Dr. D. Ryan York, PT, DPT, CGS Doctorate in Physical Therapy Certified Golf Performance Specialist, GOLO Golf University

Dr. Chad Edwards, PT, DPT, CGFI Doctorate in Physical Therapy Certified Golf Fitness Instructor, Titleist Performance Institute

© 2013 by Age Defying Golf, Boise, ID. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Age Defying Golf.

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Chapter 1. Swing and Body Self-Evaluation

One of the reasons that Age Defying Golf Rx has been so successful is that we begin

with the basic knowledge that the body of the 50-75 year old golfer is physically different

than golfers in other age ranges. You know this. But when you take a golf lesson, you

will probably be evaluated with the same tool and given the same advice as that “20

something” trying to bomb it past his young buddies.

Our swing evaluation is different and is the first swing evaluation to be based on the

known physical science of the body for your specific age range. I know, and you know,

that you will probably never have the flexibility that you did when you where a teenager.

Instead of winding you up in knots and asking your body to do the impossible, let us first

evaluate YOUR BODY. Let us determine what you can do and take a fresh approach to

discover how Age Defying Golf Rx can not only improve your game, but protect you from

injury so you can play the game you love and love the game you play.

**Using a mirror or a partner will help you make an accurate assessment in this chapter. **

In fact, some of the “golf tips” that you may be working on right

now may not even be physically possible for you!!! Be careful! You

may be ruining your swing, or worse, setting yourself up for injury.

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I. Phase One: Setup

Hitting the golf ball is a minor miracle in and of itself and it is even harder if you do

not start in the correct position. How can you expect to be in the correct position as you

hit the ball if you do not start in the correct position! So what do we look for in a correct

address position? Certainly grip is a major factor, however, in my practice I focus on more

physical factors and I would refer you to your PGA teaching professional with these type

of technical issues. As a physical therapist and golf performance specialist, I want to know

what your spine angle is (how far you bend forward at the waist) and how straight or flat

your spine is.

POSTURE AND SPINE ANGLE.

Generally speaking, when I look at a

golfer from the “down the line view,”

men have a “C” posture or a hunched

over posture. Women can also have a

“C” posture OR and “S” posture

(excessive spinal curves that gives the

appearance of an “S”). Due to the

anatomy of the bones in your spine, the

more bent over you are, the less the spine can rotate = limited backswing and loss of

power. Unfortunately, posture changes are not a matter of just trying to standing up

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straight. Poor posture over many years results in muscles changing lengths so that they are

now “gluing” your spine in that poor posture. Thus, to stand up straight you have to fight

your muscles adapted and now preferred position. The only way to really change posture

is to change the length of muscles and this takes time. Refer to the Cervical and Upper

Back Rx section in the Guide to Pain-Free Golf (http://www.agedefyinggolf.com/guide-to-

pain-free-golf) to improve your posture. Here is a sample exercise you can work on to

improve posture: http://youtu.be/RGfvbIWRJqQ.

In addition, how do you know how far forward to bend? Or how much should you

bend your knees? Instead of getting too technical here and giving you the perfect degree

of knee bend, the best answer is the “athletic position.” The athletic position is the bodies

position of absolute power in which the muscles around the ankles, knees, hips, back and

shoulders are at their optimum length and angle for optimum power.

Each muscle has a certain position in which it will produce the most power. Take

your biceps for example (the muscle kids flex to show you how strong they are). The

biceps muscle is the most powerful and can lift the most weight when the elbow is around

a 1000 angle. If your arm is fully straight or if your elbow is fully bent, your bicep cannot

produce nearly as much power.

Luckily for us, the body instinctively knows these positions. If you are getting

ready to lift a heavy object, you don’t stand up straight with arms straight out in front of

you. You get into the “athletic position.” You can get into the athletic position for golf by

first standing with your feet shoulder width apart. Now, keeping your back flat, bend or

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hinge forward at the waist to a comfortable and powerful feeling position. Lastly, bend

your knees slightly. You should “feel” ready for action, ready to dodge a speeding car.

That is all there is to it. A general clue to keep in mind is that most golfers tend to bend

too far forward at the waist. So if in doubt, stand a little taller and make sure that your

back is flat.

Other body parts to keep track of include your head, arms and legs. First, most

amateur golfers make the mistake of keeping their head tilted too far down because they

are trying to keep their “eye on the ball.” The problem here is that when the golfer takes

their backswing, their shoulders run

into her chin and move her head

backwards. It is very difficult to hit a

stationary ball when your head is

moving all over because your shoulders

are running into your chin. Instead,

with your head in a relaxed position, your shoulders should have

enough room to rotate underneath the chin and not affect the

head.

