Minimalist Golf Swing

Bernhard Langer – How can one critique one of the most lasting swings

of the past several decades?

Easily. By understanding that the correct way to analyze a golf swing is based on what is ideal from the perspective of ‘first principles’.

Working from ‘first principles’ means not assessing a golf swing by comparing it to that of the most elite golfers swings, but based on where the body should be positioned at impact to give the club the desired path, angle of approach and maximum speed.

This requires a simple understanding of anatomy (contact me for a two-hour educational session on ‘anatomy of the golf swing’), because regardless of whether a person is male or female, young or old, big or small, we all have the same joints which can only move in certain fixed directions (planes of motion).

So, the fewer the joins moved during the backswing, and in the fewest possible directions (planes of motions) the simpler, more reliable, and less prone to injury a golf swing becomes.

AND on the subject of Bernhard Langer, do get into his top-of-backswing position (or that of most other top golfers) – see picture above – to realize the main body-movement is a lateral flexion (dropping down) of the left knee, hip and shoulder, with an extension of the right hip and knee (as if he is squatting on the right hip), and some retraction (moving back) of right shoulder blade. How can golfers expect to rotate forward when they side-bend during the backswing?

Iconic basketball player-turned golf enthusiast whose swing is

a great source of entertainment to many

A golf student once said, “If the Minimalist Golf Swing is truly as great as you claim, it should surely help Charles Barkley’s swing where many, including Hank Haney in the Hank Haney Project, have tried and failed”.

Hank Haney, in Episode 5 of the Golf Channel Hank Haney Project says that the problem is not mental. You can then see him work with Barkley on maintaining the level of the head throughout the swing, instead of dropping it down a foot or more, which is the main reason Barkley tends to have a very strange hiatus in the middle of his downswing.

It’s not that simple to cure such a fault. A ‘don’t’ instruction is not easy to follow. It should be replaced with a ‘do so-and-so instead’ type instruction. And the ‘do’ must place all Barkley’s joints, at the top, so that he CANNOT drop down, or rather, his brain does not feel the desperate need to make his body lower its level, in the hope of delivering the club to the ground.

Many very tall golfers tend to not be able to remain in posture during the downswing and stand up, and after repeatedly missing the ball, although they are often superb athletes, develop the instinctive habit of dropping the body down to simply try to scrape the ground and scoop the ball up!

See the video of his swing and some recommendations:

Ian Woosnam, famous Welsh golfer in Birmingham, Alabama, May 2014.

It is always amazing to hear the coaches, biomechanics researchers and even the surgeons and physiotherapists tell less talented golfers that they should swing like elite golfers or professionals, in order to have more swing-efficiency and less injury.

If anyone could have seen Ian Woosnam on the driving range the day before the pro-am of the Regions’ Tradition Championship – the first ‘major’ of the Champions Tour, they would not agree – he had so many fat shots as well as a few rather thin ones.

Could it be fatigue from let-lag? Could it be poor timing? Yes certainly, but a swing in which the major joints are not positioned based on their design-capabilities will often fail under conditions of high-arousal, fatigue or exhaustion, especially as the golfer ages, simply because the brain and the muscles cannot efficiently     co-ordinate all those difficult moves.

It really means that  Woosnam’s joints are being placed in difficult-to-undo positions at the top of his backswing, and unless timing – that highly unreliable, transient creature – is perfect on a given day, he will not hit the ball as consistently as someone of his experience and skill-level should.

See this video to make YOUR assessment of his swing.

                                              Anatomy of the Golf Swing Blog-post No. 4

Anatomy of the Golf Swing – The Shoulder Girdle (esp. Scapula)

[All descriptions are for a right-handed golfer].

The Shoulder Girdle, and, for that matter, all parts of the upper body, have one main function – to present the arms and thus the golf club to the ball in such a manner that the ball can travel as far, straight and high as possible. [For which results, the club must be moving as fast as possible and from an inside and shallow direction].

Often the terms ‘shoulder girdle’ and ‘shoulder’ are used interchangeably. They do, however, refer to completely different parts of the body. The shoulder girdle refers to two bones – the clavicle or collar-bone, and more importantly, for golf, the scapula or shoulder blade. [For more technical details on the ‘movement of the scapula and humerus’ see pg. 1861 in http://ptjournal.apta.org/content/66/12/1855.full.pdf].

