now try it out yourself, but try two different types of swing:
Swing 1:
Address an imaginary ball with your driver, complete a full back swing by rotating your trunk and follow through with a powerful swing. You’ll feel balanced and notice that your front foot will feel comfortable firmly routed to the ground.
Swing 2:
Address the same imaginary ball, again with your driver, but this time do not rotate your trunk as much yet still try and generate as much power as your first swing.
See what happens?
Your front foot will want to lift up and you are likely to be over rotating your shoulders in an attempt to generate the same amount of power as you did in your first swing. The result is that you will “chop” downwards on the ball causing you to slice it or hit really fat.
For people with lower back pain, or even those with poor trunk flexibility, this example (although slightly exaggerated) perfectly illustrates how an unseen biomechanical problem can manifest itself.
Without the assistance of a golf biomechanic, golfers with flexibility issues such as this one will cuss and swear, putting the poor shot down to a bad grip / head movement or “I always do that” and just accept it.
You don’t have to accept it.
The swing of your club is the most important aspect of golf – not the club itself. Once you have made the “machine” which swings the club well balanced, stretched and flexible, your swing will automatically improve and make you a far better golfer.