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Tip #4: Swing Sequence
Because the golf swing is one of the most unnatural, complex, and
explosive movements in sport, you must prepare your body to perform
this powerful athletic action as successfully and safely as possible. Better
joint flexibility lets you swing in a fluid manner through a full range of
movement. Greater muscular strength provides more striking force to
drive the ball farther. Enhanced balance and coordination are the keys
to control and will help you place each shot closer to your target area
Taken together, these fitness factors can make a big difference in your
golf performance, playing satisfaction, and game scores.
Elements of a Golf Swing
 | | Greater muscular strength provides more striking force to
drive the ball farther. |
The American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI) in Birmingham, Alabama, breaks down the golf swing into five separate biomechanical
phases or positions that are useful for designing a sport-specific program for golf:
- Set-up
- Backswing
- Transition
- Downswing
- Follow-through
Chris Welch, president of Human Performance Technologies of Jupiter, Florida, uses his program and software package - the Biolink System - to analyze the golf swing using body segments (hips, trunk, shoulders, and arms) organized into functional links (hips-trunk, trunk-shoulders, and shoulders-arms). The main purpose of the Biolink System is to determine specific forces and power outputs during the
swing phases and how these factors relate to optimal club head speed.
The analysis allows you to determine objectively how your power
might be leaking away.
The forces that act on the segmental components of the spine vary from
individual to individual, depending on skill level and physiological
factors. Preexisting conditions of the spine, such as degenerative joint
disease, postural imbalance, or degenerative disc disease, will change
the way swinging forces are distributed. Of course, if the physical
demands exceed tissue function or recovery capabilities, the result will
be a breakdown of the joint structure. Normal forces that occur to the
spine during the golf swing are as follows:
- Anterior and posterior sliding forces between the segments
(shear forces)
- Lateral bending forces between the segments
- Twisting (torsional) forces between the segments
- Compressive forces between the segments
Recent research at the New Jersey School of Medicine has found that
professional golfers demonstrate less sliding, lateral bending, and
twisting forces than amateur golfers. Compressive forces were approximately eight times body weight for both groups. Neuromuscular firing
of the trunk muscles revealed that professionals use less effort while
performing the trunk coiling and uncoiling process. In addition, the
sequence of neuromuscular firing was different between the groups.
These findings suggest that the lower-handicapped golfers have more
efficient swing patterns than higher-handicapped golfers. The key in
explaining the way that these spinal segments and muscular forces are
decreased in the better golfer might lie in how well each individual is
able to pass momentum from one segment of the body to another.
This efficient passing of momentum, commonly referred to as kinetic
linking, can be improved through training. By increasing muscle strength,
while at the same time improving joint flexibility, balance, and coordination, you will develop more efficient and effective summation of
momentum. This basically translates into increased club head speed at
impact, which results in longer drives.
Golf Swing Analysis
Kinesiologically, much of the work on golf swing analysis has been
performed at the biomechanics laboratory at Tenent Medical Center in
Englewood, California. Most of this work has been done under the
supervision of sports medicine pioneer physician Frank lobe. The
analyses show that there is little activity of the trunk muscles during the backswing and relatively high and constant activity in these muscles
throughout the remainder of the swing.
These results demonstrate the importance of the trunk musculature
throughout the golfer's entire performance enhancement, preventive,
and rehabilitative program. Studies of the shoulder demonstrated that
the rotator cuff muscles acted predominantly at the end ranges of
motion. The internal shoulder rotators were activated during acceleration and the front shoulder muscles were activated during the swing
and follow-through movements. The middle and rear shoulder muscles
on the lead arm were extremely active to stabilize the shoulder girdle
throughout the swing. More important, peak muscle activity of the hip
and knee during the golf swing was recorded before the peak muscle
activity of the trunk and shoulders region. This substantiates the
importance of the sequential actions of the different components of the
body for generating power.
To obtain the greatest benefit from proper sequencing of swinging
actions, you must have strong leg, thigh, and hip muscles to generate
driving power. These lower-body forces then must be transferred
through well-conditioned midsection muscles to the upper body. Strong
chest, back, and shoulder muscles permit greater acceleration of the
club, while maintaining control through trained arms and forearms.
There is perhaps no single action in sport that requires more overall
muscular strength, joint flexibility, and movement coordination than a
perfectly executed golf swing.
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