Swing Faults- Over the Top, Part 4

In Swing Faults- Over the Top, Part 1, I went over what Over the Top is and what the possible physical limitations can be.  They are:

• Inability to separate lower body from upper body.

• Instability of the core

• Poor balance on each leg.

In Swing Faults- Over the Top, Part 2, I went over some things you can do to help your ability to separate the lower body from the upper body.

In Swing Faults- Over the Top, Part 3, I went over some things you can do to develop good core stability.

Today, I want to go over what you can do to develop Better Balance on each leg.

If you don't have good balance, particularly on the lead side, you might not have a proper weight shift.  According to TPI, "limited weight shift toward the lead leg can reduce the lower body's contribution to power generation in the swing.  Therefore, player's will try to produce excessive power in their upper body by chopping down or throwing the club over the top." 

The test that TPI does to determine balance on each leg is to stand on 1 leg with your arms at your sides, close your eyes and see how long you can stay on 1 foot without excessive movement.  According to TPI, "Average human single leg balance time is approximately 10 seconds, while the average on our tour players (male and female) is roughly 26 seconds." Do this test and see where you stand (no pun intended).
 

If you didn't do so well, you might need to work on it. Here are a few things you can do to help with your balance:

I learned this sequence from Craig Friedman at Athletes' Performance.  It accomplishes a couple of things; 1) works on balance and proprioception (your ability to sense the position, location, orientation and movement of the body and its parts), 2) Turns on the all important glute medius, an important stabilizer of the pelvis that will help you control your lateral movement.

Position 1
Stand on 1 leg, with your femur (thigh bone) parallel to the ground.

Move your femur laterally while keeping your torso in its original position

Come back to starting position and repeat 10x without touching your foot to the ground.

Position 2
Move your femur down so it is at an 45 degree angle (so your knee is pointing to the ground out in front of you)

Extend your knee without moving at your hip (femur stays at 45 degrees)

Go back to starting position and repeat 10x.

Position 3
Stand with your left leg extended back so your left toe is even with your right heel.

Abduct your left leg, just moving at the hip, do not move your back like your are doing a side bend.  If you try to go to far, you will end up side bending, so go as far as you can without excessive back movement.

Come back to starting position. Repeat for 10 reps.

When you are done with the left side, go back to position 1 and repeat for right side. You should feel a little burn on the planted leg in the side of your glutes.  That's your glute medius.

Single Leg Bridge
This is a great exercise for developing single leg strength and teaching good glute activation.

Lie on your back, feet on the ground, knees bent.

Move your hips to the sky, only using your glutes. You should not feel this in your hamstrings (back of your leg) and there should not be excessive movement in the lumbar spine

Once you are up, extend your knee and hold this position for 10 seconds.

Make sure you keep your hips level, don't let the extended leg side creep down. 

I got this next exercise off of MyTPI.com.  It's called Balance Beam Taps and it is great for proprioception and ankle mobility.

Stand on 1 leg on a 2x4 or a phone book (something about 2-3 inches off the ground.)


Keeping good posture, tap down your heel straight in front of you in the 12:00 position


Comeback up and tap down at the 10:00 position


then at the 2:00 position

Single Leg Squat

This will develop great single leg strength.  It's one of the best exercises you can do.

Standing on 1 foot with your arms out in front of a bench, slowly lower yourself to the bench.  Do not crash down and try not to let the knee move around too much.  If the bench is too low, put something on it to make it easier.

As always, if it hurts, don't do it.  Have a trainer check your form to make sure you are doing it right.

There are other ways to add balance training to your program, without all the fancy tools and gadgets. Take exercises that you are already doing and do them on 1 foot.  For example:

Shoulder Presses

Cable or Resistance Band Rows

Bicep Curls

Conclusion

So I have given you a starting point to help correct some physical limitations that could be causing the Over-the-Top swing fault. Ideally, you would have a golf fitness professional do an assessment on you first to check where the physical limitations are.

Remember, even if you "clean up" some of the imbalances, asymmetries and weaknesses in your body, it doesn't mean the swing fault will disappear.  Please make sure you are working with a teaching pro on your swing mechanics while you are working on your fitness.

Comments

[steven davies]

Good home fitness programs.
Thank you for the pictures with the explanations.

[brooklyn]

There is no doubt in succeeding if people refer this blog. Thanks for the advice and pics.

[Tony Louis]

Thanks for the post I have been doing the balance exercises for a little less than 2 weeks now and my balance time has gone from about 9 seconds to 14 seconds already. I am looking forward to further improvement