As the seasons rotate from summer to fall it’s a good time to focus on your own physical rotation. Trunk rotation is essential to the golf swing, enabling you to separate your shoulders from your pelvis. Some literature will refer to this separation as the “X factor”. A greater degree of separation between your shoulder blades and your pelvis/hips will allow the player to apply force over a greater distance. When executed with speed this creates power.
Maximizing the player’s trunk rotation yet maintaining the alignment of the shoulder blades parallel to the pelvis is crucial to maintaining consistency in the golf swing.
Exercises
Here are 3 exercises to improve your swing by improving the ability of your thoracic spine to rotate.
Mobility
Lay on a foam roller with the roller perpendicular to your spine. Spend 2 minute rolling up and down your spine loosening any tight muscles.
Keeping the roller still, with your hands supporting your neck, arch over the roller. Extend 3-5 times, move the roller 2 inches up or down your spine and repeat.
Finally lay on the roller with it running parallel down your spine, from your head to your tailbone. Keeping as much of your spine on the roller, slowly extend your arms above your head. Repeat 6 times.
Flexibility
Restricted latissimus dorsi muscles are extremely limiting in allowing the trunk to rotate freely. Here is a stretch to help improve the flexibility of these large trunk muscles, getting as much range as is physically possible. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds and repeat 2-3 times.
Stand tall with an elastic band looped around your wrists and your arms straight
Overhead and pulled slightly apart to create tension in the band. While keeping your trunk extended, maintain the tension in the band as you exhale and side bend at the pelvis. Hold this side bent position for 3 deep breaths before you return to the starting position. Repeat on both sides 2-3 times.
On Course Exercise
Maintaining the mobility and flexibility that you are able to achieve at home prior to heading out on the course is important as we all seem to tighten up after striking so many balls. Here is a practical exercise to use on the range, at the sixth and twelfth holes.
Using a longer iron slowly search the muscle tissue along the sides and back of your trunk, looking for tight knots or bands. Once you find one then gradually use the longer iron to massage out the knot. This could take 2-3 minutes to do before the muscle releases.
Complete 5 passes up and down you back looking for these tighter bands or knots.
