The Key To Great Stability in Your Golf Swing; Part 1 Core Stability

The Key to Great Stability in Your Golf Swing; Part One- The Core

 What is core stability and why is it so important for the golf swing?

When we talk about “core stability” we are referring to the ability of the deep torso muscles (tranversus abdominus, multifidus, internal obliques, paraspinals, pelvic floor) to stabilize the lumbar spine or lower back. This layer of musculature forms the “inner unit” of the core.  Coordinated contraction of these muscles allows the body to control the movement of limb segments during dynamic motion. This means these muscles work to maintain optimal joint alignment as your body moves through space – this maximizes mobility and biomechanical efficiency. It is also important to note that contraction of these muscles is what protects the lumbar spine from the high shear forces generated by the rotary movement of the golf swing. Learning to properly recruit these muscles is important for injury prevention.  Incidentally, if you have S posture it is even more critical that you to learn to recruit these muscles. This muscle imbalance impairs the function of the lower abdominals leaving the lumbar spine at risk of injury from the repetitive, rotary force of the golf swing.

 The outer layers of torso muscles act a little differently in the golf swing. The rectus abdominus group (the six pack muscle) acts on the pelvis to push it into a slight posterior tilt (in conjunction with glutes) so that you can maintain your posture throughout the full range of motion of your golf swing. Proper firing of this muscle helps you maintain the spine angle that you set up with. When it is not strong you typically see the early extension and loss of posture swing faults. The external obliques work as a sling in conjunction with internal obliques to help bring both the torso and the hips around in the golf swing. Proper firing here is needed to help establish good rotational swing mechanics.

 Proper functioning of all the muscles outlined above is necessary to generate a consistent repeatable swing.  It is important to hit them all in your golf conditioning program. Pelvic tilt mechanics, maintenance of posture, and torso pelvis separation are all dependent on core stability. Train it well

 Without good torso stability your mobility is compromised. In the golf swing this means that if you have poor torso stability you will struggle with two things;

1. You will have a tough time getting good separation between your upper and your lower body. This reduces your x factor at the top of the backswing. It can lead to lateral sway and slide, and loss of posture on both the downswing and the backswing. The resulting misses do not help to lower scores.

2. You will have a tough time maintaining the primary spine angle that you set up with at address from take away through impact– this tends to introduce more vertical movement into your swing.  The loss of posture that results can contribute to an over the top swing path (loss of posture on the backswing), and or early extension.

 The resulting misses do not help to lower scores. In the next installment I will lay out a series of core stability exercises to give you better control of your golf swing.