Is Your Body Limiting Your Golf Swing? Finding and Fixing Movement Restrictions

Many swing faults are not really swing problems. A golfer who cannot rotate the hips or upper back far enough will find another way to get the club back, and that workaround shows up as a fault. Lessons can manage it. They cannot remove it while the physical limit is still there.

The body-swing connection

The idea, made popular by screening systems such as the Titleist Performance Institute's, is that what your body can do sets limits on what your swing can do.

Two areas cause most of the trouble:

• Hips. Limited rotation in the hips restricts the turn back and through. The lower back often takes up the slack, which costs speed and can lead to pain.
• Thoracic spine. A stiff upper back shortens the shoulder turn. Golfers compensate by lifting the arms or losing posture.

Limits in the shoulders, ankles and wrists matter too, as does a trunk that cannot hold position while the body rotates around it.

What a movement screen does

A screen is a short series of simple movements: rotating the hips with the upper body still, rotating the upper body with the hips still, a deep squat, balancing on one leg and others. Each one is tied to something the swing needs.

The result is a list of what moves well and what does not. Put next to video of your swing, it shows which faults have a physical cause.

Fixing what it finds

• Mobility work for the areas that are restricted, done often and in short sessions.
• Stability work so that new range of motion can be controlled.
• Strength training for the hips, trunk and shoulders, to build power and consistency on top of better movement.

Mobility on its own is not enough. Range you cannot control does not show up in the swing.

What changes

• A fuller turn without strain, and usually more speed
• More consistent contact, because the body is not improvising
• Less stress on the lower back and lead-side joints
• Swing changes from your instructor that hold, because your body can now make the move

How we use it

Every Summit golf program starts with an assessment of how you move, read against what your swing is doing. We use K-Vest and launch monitor data alongside it. The training plan comes from that, and we coordinate with your swing coach so both are working on the same problem.

Equipment matters as well. Clubs that do not fit can force compensations of their own, so a fitting is worth doing once your movement has improved.