Does Your Core Stabilize During a Golf Swing?

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

By: Steve Pratt Comment

It's time to check back in with the Facebook Biomechanics group. This is a collection of super smart and super educated people that are up to date on subjects anywhere from TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) to KVest/3D motion systems, and force plate/EMG measurements!

This week's topic was on core stability. What is it exactly? You hear this as a buzz phrase on Golf Channel and all over gyms, who urge you to work on core muscles to stabilize you during a swing. But can muscles stabilize you and move you at the same time?

Mike Duffey

Core Stability. Everybody talks about it, but is the "core" really stabilizing? We see 70+ degrees of movement between the hips and shoulders from TOB to follow through. They sound more like movers than stabilizers.

· ·· February 13 at 9:56am

- Steve Pratt Let me take a stab: Dynamic stability = the body creating perfect balance between counterfall and the slinging of arms and clubhead which tries to throw us backwards.
  February 13 at 2:56am · · 1
- Jason Glass Think of rotational core stability as dynamic stability. That is the ability to move dynamically with control over the forces applied to the body. Rotate without dynamic stability and you will injure yourself over time. Picture in your head a skeleton. What is between your ribs and your pelvis? Try rotating without the use of the stabilizer muscles. You would break in half. Coach Glass
  February 13 at 10:51am · · 5
- Nick Chertock What part of the body is responsible for the needed deceleration that allows the shoulders to rotate much more than the 70 degrees of differential between hips and shoulders? Isn't the core providing stability AND movement at different points in the motion?
  
  Maybe Chris Welch will want to jump in with a response
  February 13 at 11:10am ·
- Jason Glass Nick, Dynamic stability is movement and stability. You can't think of them as separate entities. Breaking down the anatomy will only confuse the issue as no muscles work in isolation. There are complex groupings of muscles that work as slings to stabilize, decel, accelerate and move in all planes of motion. Calling it the "core" is understated but simple enough that we can have a conversation about the concept. JG
  February 13 at 11:18am · · 3
- Pete Cunningham He does love the concept of core bracing
  February 13 at 11:18am ·
- Nick Chertock ‎Jason Glass would you agree that without some ability to stabilize the core dynamically, the golfer will end up using a lot of compensatory movement in the lumbar spine in order to get some movement and not only will the golf swing lack power but they will inevitably end up with low back pain?
  February 13 at 11:21am ·
- Mike Duffey I do agree that I'm taking a limited view of how I am defining the core in this example. In my mind, the core extends from at least the lower rib cage to the mid thigh; that would, however, add the movement at the hips into this discussion which would only further complicate things.
  February 13 at 5:42pm ·
- Mike Duffey So here's the thing: parts create the movement are inherently reducing stability. Thus the difference between statics and dynamics. So what would "dynamic stability" actually mean?
  February 13 at 5:42pm ·
- Sasho MacKenzie
  I'm not much for posting, but the notion of needing stability during most sporting movements has always bothered me. The most stable position humans can attain is lying on the ground in a starfish position — not very helpful unless you are ...on the defense in wrestling. I am open to the concept of dynamic stability, but only if it can be defined in such a way that allows me to measure it; such as with a camera, force plate, or even a theoretical equation. If it can't be quantified, then it is hard to imagine how it can help one understand what makes a better golf swing. If we can't measure it, then how do we know if golfer A has more dynamic stability than golfer B. In short, I agree with Mike.See More
  
  February 18 at 6:54am via mobile ·
- Dan Parks Would it be more along the lines of what Stu Mcgill argues--that the core super stiffens? Also, I believe that the McGill lab at the University of Waterloo has a method for quantifying stability. Don't know much about it other than that.
  February 18 at 7:37am · · 2
- Don Parsons I am the golf pro portion of a partnership that worked together for 12 years. When my partner described dynamic core stability he always referred to the ability of the athlete to control the positioning of the pelvis during whatever sports activity he was involved in. It wasn't that it stopped moving or posted up per se, but moved in a controlled manner as determined optimum by the coach.
  February 18 at 8:10am · · 2
- Don Parsons Rather than being compromised by distal segment movement.
  February 18 at 8:11am · · 2
- Nick Chertock Semantics may be the culprit yet again. Isn't the concept that "stability precedes force production" at work in the golf swing?
  February 18 at 10:09am · · 4
- Dan Hellman
  The core actually goes from your head to your tail, study infant development. The "core" houses all your organs which love to be massaged and pumped. Your "core" houses 7 cervical, 12 thoracic and 5 lumbar vertebra which have both segmental... stability and segmental mobility. Before you can fire your extremities the core does stiffen to give you a foundation. however, all this excessive "stiffening" planking etc that people are trying to do to the core is "silly" at best. I can't tell you how many Pilates people, trainers etc that I have assessed that have turned their segmental spines into one stiff rod and now they wonder why they are having knee and shoulder problems on top of headaches and neck pain because they gave themselves an inverted breathing pattern. It is the knee and the shoulder that will be the first injured when you overly stiffen the spine and lose rotation. Also the human being is a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual being... good luck studying it in a "laboratory" i.e. McGillSee More
  
  20 hours ago · · 1
- Chris Welch
  quite the discussion on this topic, LOL... I'll throw my hat in the ring
  
  First I agree with Nick, that most of this discussion is really an argument over language and definition - ie. semantics
  
  When I look at "core stability" in the golf ...swing as an aspect of FUNCTION, I define it as the ability to create an orientation or an axis of rotation in 3-D space (I refer to it as axis of trunk in my published research) while at the same time rotating body segments around the axis of rotation/orientation. In is not static or rigid at all, in fact it is very DYNAMIC.
  
  The body goes through a very specific pattern of MOVEMENT in order to maintain and axis of rotation during a rotational swing pattern and yes it is definable and measurable.
  
  It is not directly related to core "strength" but more importantly related to coordination... that's why many elite golfers who have terrible actual core muscular strength still have great golf specific core stability and at the same time many who have amazing core muscular strength have terrible golf swing specific core stability. (footnote, core stability as I have defined it above)...
  
  Core stability as I define it to assess biomechanics during a swing pattern, then becomes a DYNAMIC and complex blend of coordinating, linear displacement of the COM, rotation of the pelvis/ upper thoracic and trunk flexion/extension

So what can we learn from this discussion? That stabilization is what Mike Austin would call 'rigidity' and would just slow you down. We are moving supply and quickly, dynamically, in a very coordinated way. The muscles of the torso are important in the role of rotating the trunk in association with the pivot of the lower body. Therefore, training the core with exercises that have you practice being 'stable' will not do you much good!

Posted in: Golf Swing Mechanics

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- John, Santa Barbara

How do I keep from flipping the club head at the bottom while keeping such supple wrists?

I am a new member. I like what I am learning as it is what my body has wanted to do for the last 20 years but no one said it was OK. I picked up ten-plus yards with my irons the first time I went onto the course ( 7 iron 160 yds) with decent control but I struggled with a big hook with the driver. All else seems to be ahead of schedule. How do I keep from flipping the club head at the bottom while keeping such supple wrists? I am using a neutral grip.

Thanks,

Keith Brewer

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