A Golf Season On-Hold
Due to the continued stay-at-home and business restrictions, many of us are still unable to play golf. This gives us all a great opportunity to improve our bodies, so when we finally get back to golf, we are physically prepared to play our best!
In our last article, we discussed the importance of mobility and flexibility for generating good rotation in the golf swing, and showed you exercises to improve spine mobility and shoulder turn. In this article we’re going to turn our attention to the hips and lower body turn.
Hip Mobility and Lower Body Turn
In most effective golf swings, we’ll see approximately 30-45 degrees of lower body turn in the back swing, and 35-50 degrees of lower body turn at impact. This amount of lower body rotation in the golf swing is crucial for a consistent, repeatable and powerful golf swing.
At FitGolf, when we evaluate a golfer, we measure hip internal and external rotation. If the golfer displays 40-50 degrees of hip internal and external rotation in both hip joints, we’re confident the golfer has the mobility required to generate enough lower body turn in their golf swing without compensations.
If the golfer displays less than 40 degrees of hip rotation, we’ll intervene and prescribe hip muscle release, hip joint mobilization, stretching and strengthening exercises that promotes gain of hip mobility.
If you know your hips are tight, or you struggle with lower body rotation in your golf swing, perform the following exercises daily:
EXERCISE #1 - FOAM ROLL THE GLUTES
Exercise #2 - Figure-4 Hip Stretch
Exercise #3 - Supine Crossover Piriformis Stretch
Exercise #4 - Reverse Clam Shell
If you try these exercises and you find them to be too challenging or uncomfortable, do not continue until you have consulted with your physician. All exercises for golf should be customized to your needs after a proper evaluation.