Self-Test – Do You Move Like a Golf Pro

Almost without exception, all of the great golfers that I have worked with and seen play on Tour, have great upper back mobility.

That’s not to say that all those players swing it perfectly or the same way, but regardless of how they get the club to the ball, their back mobility is almost always top class.

The great news for all the club golfers out there is that whilst it might be hard to carry the golf ball 300 yards or hit crisp iron shots off tight lies into island greens, you can still with work, move like a golf pro and have golf mobility that puts you on par with the worlds best!

So, to establish a baseline and understand where your mobility currently places you, I’ve created a series of Self-Test Golf Mobility drills for you to complete for home.

Self-Test Golf Mobility

Follow the explanations and see how easily (or not) you find the mobility drills to complete. In my experience the best golf players out there are very mobile and able to complete these using correct form.

Seated Rotation

This looks at how well your spine rotates. Sitting in a chair with your feet on the ground and a golf club across your shoulders, turn gently from side to side. What we find with elite golfers is that they are easily able to turn through 90 degrees on each side. The main thing to keep in mind here is that it should be easy to move through 90 degrees, it’s not about forcing the movement.

Posterior Sling

This looks not just at how your spine rotates but also the muscles and soft tissue in your back and through to your opposite hip. In golfing terms we’re looking at how you rotate much like in your golf swing.

Keep your arms straight and fingers together. Turning in the same direction as your top leg when they’re crossed i.e. if your right leg is on top, turn to your right, the goal is to see if you can easily get to 70 degrees.

Neck Rotation

Next we look at neck rotation and given in golf we keep our heads looking at the ball and rotate our body around us, it’s important that we have good rotation here and avoid compensating.

In terms of the test, turn your head to the side and then see if you are able to drop your chin and touch the middle part of your collarbone. We’re looking to see if you can make contact easily with the bone.

Crucifix Test

This test looks at your shoulder rotation which enables you to keep your club on plane during the golf swing.

Keep your spine flat to the wall and your head touching the wall, then see if you can rotate your arms by 90 degrees. If you struggle with this, you’ll know that you’re getting too tight and you may have postural issues.

TPI Lower Quarter Screen

Looking at your hips, possibly this area is not as important as the upper body, it is however going to impact your ability to move effectively during your swing.

We want you to stand and hold a club across your pelvis. Take it in turn to put each leg forwards and plant your weight on that foot. Once in that position, rotate yourself to the same side and we want to see you being able to move through 60 degrees.

Figure 4 Leg Crossing

This looks more at the muscles at the back of your hips.

Sit in a chair, sit nice and tall and see where your leg drops too when crossed. We’re looking ideally to see your leg sit parallel to the ground.

In completing these tests, you should be starting to get an idea of how good or bad your mobility is for your golf game. Hopefully you passed all of the tests with flying colours and realised that you already move like a golf pro, however if you did fail them, I’d suggest you start by addressing the upper body issues first.

If you’re uncertain of your results or what to do next, the best way to approach this is to get an individual assessment and from there an individualised plan to work on. I’m available to work with anyone who is committed to improving themselves.

Short of an individual assessment, I recently filmed a webinar on Golf Mobility, in the webinar (below) you’ll see a more detailed explanation of why mobility is so important for golf, more detail on completing the self-test and a detailed explanation of the next steps and some examples of different exercises that you can try depending on what results you came across in your golf mobility self-assessment.

Hopefully by following the self-test and subsequent advice, you’ll feel that you have a more structured approach on what to work on and it what order, rather than the scattergun approach that we unfortunately see all too often, especially on Social Media.

If you have been inspired to work on your Golf Mobility so that you too can move like a golf pro, it’s possible to work with Matt Green in person. To find out more, please contact us at Precision Athletica to arrange a session either in person or online.

How Do I Book an Appointment with Precision Athletica for Help?

We’re taking the health of our clients, members and staff very seriously and our preference would be for you to call to book an appointment so that we can make sure to explain our approach to keeping you safe. You can call our bookings team to schedule a session:

• Customer Support Centre: 02 9764 5787
• OR email us at: olympicpark@precisionathletica.com.au

Online Consultations

Evolving with the current environment, we are also now offering online appointments, meaning that we can support anyone who is unable to leave their home. Sessions are done via our state-of-the-art Telehealth system and as long as you have a laptop or tablet with an inbuilt camera, or a phone with camera, we can help! Online consultations would be especially effective for guiding you Golf Mobility assessments and subsequent exercise recommendations.

To learn more about online consultations, please call us on any of the numbers listed above.