The thin, triangule-shaped scapula has, on one of its corners, an indented area (the glenoid cavity/fossa), which serves as the ‘socket’, for the arm’s ‘ball-and-socket’ joint.

So the ‘ball’ (the top part or ‘head’ of the humerus or upper-arm bone) has a range of motion – in three directions – which is determined by which direction the scapula’s ‘socket’ is facing. In simple words, if the ‘socket’ faces up, the left arm can climb up across the chest more easily during the backswing. The opposite is true if the left ‘socket’ faces ‘down’.

Similarly, if the socket is presented forwards, with a hunched-forward shoulder, it restricts the range of motion of the right arm during the downswing.

[See how the right arm gets ‘crowded’ with a rounded back (pics on left, right arm in red) and is able to move freely with a flat right-side of the upper back (diagrams not to scale!)].

For the purpose of the golf swing, it must be noted that the main role of the ‘shoulder girdle’ or more specifically the scapula, is to be positioned so as to facilitate required directions of upper arm movement. The range of motion of each arm is determined by the direction in which its scapula is facing.

What are the expert opinions on the role of this region in the golf swing?

One result of a google search on the role of the ‘scapula’ or ‘shoulder girdle’ in golf, is Titleist Performance Institute’s C-Posture, or rounded shoulders. Two of several causes for this posture, they say, are – a lack of shoulder girdle mobility; or of scapular stability.

Actually, normal people have very stable scapular regions during the golf swing, simply because so many big muscles attach the scapula to the spine and the ribs.

Also, there is never any restriction of shoulder girdle mobility, AS LONG AS a golfer’s body positions the scapulae in the direction in which the arms need to move. UNLESS there is a CONFLICT of INTEREST in the roles of the scapulae and the arms, there is never a problem (with normal golfers).

The main lack of mobility in the area occurs when then right shoulder becomes protracted (hunched forward, with the right elbow staying behind, when seen from the side). Even young professional golfers with perfectly neutral spines (the lack of which TPI promotes as a big cause of poor swing mechanics) can get into a position similar to the dreaded C-Posture for various reasons (which will be discussed with the hip joint blog-post).

See the protracted right shoulder of many fine Tour Players:

See shoulders which are not protracted and allow a lot of freedom of arm movement in the impact area:

The protracted right shoulder is a problem because the humerus (bone of the upper arm) is not able to move freely off the scapula, and the right elbow and wrist are forced to straighten in directions they are not designed to straighten from, creating imperfect impact, as well as potential for injury at the elbow and wrist, when repeated over time. In other words, there must be gleno-humeral freedom of movement for an efficient, unrestricted downswing.

Looking at two consecutive positions during Suzann Pettersen’s downswing, with a protracted right shoulder pre-impact, can you see how her right elbow and wrist are bent at awkward angles? [Could that be why she had right elbow surgery in 2004? To see her entire swing motion see http://www.golfswinggallery.com/2011/suzann-pettersen-golf-swing/]

NOW THAT we understand that where the scapula faces is an important issue in the freedom (or lack of it) of the arms’ movement, we must ensure body positions which place the scapulae so that they do not interfere in the role of the arms. A mere correction of a C-Posture is not enough – even after a correction, or despite a perfectly neutral spine, a golfer can get the right shoulder (scapula) into position for poor impact.

The Minimalist Golf Swing not only positions the right scapula for better presentation of the right arm at impact (even for those with an existing C-Posture), but also positions the left scapula for a more efficient backswing (to be discussed in the blog-post on the shoulder/upper-arm).

The right scapula in the Minimalist Golf Swing, is rotated back, pre-swing, so that even a true C-posture-possessing shoulder region still has a long way to travel before it arrives at the ball, thus giving the right arm more room to move without being crowded-in by a protracted shoulder – see pic. below. [The above are not how-to comments, they’re strictly FYI].

Incidentally, have you ever FELT an over-the-top impact? A feeling of a crowded right shoulder and, if you look/feel closely enough, a right thigh which is pushed forward too much, too?

This FEELING is as old as the golf swing itself – one does not need swing video with circles, lines and angles drawn on a monitor to figure out a shot has been hit ‘over-the-top’ (ie. the club has arrived ‘over-the-top’ of the ball rather than approach it from its inside-right-quadrant).

                                          Anatomy of the Golf Swing Blog-post No. 3

The Trunk/Torso [All descriptions are for a right-handed golfer].

The trunk or torso refers to the entire body except for the head/neck, the arms and the legs.

