Common Golf Injuries - Hips [SERIES 1 of 4]
Why is strength important in the golf swing?
Golf is a power sport, so the ultimate goal of strength and conditioning in the golf swing is to develop power. However, what is often missed in the golf training world is that many golfers jump right into strengthening without correcting faulty motor patterns. To initiate strengthening it must first be focused on proper sequencing of the swing without resistance. This is where all of those mobility issues needs to be addressed to not dive into strengthening an ineffective swing. Test your mobility at home with our 2 golf mobility drills
Once the swing motion and patterns are there, strength is a necessary next step into developing any force into the golf swing. Once the muscles of the golf swing have adequate force production for a consistent swing, speed can be addressed by adding power into these strength motions.
Similar to with the mobility required of the golf swing, strength is required from head to toe. Through that 1.2 seconds you are swinging (on average) strength and power occur in every plane of motion, around multiple axes, across different joints at different intervals. Muscle groups must forcefully shorten, stabilize and control the lengthening through different phases of swing. This means there is a specificity required in strength training for golfers- but that specificity can change depending on what aspect of swing we aim to strengthen.
This strengthening can start segmentally- upper body push/ pull strength, hip hinge stability or hip rotation strengthening. This might look like staggered stance shoulder presses, single-arm dumbbell press, single-leg deadlifts or standing clamshells. And with isolation, this can start improving the activation of muscles in the correct phases of swing.
However, progressing to full body resisted strength motion in each plane it can help maintain and develop the full body recoil and power that creates consistency of swing. This might look more like horizontal chops, cable bar lifts, single arm squat press with rotation or lateral step up with rotational presses. These motions involve a higher level of complexity and stability to promote multi joint strength and a synergy in the opposing muscle groups.
Strength is a factor that is often missed or trained incorrectly in the golf swing as so many jump into stretching and power production, however, isolated strengthening is what will develop a force in your swing without excess effort. This strength will also protect you against overuse injuries.
