There is no one way to swing a golf club, rather there is an infinite number of swing styles. However, there is one efficient way for every player to swing the club, and this is based on what they can physically do. These physical limitations can of course be improved with the right approach, allowing you to benefit from a healthy and efficient body and swing. This is the basis of what the Titleist Performance Institute teaches, which is an approach we use at Elite Performance Therapy.
These golf swing faults can not only limit your golfing performance, but they can also make you susceptible to developing injuries. When you know what the faults are, you can also learn how to correct them and therefore how to play golf without pain and injuries!
C-POSTURE
Not only is good posture important in everyday life, but it also plays a vital role in the golf swing. In a perfect world, we would all exhibit a neutral spine position 24/7. However, due to jobs, stress, injury, and just day-to-day activities, we all lack the perfect posture that our parents tried to instill in us during childhood. Unfortunately, poor posture can translate into our golf game by interfering with the golf setup. One such posture flaw is known as C-Posture.
This posture can limit a golfer’s thoracic spine mobility. As a result, it reduces the player’s ability to rotate in the backswing, which is something we definitely want to avoid! This posture can sometimes be improved by tweaking a golfer’s setup ( i.e. clubs that are too short or a grip that is too much in the fingers of both hands), but in the majority of cases, it is due to muscle imbalances. The muscle imbalances that occur in C posture are referred to as Upper Crossed Syndrome (UCS). Upper Crossed Syndrome is due to tight muscles in the pecs, trapezius, latissimus dorsi, and weak muscles in the serratus anterior, neck, and lower trapezius.
So how do we at Elite Performance Therapy Test if you have C-Posture ?
Here at Elite Performance Therapy, we are qualified in the TPI Physical Screening process. This is designed to find the physical limitations that are holding you back from playing your best golf. Once we identify the limitations we will provide you with corrective exercises, treatment, and motor learning drills to remove these limitations and have you playing and feeling your best.
TPI screenings test two main components in the body:
1. Mobility (range of motion + flexibility)
2. Stability (balance + strength + muscular endurance)
Failed screen results likely indicate the true “root cause” to common swing deficiencies such as swaying, sliding, coming “over the top”, scooping, etc. The TPI screen also identifies areas in the body susceptible to injury due to the one-sided demands of the sport. In order to identify if you have true C-Posture, we would incorporate various tests including the Overhead Deep Squat test, Lat Test, and Toe Touch Test.
How to improve C-Posture
Not all C-Postures can be reduced or eliminated with cueing alone. What this means is that you can’t just talk yourself out of it or change your body positions to get rid of it. So this involves a 2-fold process :
- Improve mid-spine (thoracic) mobility and reduce muscular restriction or “tightness” of the surrounding rib cage. Here would be a joint approach of both soft tissue work and joint mobilisation.
- Addressing and improving the imbalance between the muscles in the front of the trunk or chest wall and the upper back and the front and back of the neck using specified exercises such as The Open Book, T-Spine Roll Out with Lift Off and Lumbar Locked Reachback.
Hopefully, now you can see how important posture is in the golf swing!
Here at Elite Performance Therapy, we work with both amateurs and professionals. We are here to take you to the next level … and it doesn´t need to take long! Whether it is to win your next bounce game, lower your handicap, secure the club championship, progress through the various professional tours or simply to enjoy golf without pain, we can help 😊