What are the anatomical structures in the torso region of the body? Basically, the spine (see pic below left) – of the thoracic region (with it’s attached rib-cage see pic below right); the lumbar region (with its 5 big vertebrae, right below the section where the ribs attach, see pic at the bottom left); and the sacral region, which serves to attach the spine to the two ‘hip bones’ (also known as innominate bones, coxal bones or pelvic bones, see pic bottom right) of the hip region, and thus, via a ‘socket’ in each of those, to the ‘ball’ of the thigh-bone (ie. the femur).

What movements is the torso supposed to make during the golf swing? Mainly, we are told, a rotation, and a great deal of study has been done on the amount of rotation desirable, based, as always, on what the best players in the world do.

The Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) has become a leader in the field of golf fitness and improving upon the ‘physical limitations’ of golfers. So, perhaps a good place to start is with what TPI has to say about what the trunk’s role in the golf swing. (One website which lists and describes the 12 TPI faults: http://www.finishfirstsports.com/the-twelve-most-common-swing-faults.html)

Of the 12 most commonly seen faults in golfers with limitations (according to TPI), we can ascribe 6 to the torso-region.

During the set-up there could be ‘C’ or ‘S’ posture which describe the curvature of the spine (see http://www.mytpi.com/improve-my-game/swing-characteristics/c-posture).

During the backswing there could be a ‘flat shoulder plane’ (a line joining the shoulders would be fairly horizontal, instead of perpendicular to the spine’s forward angle (see http://www.mytpi.com/improve-my-game/swing-characteristics/flat-shoulder-plane and pics below); and ‘reverse spine angle’ (with the spine leaning towards the target – see a screen shot below from the myTPI website).

Correct and flat shoulder planes:

Reverse spine angle:

During the downswing there could be ‘loss-of-posture’ and ‘early extension’ (hips and spine straighten out of posture too early in the downswing); as well as ‘hanging back’ (see screen shots below from the myTPI website).

Hanging back:

Add to this list the X-Factor and the X-Factor Stretch; as well as the Hip-Rise (two parts of the Triple X-Factor), observed by Jim McLean. McLean observed how the 5 longest hitters on the US Tour had a big angle between their shoulder and hip rotations, while the shortest had a small angle. This he termed the X-Factor. As pro-golfers start their downswing, they are able to increase the angle between the hips (which lead during the downswing) and the shoulders (which lag behind). This he termed the X-factor Stretch, which is considered a key biomechanical principle for increasing distance through stretching muscles which can then contract more forcefully, much as a stretched elastic band can. Finally, McLean has noticed a ‘hip rise’ made by the most powerful ball-strikers.

X-factor (below left) and hip-rise (below right):

So, summing up, for the production of power, a golfer should have a neutral (comfortably straight) spine at address. During the backswing, the thorax should rotate a lot relative to the hips; and the shoulders should rotate perpendicular to the spine angle which was set up at address. During the downswing, the spine should remain in its forward flexion, at least until impact, and the left hip should rise at that stage.

The problems begin right now. A ‘C’ spine can require a lot of physical rehabilitation not every golfer can be bothered with. An ‘S’ spine is not as common, and is often artificially created by golfers, based on instruction they’ve misunderstood (such as ‘stick your butt out’).

How can any sport expect even athletes with the healthiest spines to rotate one part of it against another? The cervical, thoracic and lumbar spines are parts of a whole. Imagine taking a plastic golf club and twisting its clubhead one way, its shaft another, and its grip end a third!

Most ironical, to my mind, is that a world of experts have not noticed that when the shoulders ‘rotate’ perpendicular to the spine, the movement is no rotation at all! It’s a side-bend, technically known as a lateral flexion. Look at a standing lateral flexion and The TPI definition of rotation of ‘shoulders around spine’.

BOTH pics below are LATERAL FLEXION!

These moves can cause great ball-striking inefficiency as the body must side-bend the right side while the lower body tries to start a rotation from this laterally flexed position; the arms must be dropped down; and the wrists straightened. Don’t forget that the left hip must rise at some stage during the downswing too! [TOO MANY MOVES, TOO LITTLE TIME]. In fact, in less skilled golfers, it is the left lateral flexion of the backswing requiring to be un-done, along with so many other joint-movements, which often causes those golfers to make a simplistic straight-line movement during the downswing which we term ‘hitting from the top’.

