There is a secret to improving your swing exponentially greater than just watching recordings of your swing and analyzing how to make minor adjustments to improve it.
Oftentimes, you can’t even physically feel what is holding you back. According to Robert Gillanders of Sports and Spinal Physical Therapy in Washington, D.C., “‘If you are going through your swing . . . the body is going to go through the path of least resistance. So, in the instance of golf, if you have an area of your back or if you have an area of your hip or shoulder that’s inflexible, then you’re not going to go through that inflexibility — you’re going to go around it. That’s where we see these common deviations for the swing.’”
“I am not injured. Why would I pay with my hard earned money to see a physical therapist (PT) when nothing is wrong with me?” This is a great question. However, with all great questions come sometimes surprising answers.
Here’s the secret you have been waiting for:
Go to a physical therapist and get a golf fitness assessment.
If you can’t prove to a PT that you can move your shoulders properly, for example, that PT will tell you that you are going to cut corners when you swing, no matter how many times you practice and adjust. Your body simply cannot complete the task. Without taking a look into your, “biomechanics and fitness,” capabilities, you’re essentially shooting yourself in the foot (And, when would you ever be able to play a good golf game with a bullet in your foot?).
“Okay, you’ve gotten my interest. So, what do I do? Do I just walk into a physical therapy practice and say, ‘Fix my swing?’” This is close, but not quite the answer. Reference My Titleist Performance Institute to find a physical therapy practice that offers a golf fitness assessment. These fitness assessments tests your functional movements and, what Dave Davis of Golf WRX calls, “asymmetries, limitations, and dysfunctional movement patterns.” Testing for the presence of these certain types of strengths, weaknesses, and movements all comprise your golf swing.
Without understanding how your body is doing while you swing, you are literally taking a shot in the dark as to how to improve it. Golf fitness assessments not only help to identify where you are lacking physically, but they also create a custom fitness program just for you. They will track and monitor your progress through questionnaires filled out every few months and inform you of how much you have improved over time. They will guide you when you are completing an exercise incorrectly and gradually incorporate harder and harder movements into your exercise program to build greater and greater strength and mobility as time moves forward.
If you are serious about your golf game, there is nothing you have to lose by obtaining a golf fitness assessment and everything to gain.