Instruction
Is your body fit for better golf? Get screened to find out
Each season, every golfer has high hopes of playing better golf than the previous year. Golfers spend their hard-earned money on the newest drivers, balls and training aids with the notion that “this will be the year.” New technology brings many golfers new hope, but to many of our dismays, nothing really changes; it’s still just the same old mediocre and inconsistent golf.
Sadly, what average golfers fail to realize is the best tool they need to play good golf can’t be bought. No matter how many lessons you take or how much equipment you purchase, you still may have issues with your swing that have nothing to do with those things. This is where a TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) Golf Fitness Assessment comes in handy.
What TPI has created is a 16-point screening process to identify body restrictions from your neck to your ankles that can adversely affect the golf swing. There are many factors that can influence our body’s function, ranging from exercise history and past injuries, to the type of job we do and current lifestyle. A complete TPI screening identifies the areas of concern so the fitness professional can lay out a corrective exercise plan of attack to address and correct the problems.
The human body has basically six movements: flexion, extension, rotation, abduction, adduction and stabilization. The TPI assessment process screens all of the important movement patterns that relate to the golfer’s body, as well as the muscular function that creates the movements.
Here, we examine the 16 assessments that we use to screen the golfer, as well as what each one tells us.
Pelvic Tilt Test: We start our assessment process by screening the pelvis and its ability to tilt to the anterior and the posterior. The pelvic tilt test is a great way to check hip and lumbar spine mobility.
Pelvic Rotation Test: Our second assessment is the pelvic rotation test, which checks the lower body’s ability to rotate. This test identifies the lower body’s ability to separate from the upper body.
Torso Rotation Test: This is how we check the torso’s ability to rotate. This test identifies the torso’s ability to rotate independently of the lower body.
Overhead Squat Test: We next screen the hips, knees, ankles, thoracic spine and shoulders. What’s found in this test gives great insight into what can happen during the golf swing due to the inability to perform the test.
Toe Touch Test: The next assessment is a simple, but effective screen to tell us about the mobility of the lower back and hamstrings. This test can also be done with one leg to identify problems in the core or lower back.
90-90 Test: This assessment is used to screen the ability of the shoulders to externally rotate and maintain scapular stability.
Single Leg Balance Test: This test measures the golfer’s overall ability to maintain balance.
Lat Length Test: This test is used to determine lat length and range of motion, as well as shoulder joint range of motion.
Lower Quarter Rotation Test: This screen tests the ability of the hips to internally and externally rotate efficiently. It is performed on both the backswing and the downswing.
Seated Trunk Rotation Test: This is designed to test the mobility of the thoracic spine in relation to the lumbar spine. In other words, it tells us about our separation ability.
Bridge With leg Extension: This screen is designed to test the strength, as well as the activation of the gluteals. The glutes play a major role in the creation of an effective and powerful golf swing.
Cervical Rotation Test: This assessment gives us a look into the golfer’s ability to rotate and flex the cervical spine. Mobility of the cervical spine is very important in allowing fluent range of motion in thoracic rotation.
Forearm Rotation Test: This assessment gives us a look into the golfer’s ability to rotate the forearms effectively.
Wrist Hinge Test: This test helps us determine if the golfer’s wrist is able to perform the proper hinge and release of the golf club.
Wrist Flexion/Extension Test: This assessment lets us determine if the wrist has enough mobility to flex and extend properly for an effective and powerful golf swing.
Reach/Roll and Lift: This assessment tests scapular stability and mobility in the shoulder as well as flexibility is the lats.
So with all of that being said, a golfer should work on fixing the most important piece of equipment that they possess, their body. The best way to better golf is reaching out to a Golf Fitness Professional to get a screening, have a plan designed and then implemente that plan. The golfer can find qualified fitness professionals near his home or office by visiting the “Find an Expert” tab at www.mytpi.com.
For any additional questions or comments please feel free to contact me via email at [email protected]
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Instruction
Clement: Weak grips are injuries in the making for many golfers
Like Jordan Spieth, trying to go to a bowed wrist at the top or in the downswing to square the club is placing you in a dangerous position for your lead wrist; you are one tree root or deep rough situation away from a nasty injury that could easily require surgery. Don’t let this be you.
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Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
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Instruction
The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic
My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
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John Jazylo
Jan 14, 2016 at 11:03 am
This is a great golf-specific routine that Jimmy LaFratte has put together which I would recommend to any golfer that wants to improve his game. Jimmy is the best and what he does for golfers.
Charlie M
Jan 13, 2016 at 5:22 pm
No one knows how to get your body ready for golf more then Jim. I’m always amazed how he knows exactly what exercise or stretch to do in order to strengthen your mussels and enable you to be more flexible. He’s a true professional!!
Alex Kuffel
Jan 13, 2016 at 5:02 pm
Jim LaFratte is the best when it comes to strengthening your golf swing and I wouldn’t recommend anyone else!
Alex Aulerich
Jan 13, 2016 at 4:04 pm
I’m a 19 year old, +3 handicap who has always struggled with flat feet, everted ankles, and poor posture. This not only bothered me on the golf course, but i often felt discomfort off the golf course. I started working with Jim LaFratte in New Jersey back in late September and I couldn’t recommend anyone better in golf fitness. He has not only corrected my physical flaws, but helped me strengthen the rest of my body as well. When playing poorly, I have always struggled with a hook caused by my inability to rotate and load correctly into my back leg, which resulted in poor rotation through the ball and the quick hook I’ve always been disgusted with. Since fixing my physical flaws, my large miss left has been reduced significantly and have allowed me to gain a lot of confidence in my game. Since starting my work with Jim, I have noticed large steps in my game as well as feeling a lot better off the golf course. The passion Jim shows makes you want to push yourself to be better than ever.
Shortangry1
Jan 12, 2016 at 11:39 pm
Golf is a hybrid sport / game. If you’re 1% of the golfing population go ahead and spend your money getting snake oils and false hope. Leave the people who work for a living enjoy there weekend smoking, drinking, cart riding game alone.
erlybrd
Jan 21, 2016 at 12:36 am
Well said! Golf isn’t a sport, but a game to be enjoyed.
Mark Odenthal
Jan 10, 2016 at 10:31 pm
I guarantee you that every single player on tour has or could pass all of these assessments. I would also bet that most golfers who can’t break 77 would fail one or more.
erlybrd
Jan 10, 2016 at 4:15 pm
Golf really isn’t a sport. It is a game, much like bowling or maybe archery.
Fitness is way overrated. Time is better spent practicing short game than working out.
Jake Anderson
Jan 11, 2016 at 3:22 am
i like your trolling. very nice baiting a comment out of me! obviously fitness is the most important part of good golf.
Brian
Jan 10, 2016 at 8:31 am
Can you lick your elbows?