Second, once you have achieved your athletic position, the

arms should hang down naturally. You should not feel that you

are reaching for the ball. In fact, your arms and the shaft of

Incorrect Head Position Correct Chin Up Position

Incorrect – Arms reaching forward instead of hanging down naturally.

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the club should NOT be aligned, but should be at different angles. This is absolutely true

with irons. You can move your hands a little further forward for your fairway woods and

your driver to create more of a sweeping motion, however, the shaft and your arms should

still be at different angles.

Finally, the legs. We have already mentioned the athletic

bend in the knees, but we are now talking about their rotational

position. For the average golfer, the front foot should be rotated

outwards about 200 to 300. This outward turn allows the hips to

fully clear on the downswing and follow through.

However, if you have tight hips or arthritis in the hips, it is

ok if you also rotate your back foot outward. This reduces the

strain on the hip and can also help you avoid some harmful compensatory moves that can

ruin a good swing. Click this link to an article that addresses golf swing tips for golfers

with physical limitations like hip restrictions: http://agedefyinggolf.com/senior-golf-

golf-instruction-for-old-guys-that-rule/

WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION AT ADDRESS. Weight distribution is important during all

phases of the swing. At address, your weight should be evenly dispersed from side to side

and from heel to toe.

Correct - L foot flared out 25 degrees at address

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Golf Position

Correct Incorrect YOUR SCORE Correct = 1 point Incorrect=0 points

Degree of Importance

Why It Is Important

Spine Angle Back Flat “C” or “S” Curve

Very Important

Power, pure contact, swing plane

Head Position Head relaxed, tilted high enough for shoulders to rotate underneath.

Head down. Very Important

Pure contact

Arm position Hanging down in relaxed position

Reaching too far forward

Important Power, pure contact, swing plane.

Left Foot Position

Turned towards target slightly: 200 – 300

Facing directly forward

Moderately Important

Power, injury prevention

Weight Distribution

Equal weight on both feet from heel to toe.

Weight too far on your heels or toes.

Moderately Important

Pure contact

Your Total Score:______

Weight on Heels – incorrect setup Weight Balanced - correct setup

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II. Phase II: Transition Phase

THE RIGHT LEG.

One position that we do address is the position of your right foot and right knee as you

move into your backswing. In your backswing, your weight should stay on the INSIDE of

your right foot. All too often, we see golfers shift their weight onto the outside of their

right foot, called supination of the foot. This is a major flaw that leads to loss of power and

poor contact.

To test your self, take a full backswing and hold that position. Feel if your weight is on

the inside of your back foot or if it has rolled to the outside. If it has rolled to the outside,

try the “Ball under back foot drill” in the ADG Drills Book or you can follow this link to a

brief article written to address this position: http://agedefyinggolf.com/1-tip-for-major-

golf-consistency-and-golf-power/

Supination ~ Rolled Foot R knee rotated - Reverse Pivot Correct Knee/Foot Position

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In addition, your right knee should be allowed to straighten and rotate a little bit but

the knee should not sway laterally. It should NOT fully straighten or go into full

extension. Ideally, we don’t want your

knee to rotate too much in your backswing either. If your knee extends and rotates too

much you have likely lost the power of your hips. This is troublesome because the hips

should be the most powerful muscles contributing to your swing.

To narrow down the culprit, have a friend or spouse assist you. Get into your

normal address position and have your partner kneel down behind your right leg. In this

position, they should hold your knee in position, not allowing it to straighten or rotate too

much. Now take your backswing and feel the difference. If you feel significant tightness

on the outside of your right hip, poor hip flexibility is to blame and this is addressed

throughout the Age Defying Golf Rx program.

If not, it is likely one of the other two causes. There are a lot of gadgets on the

market that can help train your knee to maintain the proper position. In our practice, we

have found the easiest way to train this position is to knock in your knee slightly at

address.

The importance of the right leg being stable has its roots in the “X-Factor” which is

the difference between how much your shoulders rotate and how much your hips rotate.

This swing fault has several possible origins: 1)habit, 2)reverse pivot shift, 3) poor hip flexibility.

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For maximum power, you want there to be a large difference between the two with

shoulder rotation maximized and hip rotation slightly minimized. If your weight shifts to

the outside of your right foot and your knee cap rotates to far to the right, this means your

hips will be allowed to rotate too much, limiting the X-Factor and losing the advantage of

great shoulder rotation. It is like a coil; to tighten the coil you want to rotate the ends

opposite directions, not the same direction. In your swing, you rotate your shoulders to the

right and limit your hips from rotating too far to the right.

