The Slide – Don’t Dance In Your Golf Swing

You’ll be hard pressed to find two golf swings that are the exact same! However, that does not mean that one person’s swing is wrong compared to another swing.

Every golfer’s body is different, which means their swings will be different!

Titleist Performance Institute says it something like this… “There’s not just one way to swing a golf club. Instead, there’s an infinite number of ways to swing a club. However, there is one efficient way for every player to swing and that is based on what the player can physically do!”

According to TPI, there are 12 major swing characteristics that can cause inefficiencies in your swing and also put you at greater risk for injury! You may have guessed it, but the slide is one of those Big 12 Characteristics.

What is a slide? A slide is any excessive movement of the lower body down the target line that happens during the downswing.

Why is this a problem?

1. Decreases stabilization of the lower body, which leads to impaired ability to disassociate the upper half and lower half
2. Decreases speed and power
3. Decreases accuracy
4. Increases injury risk of the hip, knee, and back
5. Lastly… You can lose a lot of golf balls…

Why does this happen?

1. Lack of lead hip internal rotation
2. Weakness in the gluteus maximus and medius
3. Impaired activation or weakness of the adductor muscles
4. Impaired coordination and movement patters leading to a defective kinematic sequence
5. Improper equipment (shoes, clubs)
6. Ball position

If you do have a slide in your golf swing, this does not mean that you won’t be successful on the course. Perhaps this is how your body moves best. However, the best way to find out is by getting a TPI evaluation and swing analysis!

Below you will see an example of a drill that can help you “post” on the lead leg and/or “turn” into the lead hip!

You will also see a recommended exercise to start improving your glute strength for stabilization of that lead hip and to help improve power!

Check it out below!
 

The use of bands are a great for helping your body move different and help with muscle activation by changing the feel of what you are use to doing.

That is typically the hardest part about making a change in anything we do. We get comfortable with the way our body moves, and the first instinct is to continue moving in the pattern of least resistance.

Banded Glute Bridges are a great exercise to help with both the gluteus maximus (power muscle) and your gluteus medius (stabilizating muscle).

Glute weakness is a common theme that I come across in not only my golfers but also in many other clients as well. When there is a slide fault in the presence of glute weakness, there is an increased risk for gluteus medius tendinopathy. This can be in form of acute inflammation of an injured tendon or in a chronic degenerative tendinopathy that occurs over time through repeated stress.

Regardless, you definitely do not want either of these as it would make your golf outing less enjoyable or even nonexistent for a period of time!

That is why strengthening these muscles are so so important!

Recommendation:

1. 3 sets of 10 reps every other day

 
I realize that this exercise is on your back and golf is played on your feet…. But if you cannot activate your glutes when your standing, then there is no benefit to doing a standing glute exercise.

This a great place to start… because many of us need to actually FIND OUT GLUTES!!!

But for those of you are a little more advanced…. the lateral band walks (with band right above the knees) are a good progress!

See Below!

I hope that you were able to take a few things away from this post and also take some actionable steps to improve your golf game, but more importantly, to stay healthy!

If you ever have any questions above this content, fitness related questions, or any questions about what you may be feeling in terms of aches/pains, please don’t hesitate to reach out!