Swing Fault- "Sway?"

Defined-
A sway is any excessive lower body lateral movement away from the target during the backswing that forces the weight to the outside of the back foot. This fault makes it very difficult to develop a proper weight shift during transition and the downswing. If there is no stable platform to drive their weight off of during transition, golfers will lose power and inadvertently try to develop speed in an inefficient manner.

Causes-
1. Right Hip Internal rotation- is paramount for full rotation into the right hip without any lateral sway for a right handed golfer. If the body is unable to rotate around the right hip due to joint or muscular restriction, lateral movements will dominate the pattern.

2. Separation of Lower and Upper body- Separation of lower and upper body allows the lower body to laterally stabilize while rotating during a large shoulder turn. Limited trunk to pelvis separation is usually caused by reducing spinal mobility and shortened lat flexibility.

3. Glute Strength- The ability to stabilize the right leg during the backswing is directly proportional to the strength and stability of the glute muscles (your booty!) When it comes to lower body lateral stabilization, the glute medius is the king! It helps the right hip from elevating and shifting laterally during an aggressive coil into the right hip.

Remember, I believe that the way to permanently get rid of swing faults is to find out what causes them, address them with a strong golf fitness program, while simultaneously seeing your golf professional for drills!

Visit http://www.championshipgolffitness.com/ for more info.

golf fitness program, golf fitness instruction, swing faults, sway, golf strength, golf performance, Tiger Woods, PGA

Great start- bad ending

That's what this weekend's Denver Golf Expo was for me!

It started great on friday speaking about posture to about 30 or so people, meeting important Colorado PGA staff and pro's, and meeting a bunch of new people.

Saturday started the same way, had a good Junior Golf talk with Stan Sayers, by then it was about 3:45 and time to eat...so I had a yummy organic turkey sammich, and organic apple and a "Mojo Clif Bar" that had peanuts in it..........

Uh Oh you say?!

Uh Oh is right! The crazy thing was, is that it took only 45 minutes before I could tell "something wasn't right!"

By the time I got home at 5:45, I had to spend some time on the couch cause my stomach hurt, and after I took my kids on a "date" for ice cream and put them to bed by 8pm, it was toilet time!

So not only was that the bad part, I think the worse part was not being able to fullfill my obligation and honor to speak the second time on posture.

So, life goes on with it's little disappointments, I guess I just have to wait another year to "talk to the masses" again about the ever-so-exciting topic of posture!

Oh- and thanks to Trisha who filled it, and John and George for listening!

Visit www.championshipgolffitness.com for more info.

Swing Fault- "Reverse Spine"

Defined-
Is any excessive upper body backward bend or excessive left lateral upper body bend during the backswing. This swing fault makes it very difficult to start the downswing in the proper sequence, due to the lower body being place in a position that usually limits its ability to initiate the downswing.
This swing fault is also one of the prime causes of lower back pain in golfers!
When the lower body can’t start the downswing or has a limited ability to initiate the movement, the upper body tends to dominate the swing which will eventually create path problems and limited power output. This swing fault puts excessive tension on the lower back due to a forced inhibition of the abdominal musculature during the backswing.

Causes-
1. The ability to seperate the lower body from the upper body allows the shoulders to rotate around the spine w/o going in backward bend or excessive lateral bend. Limited pelvis to trunk separation is usually caused by reduced spinal and shortened lat flexibility.

2. Core stability to help maintain posture and trunk stability is essential. The core helps to keep the trunk forward flexed throughout the golf swing

3. Right hip internal rotation: If the body is unable to rotate around the hip due to joint or muscular restrictions then a lateral sway may occur. Any lateral sway during the backswing will force the spine to tilt into backward bend and create the reverse spine angle (tests- Hip Rotation)

Visit www.championshipgolffitness.com for more info.