How many times have you been to the driving range and really noticed someone’s setup when they are addressing the ball? If you observe carefully you will notice that a large percentage of people at the range are stooped over like they have a piano on their back. Since golf is played in a forward bent position, it is easy to see why golfers struggle with their setup.
Like most Americans, the average golfer has the typical looking forward head, rounded shoulders and back appearance. This is normally caused from poor posture, deconditioned muscles, degenerative conditions of the spine and people who have desk jobs, just to name a few.
For the most part, the average golfer has not been properly educated on proper posture at address, and how to strengthen certain muscle groups to avoid the same old repeated setup pattern.
It’s more than just setting up with the knees bent and a hip hinge rather than a back bend. It also involves good spinal alignment and how to know when you are doing it correctly. You will not always have someone there to tell you if your spine looks straight, or if you are bending from the hips, so you must learn through corrective exercises which addresses postural awareness so that there is one less thing to worry about on the golf course.
A good exercise for everyone to work on is to take a driver, place it on your back so that your head spine and buttocks are touching the club, assume your natural posture and then bend forward from the hips, while not letting the club come off those contact positions.
Those of you that have poor posture that is structural, and have pain when asked to try something new might find it difficult to keep the club in contact with the head spine and buttocks. It is in your best interest to seek out a medical professional like a therapist who can help you with these issues.
In my last article I discussed the important role of the Transverse Abdominus and how it must engage during the golf swing to provide stability to the spine. For those of you who are interested in posture changes in your setup, engaging the lower abdominals is of equal importance for you to know.
The process of changing someone’s posture is challenging but with hard work on your part can be achieved in most cases. Adding exercise to your regimen that includes postural awareness, stability and abdominal strength, might even lower those scores.
