Josh’s Tips & Tricks: Turn Those Shoulders

Intro

Hello golfers. Welcome to this week’s tips & tricks. This week we are going to look at an exercise that can be used as part of your warm up to help understand how we turn around the spine in the swing. Turning the shoulders and the hips at different rates and understanding how to work certain muscle groups is one of the keys to playing consistent golf. Lets take a look.

Shoulder Rotations

Firstly take a look at the following video to see what movements we are on about. Then we will look into why they’re important.

Sat Down

Overall we are trying to use the muscles around the spine to rotate. When seated get the knees at 90* and sit up straight towards the edge of a chair. Place the club across the shoulders and tuck the elbows into the body with the arms crossed. Slowly start to turn the shoulders around the neck. Try to keep the head still (try focusing on something straight ahead) and keep the shaft parallel to the floor. Try to also keep you hips fixed and your bum attached to the seat. You should start feeling the muscles in the mid back working.

Stood Up

Now try to turn the shoulders stood upright. Try to keep the head still and the hips as still as possible. When you have done this do it in golf posture. Tilt forward about 45* and try to turn the shoulders as much as possible without the hips moving. When you can really feel the back muscles working try to make a complete backswing. Turn the shoulders away from the target until they can’t go any further and allow the hips to turn until the shoulders hit 90*. When in golf posture the shaft at this point should be pointing straight down towards the ball. Unwind the hips and turn everything to face the target.

With the Club

Now practice with a golf club in hand. Practice starting the backswing with the shoulders and then add the hip rotation when the hips won’t turn anymore. This will be different for each of us depending on how well your body works (mobility around the spine). This should help generate a coiled up spring feeling. Fully unwind and swing through full speed.

Benefits

Separating the shoulders from the hips is crucial for clubhead speed and efficiency in the golf swing. When you can control the way the shoulders and hips turn you should really start to feel like you have control over your swing. Creating a coiled up spring effect through the body can help you hit the ball further and also strike it better throughout the bag.

If you feel like you struggle with mobility around the spine you can come and find me and ill show you some exercises. Alternatively head into the Trax guys in the gym and they can put an exercise program together for you.

Summary

Improving and understanding how the body turns in the golf swing is extremely important. When you can turn your shoulders and hips with more control and consistency you should start to see more consistency in your game.

If this is something you struggle with and you would like me to take a look then CLICK HERE TO BOOK A LESSON NOW.

See you soon!

Cheers,

Josh