Chris Watts has been working in Hong Kong for 8 years as a Stretch therapist and he passionately believes that flexibility is the most important fundamental to playing golf. Not necessarily improving the golf technology or having pristine golf courses to play on. When you think about it golf professionals have not been able to reduce peoples’ average handy caps in 30 years. The dilemma in Chris’ opinion is golf fitness preparation and carefully studying how muscles affect your golf swing. Learning to play golf should be and is an extremely physical experience, not just a mechanical one. Chris believes that most people are stretching in an adverse way, using old technology, tightening their joints rather than loosening.

Most people think of golf as being a quiet past time with little physical endurance needed. Never underestimate the peak condition of top golfers. The majority of golfers that come to see us at STRETCH have spent the best part of their adult lives sitting behind desks and doing very little physical activity. As a result of their lack of flexibility particularly in the hips, lower back and pelvis they often experience muscular discomfort and limitation on their golf swing, spoiling the potential of their game.

A professional golfer will walk 7 to 8 miles a day, they will hit 500-800 balls per day, and then there’s the physical conditioning work. Touring professionals have between 50-100% more flexibility in their torsos than the average golfer on the street, and nearly 2/3rds faster hip speed through the ball. By the time you’ve finished your day you will have spent 6-8 hours training and conditioning your body before even beginning the game.

If you take somebody with the extreme physical talent such as Tiger Woods; his most obvious physical gift is his extreme mobility. His range of motion and rotational speed of his trunk allows him to achieve the most perfect and dynamic swing in the game. You could say that his soft tissue has been neurologically programmed to swing a golf club since he’s been playing from 3 years of age.

Today professional golfers work not only on their commitment to physical conditioning, but more and more on the postural balancing. The flexibility component seems to be the key to the coiling and uncoiling of the spine during the golf swing.

Aaron Mattes, the founder of Active Isolated Stretching, describes golf as a power sport which means the greater the amount of strength or power you can exert with the golf club to the ball the greater the velocity the ball will travel, in other words the farther you can hit the ball. His formula is power equals the amount of strength you can exert over a great range of motion divided by time. In other words you can take the strength you already have and use it through a greater range of motion thus allowing you to achieve a greater power potential.

Just to recap on what flexibility is – joint range of motion, defined as ones available range of motion about a specific joint.

One of the reasons we believe that flexibility is one of most important components of the golf swing is because it increases the movement distance for force application. Studies have demonstrated that greater amounts of force can be produced when a muscle is pre-stretched when performing the activity demanded of it. A pre-stretched muscle creates elastic recoil that applies additional force for a more powerful contraction, a procedure known as preloading the muscle, very much like winding a clock.

The most effective and powerful golf swings are produced when the force-generating muscles are preloaded first. The preloading occurs on the upwards and downwards cycle of the swing. Since muscles work in groups, symbiotically, while one side of muscles is contracting the other side is releasing, very much the agonist/antagonist relationship principle on which Active Isolated Stretching is based.

Postural alignment and stability for golfers - the key issue is to maintain the angle of your spine throughout the entire swing. This requires a high level of muscular strength through core strength training around the mid section. A strong trunk musculature allows the forces to be transferred effectively from the legs and pelvis to the upper body and it also enables the body to withstand these enormous twisting forces(torque), without break down or injury.

During the golf swing the transfer of energy and power from the lower to the upper body is the most pivotal link and the most common weakness observed in golfers. For example during a right handed golfers back swing the hip and shoulder segments rotate clockwise around the orientation of the spine. As this occurs the trunk musculature that connects the hip and shoulder sections begins to load as a result of the coiling action. The energy stored in the muscles during the loading process will help to accelerate the shoulders during the swing. It’s not just how much coil but the timing and sequence that creates the maximum power.

Your maximum power is generated when the action of the lower body produces a counter clockwise acceleration of the hips around the axis of the spine. The hip segment accelerates first creating a dynamic loading of the trunk musculature; the shoulder then leads the hip in a counter clockwise direction and accelerates. At this time the hip begins to decelerate. This action passes energy to the trunk as these muscles contract to accelerate the shoulder. The result is the creation of power and rotation speed of the shoulders which is double that of the hip. Any spinal or pelvic tilt will reduce that speed and that transfer of energy to power. This is why when we do postural assessments, symmetry, left right, front back is crucial. This lack of symmetry, whether you’re a golfer or not will cause an inefficient generation of power and will increase the stress on your lower back and joint structures.

So to recap on the optimal swing there is an exacting interaction that takes place between hip rotation and trunk rotation which should occur in perfect sequence during the ideal  swing. The key to all this coordination is a high level of strength and flexibility throughout your trunk area. By enhancing your joint flexibility you can lengthen your golf swing, increase your club head speed, and help to prevent injury on the de-acceleration phase of the swing. If muscles are more flexible when shoulders, arms and torso have to decelerate the swing, there will be decreased chance of injury. Active Isolated Stretching is a widely used method of stretching by doctors, therapists and athletes to increase the body’s potential to heal and increase performance. The other principle of Active Isolated Stretching is Sherrington’s law of reciprocal innervation. This is when a contraction of a muscle is stimulated and there is the simultaneous inhibition of its antagonist (opposing muscle). It is essential for coordinating movement. All AIS requires is a two second hold of stretches which will prevent the myotatic or stretch reflex from tightening the muscle you are attempting to stretch. Chris can not stress enough the importance of beginning your conditioning training with flexibility, and then continue with strengthening.