Force in the golf swing is generated from the ground up. The force is transferred from the powerful lower body muscles, which are the largest muscles and prime movers in the body, through the hip joints, into the midsection up through the spinal region, through the shoulder joints, down through the arms, which is the only connection to the golf club. Stability in the golf swing is the body's capability to transfer this tremendous force through the entire kinetic chain efficiently to generate maximum club head speed at the moment of impact.
Most golfers think of stability as holding positions while introducing an unbalanced condition, like a stability ball. While this is one type of stability it is not the type of stability we are talking about practicing in the full golf swing. Holding positions is more of an isometric stability, or static tension, an example would be a holding a side plank, or balancing on a unstable surface while holding a push up position to strengthen the core. While these might be beneficial for producing strength through isometric tension, they do not train your neural-muscular system to properly transfer generated force efficiently from one body segment to another.
In Platinum Golf Fitness we train your body to "fire" the appropriate stabilization sequence in a full body, multi joint, highly coordinated movement. We use body weight and kettlebell loaded movement patterns where your joint mobility/stability impacts the body's ability to perform the movement pattern efficiently. It is the joints capability to fire in the correct sequence as the force is generated from the prime movers that constitutes the stability we are training for the full golf swing.
In a powerful golf swing the large muscles of the lower body generate the ground force. This force moves up through the lower leg joints, through hip joint and pelvic girdle, through spinal joint regions, through the shoulder joints, through arm joints, into the only connection we have to the golf club, our hands. Lack of joint mobility/stability in this sequence will result in a inefficient transfer of force, leading to a loss of power and club head speed. Think of your golf stability as the links of a kinetic chain, as the force moves from one end of the chain to the other, we want the joints to to fire in correct sequence in order to get the maximum transfer of energy. If one link of the connecting chain fires out of sequence there is a power leak, if two links fire out of sequence we have a compounded effect and a tremendous loss of power that was generated intitally.
There is a reason in Platinum Golf Fitness that mobility is trained before stability. In the efficient golf swing as the force is transferred from the ground up, joints are either mobile or stable, it is the sequencing or the timing that produce a very powerful yet graceful looking full golf swing.
Most golf stability programs focus on stability in isolation to enhance performance and decrease the incidence of injury. While this may enhance the golfers performance, they are all done essentially in singular plane aspect, but golf requires the golfer during practice/competition to utilize their body in all three planes of motion at the same time. This means the golfer needs to have the motor units of the rotary and angular/diagonal muscles ready to assist the prime movers as they function in a near-maximal or maximal state and are ready to function when called upon. An example of this is as follows: a golfer can power lift 100 lbs for 5 reps. A very good weight for anyone. However, when it comes time to hit the ball as hard and with as much finesse as he can, he is not able to transfer all that added strength to hitting the golf ball. Why? In this example, his prime mover muscles are strong, but his rotary and angular/diagonal muscles are not as functional. When it came time to utilize his new strength, there was a loss of power transfer to the ball since his trunk stabilizers and movers were not as strong, thereby not allowing the prime movers of his body to put forth all of their power. If these trunk stabilizers and movers were stronger and more functional, there would be less power loss during transfer of the energy created by the prime movers to the rotary and angular/diagonal muscles, thereby creating a more powerful golf shot!
We start our stability training using kettlebell carries, where we simple carry a kettlebell in one of three positions, suitcase, rack, overhead, either by marching in place or by walking a prescribed distance. We can make this as challenging as you can imagine, but the goal is to train stabilization sequencing with dynamic movement, in this case walking. Next we move to lightly loaded ground based movements, and a full body movement where we sequence and pattern mobility/stability using the seven steps of the Get Up. Finally we train high speed stabilization sequencing using rotary and angular/diagonal trunk strengthening patterns with hand to hand kettlebell practice.
In a very short time PGF stability practice can have a very dramatic effect on your golf performance, the effectiveness of the system is we train mobility first, then the mobility/stability sequencing. Nothing is done in isolation, so the carry over effect is rapid. Once we are mobile and stabile, we are ready for balance and strength practice.
Platinum Golf Fitness: Build a Better Golf Machine! Stability
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