Do you play golf? If so, do you slice? Hook? Block? Push? Pull? Even occasionally? You no doubt have worked on your grip, stance, posture and rotation. But have you considered that your own body is preventing you from holding that required posture and rotation through impact?
With a lack of joint mobility and core initiation, you likely struggle to maintain proper position and rotation during the golf swing.
The aim of the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) Movement Screen is to identify physical limitations that may hinder your golf performance. TPI studied the relationships between their movement screen results and common swing faults and found significant correlations.
Titleist identified three of the most common golf swing faults. Loss of posture, early hip extension, and hip slide.
Loss of posture from address position to impact, is most commonly seen as a changed head position, but may appear as knee flexion or trunk flexion. The loss of posture is an indicator of an incorrect golf swing because you are unable to return the club on plane during the downswing. To compensate, you would instinctively use your hands to square the club face at impact, which requires exceptional athletic ability to repeat consistently.
Early hip extension makes it difficult for you to drop your arms down into the proper ‘slot’ for the downswing and can lead to blocked or hooked shots. Early hip extension may also affect your ability to properly rotate your hips. To compensate, you probably slide your hips during the downswing.
The slide is the undesirable excessive shift of the hips toward the target during the downswing. This makes it challenging to stabilize the lower body during the downswing. In addition to inconsistent contact, you will also lose most of the power created during the coiling of the upper body during the backswing.
Based on analysis of their TPI data, Titleist identified these tests that most directly relate to the above swing faults:
• Overhead deep squat
• Single-leg balance
• Toe touch
• Bridge
TPI analysis shows that if you are unable to do an overhead deep squat or single-leg balance on your leading leg, you are 2-3 times more likely to demonstrate loss of posture, early hip extension, and slide. The inability to toe touch increases the likelihood of an early hip extension by 6x. Weakness during a glut bridge test would suggest you are 5x more likely to suffer early hip extension and 6x more likely to lose your posture.
The TPI Movement Screen is made up of 38 specific tests and will identify your physical limitations (and strengths!). I can help explain how your personal test results may impact your golf swing. Your body will find the most natural feeling swing that it can execute; but not necessarily the correct swing. There are infinite ways to swing a club, but there is one only one efficient way based on what your body can physically do. Don't let your own body hold you back.
Gulgin H et al, Correlation of Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) Movement Screens and Golf Swing Faults, J Strength Cond Res, 28 (2), 534-539, 2014