WHAT SENSE DOES IT MAKE FOR THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE TRUNK/TORSO TO BE HIGHER AT THE TOP WHEN AT ADDRESS AND AT IMPACT IT IS LOWER?

Likely injuries include: to the left and right knees (left as it has to straighten abruptly while being torqued rapidly; and right as it has stretching forces on its inside and compressive ones on its outside). Also to the left hip which is becomes straightened excessively while trying to side-bend the right side; to right side facet-joints; as well as to the left shoulder, elbow and wrist in cases of over-the-top impacts.

The Minimalist Golf Swing positions the torso/trunk in right lateral flexion (with the neck/head matched, see previous post), from address (A) to impact (I), which reduces one extra re-positioning procedure during the downswing, and aids ball-striking efficiency.

This positioning of the trunk/torso in right lateral flexion from A to I, is, in fact, the MAGIC MOVE of the MINIMALIST GOLF SWING, and there are many reasons why it truly is a ‘magic move’ (see rationale of MGSS 2013 on the blog page titled ‘the minimalist golf swing – what it is’). However good your ball-striking, you cannot experience as pure a contact as with the right side down from A to I.

After all, if the body is supposed to right-side bend plus left side rise (hip rise), during the downswing, it’s not as easy as if all it has to do is left side rise! Incidentally, even less-skilled golfers, or those who are older, or not as strong (see pic above, specifically with regard to the main ‘rise’ ie. shoulder rise), get a very good left hip rise (and, more importantly, shoulder rise) with the MGSS, as one extra move is done away with. It is only young, strong, golfers who can have enough muscle strength and thus speed to do both at the same time for maximal power. (Study some impact positions of Seniors of the Champions Tour in posts of May 2013 to see what that means).

Incidentally, The Minimalist Golf Swing pre-sets the ENTIRE SPINE in a PURE (ie. horizontal plane, as required during the downswing) ROTATION. This rotation creates very slightly more right side bend (too much can result in hitting behind), which the golfer then has to maintain during the backswing. The combination produces all 3 biomechanical principles required for power and direction success (for those in the know: stretch-shortening cycle, kinematic sequence and GRF) WITHOUT the golfer’s VOLITION – ie. AUTOMATICALLY.

Anatomy of the Golf Swing Blog-post No. 2

                                                                                                      The Head/Neck

Starting at the top, the first region is the head. [All descriptions are for a right-handed golfer]. Typically a golfer likes to know where the eyes should be or what angle the head should be at during the backswing or at impact.

The head has no movement capabilities of its own, it merely rests on a movable neck. All movement of the head takes place through movement of the neck, correctly called the cervical spine, which comprises 7 vertebrae. These vertebrae together allow the neck to move three ways. The neck can move itself, and with it the head, forwards and backwards (flexion and extension), in a side-bend (lateral flexion) or with a rotary/twisting motion.

What is the role of the head during the golf swing and why? Let’s first look at what the best players do with their heads.

One of the first items to appear when doing a youtube search for “golfer with excessive head movement during swing” is a video by Jim McLean, who has had the opportunity to study scores of the best players in the world. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqbNBMQLQUU).

As McLean demonstrates the head movements of the back- and through-swings, it is clear that during the backswing the head can be vertical – or, in many golfers such as Jack Nicklaus, even tilted with the left ear leaning towards the left shoulder. However, at impact, the head – along with the entire trunk – is always tilted to the right! For every golfer, every time!

WHAT SENSE DOES THAT MAKE?

[Why tilt the head to the left, when that results in one more movement to be accomplished during the downswing, as the body has to shift weight targetwards and un-rotate; the trunk has to be tilted towards the right side; the arms have to be straightened and dropped downwards; the forearms have to be rotated; and the wrists have to be straightened! Whew!]

When a golfer has to rapidly change head-direction during the downswing from a left-ward to a right-ward tilt, it adds to the number of unnecessary moves that must be made to re-position the golfer’s body for the downswing. This messes up timing (the sequencing of body-parts) as well as increases scope for injury.

A rapid change of direction along with acceleration can cause injury to both the nerves that run through that region, and to the muscles and tiny facet-joints of the neck. (See http://www.aafp.org/afp/1999/1101/p2035.html for more information).

The Minimalist Golf Swing positions the head in right lateral flexion (right ear tilted towards the right shoulder), from address to impact, which reduces one extra re-positioning procedure during the downswing, and aids ball-striking efficiency. This positioning also prevents many of the known mechanisms of neck injury from occurring.