Do you ever wonder why the best golfers in the world such as Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk have chiropractors?  To answer that let me first digress…  Every year, at the beginning of the season, thousands of golfers across the U.S. make the vow to play better golf.  How many times have you said, “This is the year I break 100, 90, or 80?”  So you hit the range and bang thousands of balls, maybe take a lesson or two, buy that new driver that promises 30 more yards, and renew your subscription to your favorite golf magazines chock full of all those clever tips. And yet by the end of the season your handicap is pretty much the same - nothing has changed.  Research shows that 80% of golfers cannot break 100, and yet, as most will attest, it’s not from a lack of effort.  To quote Albert Einstein, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  The truth of the matter is that neither the lessons, nor the practice and the new driver are going to help your game if your body cannot execute the correct positions in a golf swing.

In golf, as in all athletic endeavors, the key to success is the ability to have complete control of all muscle groups, as well as having strength and stability without sacrificing flexibility or coordination.  Do you ever wonder why professional golfers swing so easily and controlled and can still hit the ball a mile, but the average golfer’s swing is quick and short, often resulting in a weak slice?  The answer is that they have greater range of motion, or if you will a greater “X-factor” (the difference measured between shoulder and hip turn), which allows them a greater ability to generate more power in their swing.  A larger X-factor also allows the golfer more time to coordinate the intricate movements of the swing, hence making it easier to create tempo and a long, loose, unhurried swing.  The average golfer is aware, perhaps subconsciously, that they have less time to coordinate their movements during the swing. The smaller X-factor causes them to go through a complete pre-shot checklist of every movement they are going to make, which is referred to as “paralysis by analysis,” wherein a golfer will freeze over the ball at address, unable to start the swing. The restricted range of motion in the average golfer also causes them to swing faster, as they are attempting to build up power as a result of the smaller swing length.  This is usually accomplished by incorporating the hand, arm, and chest muscles as opposed to powering the swing correctly with the lower body.  These actions are the “death moves” of the golf swing, and as any teaching professional will tell you make it impossible to strike the ball consistently.  

The fact of the matter is that most average handicappers know the golf swing very well.  The problem is not that your brain isn’t getting the technique down, it’s that your body is incapable of accommodating what the brain is telling it to do.  Think of it this way, do you have to concentrate on which muscles to use when you are writing something down?  Do you need to focus on how to coordinate the process of throwing a baseball?  Of course you don’t, because you have achieved a kind of muscle memory and these are tasks that your body is capable of doing easily.  Now think of all the golf swings you have made in your lifetime, probably millions if you are like me.  Wouldn’t it be fair to say than that your brain has a pretty good idea of how the golf swing works?  To use a simile, it’s like trying to throw that same baseball without being able to bend your arm.

So what is the answer?  How can you increase your X-factor?  First it is important to understand that it is not really muscle tightness in your back, pelvis, and legs that prevent you from making a complete swing, it is actually the joints in your spine and throughout your body that are to blame.  You see, muscles for the most part become stiff and short in response to joints in the body that are restricted or not moving properly.  The way it works is that the brain first senses a specific joint or joints are not moving or working properly. As a protective device it signals the surrounding musculature to become shortened and tight, known as splinting, guarding the joint from being injured.  There are many things that can cause these restrictions such as poor posture, over-exerting ourselves at work or in exercise, or just sitting at a desk all day.  Over time, not only will the stiffness remain, but also degeneration of the joint will occur.  Basically what it comes down to is you can try to stretch these muscles until the cows come home, but unless you unlock the restricted joint, these muscles will not completely relax.  This is a large part of what chiropractic adjustments do; they restore proper motion to joints of the body allowing for lengthening of muscles and in turn greater flexibility.

All this being said, there are other integral elements to improving one’s golf game such as proper fundamentals, good posture, and core strengthening exercises.  The truth of the matter is that if you are going to spend all that time on the range, why not give yourself a real chance of improving.  So go ahead and get the newest over-sized driver and a dozen Pro V’s, but if you really want to hit it like Tiger and Jim, visit a chiropractor…you have nothing to lose but strokes off your game.

Tags: X-factor

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 8:12 pm and is filed under Golf. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.