Some folks might say that all of our Renegade Golf Fitness coaches are “obsessed” with posture. And we never seem to let up… when you are working out, standing, sitting, we just pick, pick, pick.
I would choose to say we are obsessed, indeed, but with peak performance and injury prevention. We’ve seen it hundreds of times over the past 15 years in our facility, men and women with poor general postural integrity ALSO have a crappy golf posture. This can often be seen at address, and becomes even more obvious when they swing and lose their spine angles.
We don’t touch swing mechanics (that’s for the swing coaches), but we have yet to meet a instructor that believes that early extension, swaying and sliding are good traits in a repeatable swing.
The most common issue with golf posture that we see is when the shoulders and upper back round forward, the arms rotate inwards, and the head migrates out in front of the body. This is called a Thoracic Kyphosis, and Upper Crossed Syndrome.
It’s simply IMPOSSIBLE to reach your true potential with this type of golf posture.
Just to be clear, I didn’t say that it’s impossible to score well. Heck, there are some Tour players who look like this, and they’re an elite bunch. What I contend is that they’re not able to play to their full peak performance potential.
Here’s why:
1) The chronically tight muscles of the upper body will restrict both the backswing and the follow-through
2) Flexion (rounding forward) of the upper back further inhibits rotation
3) The bodies protective mechanisms with “shut down” certain muscles during your swing to protect you. This means that you’ll have to start decelerating your club-head sooner, resulting in less distance
4) The gravitational load will be supported by your muscles, instead of your skeletal system. This results from your head and shoulders moving forward, creating stress, tightness and fatigue – see The Golfer With The 42 Pound Head
5) Osteoarthritis (wear and tear on the joints). When less-than-ideal golf posture turns into powerful rotational force i.e. your swings with all of your long/medium clubs, joints begin to wear out at rapid rates
Crappy Golf Posture – What to Do About It
1) Stretch and/or Mobilize the tight muscles – see Stiff Necks and Your Messed Up Golf Swing
2) Activate and Strengthen the corresponding weak muscles – see The Best Golf Posture Exercise & Golf Back and Shoulder Exercises
3) Optimize Breathing Patterns – see Golf Breathing Techniques
4) Postural Awareness – see Golf Posture Shirt below
Golf Posture Shirt from Intelliskin
Consistent attention to the first 3 areas above will go a long way towards correcting postural faults, which will in turn enhance your performance and minimize your chances of injury.
The fourth element is postural awareness throughout the day and 18 holes, which is tough for most golfers, at least in the beginning. We’ve recently been turned onto a great new product by Intelliskin, which can make this “awareness training” much, much easier.
Actually, posture-improving shirts or apparatuses have been around for a long time. I recall trying one on back in early 1990. It did make me more aware of my posture, but I was equally aware of how uncomfortable the thing was (it included Velcro straps!). So I haven’t really given them much thought in a couple of decades, and was more than a bit skeptical when a doctor friend of mine was talking about his cool “posture shirt”.
After trying one on myself for about 10 minutes, I was totally sold on the product and the concept. Here’s why:
1) It’s a subtle way of “training” your muscles and nervous system to align in good posture.
2) It gently reminds you about proper shoulder position, while at the same time allowing you to move in all planes of motion without restriction… like in your golf swing.
3) It shows improvement immediately. I have damn good posture, if I do say so myself 😉 But my wife can still tell if I’m wearing my Intelliskin under my work shirt. It’s that good.
4) Comfort. Although these shirts are tight (much like Under Armour), I quickly adjusted to the feel and enjoy wearing it almost every day.
The only downside would be the cost. Most of the styles will run you about $90. It can also be a bit funny to watch someone putting it on for the first time. You can cut the learning curve by watching the instructional video from the website. There is a trick to it….
If you are looking to improve your performance on the course and prevent injuries, then it would be wise to become just a bit obsessive about YOUR golf posture as well.
Check out the golf posture shirts below, and let me know how you like them:
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