Ok, straight up, the key biomechanical element is “you can’t rotate a bent Spine”. Yep, that’s it.
Without this basic fundamental you won’t get your shoulders to turn when you swing the club back.
If you don’t turn your shoulders by rotating your trunk, then the only way to get the club back is to bend your elbows. This will cause the club to raise up – and all you can do from there is to chop down on the ball = Poor Shot.
To begin with, if you only take half a backswing and combine it with good shoulder/trunk rotation, you are halfway to a good swing.
For most of us who are over 30 years old we may need to do some isolated trunk rotation exercises in an almost daily routine to enable our trunk to freely rotate. Once we improve trunk rotation range of movement, the trunk rotation theraband strengthening exercises can be advanced.
See if you can spot the key rotation differences in the pictures below.
(Note they are only half swings but with good rotation, the range of backswing is complete.)
Straight Spine = can rotate from this position
Bent Spine = hard to rotate from here
causes hands to be too close to body
Good Spine rotation
Poor rotation
bent arms
lifting the club up
ready to chop down = poor shot
KEY EXERCISES TO IMPROVE ROTATION ARE :
Exercise 1.
Lying on the floor, on your back, legs bent up.
Spread your arms across the floor beside you to brace the trunk.
Rotate your legs (feet off the ground, can use exercise ball for support) from side to side.
2 sets of 20.
If done slowly it will add a strengthening element.
Exercise 2.
Sitting on front edge of a chair.
Legs apart to brace trunk.
Fold arms across chest with your hands on the front of your shoulders.
Keep your pelvis stable and rotate side to side.
2 sets of 20.
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