(If you are a golfer over 65 who has not been working on your flexibility, you may

not be physically able to limit your hip rotation for a big X-Factor. If this is the case, you

can review this article for swing alternatives: http://agedefyinggolf.com/senior-golf-golf-

instruction-for-old-guys-that-rule/).

WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION AT TOP OF BACKSWING.

At the top of your backswing, we really begin to find weight distribution faults that are

more prevalent in golfers over 50 years old. Generally speaking, you should have

approximately 70% of your weight on your back foot and 30% still on your front foot.

You have probably heard these or similar numbers before. However, that is not the whole

story.

In order for the golfer to properly and completely load the right side, you should

have more weight on the heel of your right foot than the toe, an approximately 35% to

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65% split respectively. We have found that golfers over 50 years old, predominately have

too much weight on their toes.

Too much weight on the toes can lead to a major loss of power coming from the

right leg and a casting/slicing swing path. So why do we find this in golfers over 50? It

is probably not the reason that you might expect. The answer again is hip flexibility.

That’s right, a weight distribution swing fault is typically caused by a physical limitation.

In order to correctly load the back leg, you need to have approximately 550 of right

hip internal rotation (leg rotating in) range of motion. If you don’t have it (and you

won’t have it unless you are stretching consistently), your body will shift weight forward

(toward the ball) in order to get a full backswing…. that is bad news for your golf game.

To check your position, take a full back swing and hold the position. Feel where your

body weight is centered. Front to back and heel to toe.

ELBOW POSITIONING.

Your left and right elbow positions are key ingredients to creating more swing width.

Most golfers over 50 that are striving for more power, often allow the elbows to break

down in an effort to lengthen their swing…kind of a John Daly attempt. However, John

Daly can make that swing and still keep his left elbow straight, the rest of us mortals can’t

come close. As a result, the more powerful swing is almost always a shorter backswing

that maintains width, one with a straight left elbow.

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No less important is the position of the right elbow. Many golfers know that they should

keep their left elbow straight, but rarely do golfers understand the right elbow and how to

position it for power. At the top of your backswing, the right elbow should maintain a 900

angle for optimum power production.

Collapsed Left Elbow Correct Left Elbow Position

Collapsed R Elbow - Incorrect Correct R Elbow Position

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In addition, your right forearm should be in line with your torso, or primary spine angle,

instead of an elbow up or chicken wing position. We see this most often in golfers who

grew up playing a lot of baseball…”keep your elbow up” as my dad used to tell me. If hit

is a significant issue for you, check out the Impact Ball Training Aid on this page:

http://agedefyinggolf.com/affiliates

The position of your left arm is also important as it relates to the head. It is much

easier to consistently hit a golf ball if your head remains relatively still as opposed to a

head that is moving.

Many golfers move their head to the side as they take their backswing. This has

several potential causes: 1) poor neck flexibility (the head needs to be able to rotate at least

700 in order to be still in the backswing) 2) the head is tilted too far downwards and your

shoulder is running into your chin on the backswing (as discussed earlier in this section) or

3) you are raising your shoulders and they are running into your chin.

R Elbow “chicken winged” - incorrect R Elbow In-Line - correct

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More often than not, the cause of the problem is that the head is tilted too far down

which is usually the result of everyone telling to “keep your head down” or “keep your

head on the ball.”

You need to raise your chin up just enough to allow your shoulders to rotate cleanly

underneath your chin. If you lack the range of motion to rotate your head properly, you

can view a different article that I wrote for a popular golf instructional site:

http://www.sirshanksalot.com/golf-drills/top-5-issues-killing-golfers-over-50-neck-

rotation/

Golf Position Correct Incorrect YOUR SCORE Correct = 1 point Incorrect=0 points

Degree of Importance

Why It Is Important

Right Foot Weight over the inside of the right foot

Weight rolled to the outside of the right foot

Extremely Important

Pure contact, power

Right Knee Knee cap facing forward

Knee rotated towards the right.

Extremely Important

Power, pure contact

Weight Distribution (Left to Right)

70% of your weight is on your back leg

Too much weight is still on your front leg.

Extremely Important

Power, pure contact

Weight Distribution (heel to toe).

65% of your weight is over your heel of your right foot compared to

Weight is more over your toes.

Important Power, pure contact

A more correct instruction would be to keep your head still.

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the toe. Left Elbow Position

Mostly straight

Too much elbow bend

Very Important

Power, pure contact

Right Elbow Position

900 bend Greater than 900 bend

Important Power

Right Forearm/Elbow

In line with your body

Chicken winged

Important Power, swing plane

Head Movement

Minimal movement

Excess movement

Very Important

Pure contact

Your Total Score_______