The golf season has been in full effect for quite some time now. August is now nearing it’s end, school will be back in session soon, and the cooler weather is already starting to settle in. But for all of you golfer’s, that doesn’t mean that the season is done…although you might want to take you and your body in for a tune up. It might be time to take a deeper look and assess the internal performance of your muscular system.
By this point, you have probably swung your club a couple hundred, or even thousand times, attempting to replicate the smooth transitions of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Rory McIlroy, and still have a couple hundred or thousands to go before you call it quits for another year. Your game has probably improved round to round, from lessons with a golf pro, watching the latest YouTube video for tips on your swing, and steady consistency with each game. Our focus, as golfers, is always on the techniques of our swing. If we have a bad game, our techniques must have been off – the swing just wasn’t right. Time to go back to the golf pro or watch another video to see what has changed. Perhaps your “swing” or “techniques” has not changed at all. Your thought is all the same, you’re doing everything properly, but something is just not right.
A golf swing is a finely orchestrated pattern of movements allowing you to create a smooth back swing, accurate downswing and a strong follow through. Each movement is formulated of a series of signals that your Central Nervous System has sent to your muscles to perform their given task at each precise moment throughout the swing. If just one signal is not being sent at the appropriate time, or is interrupted all together, your swing will be altered and a negative outcome will occur.
In order to have the external result you are after (a smooth, accurate swing which is repeatable), you need to ensure that your internal performance (your neuromuscular system, or the connection between your brain and your muscular system) is operating at an optimal level. You will want to assess your range of motion throughout each and every joint that is involved in your golf swing (when you break this down, that includes just about everything). As you go through your back swing, you will experience internal rotation of one hip, while your opposite hip will go through external rotation, a series of trunk rotation will occur, some internal rotation of one shoulder and external from the other. Even your feet will roll in (become more flat footed or pronated) and roll out (creating a greater arch or supination). This just outlines a basic idea of what is occurring. As you transfer into your downswing and follow through, your motions/positions will change to their opposite extreme. If your hip was internally rotated on your back swing, it will be externally rotated on your follow through, same idea with your shoulders rotation as well as the positioning of your feet. Each of these motions needs to be moving smoothly, freely, and be controlled throughout the entire range. Once every aspect is performing at it’s optimal level, and the internal performance of your muscular system has been addressed, the external result will become much stronger and feel more natural.
I’m sure that you’re wondering ‘how do I ensure that my internal performance can match my external performance?’ That can be accomplished through a series of specifically administered isometric exercises or manual palpations of the muscle tissue. The palpations are administered by a health practitioner through a modality called Muscle Activation Techniques. This technique will allow for an “inside view” of your muscular system and an opportunity to assess it’s ability to accept forces and generate forces (ie. Your golf swing). Michael Brown, a client of Matrix of Motion, has had a chance to experience Muscle Activation Techniques first hand to ensure his internal performance matches his external performance. While on the course, he could not understand why on some days, his swing just wasn’t what he expected it to be. He thought that he was “mentally weak” and that he had to better prepare for each game from a mental aspect, however, M.A.T. was able to show him at those moments, his body just wasn’t able to respond the way he wanted it to. The results, according to him, was an entirely new feeling on the golf course.
If you have found that your game just isn’t where it should be, and your swing isn’t quite right, be sure to contact us to get the most out of the rest of your golf season!