Optimal thoracic spine mobility is fundamental to achieving a powerful, efficient, and injury-free golf swing. The technical demands of the swing require precise coordination and proficiency from multiple joints, and having the physical capacity to execute these movements without compensating is crucial. A thorough assessment of your physical capabilities is the first step toward building a swing that not only improves your handicap but also ensures longevity and minimizes injury risk for years to come!

This week, we’re diving into the pivot—one of the most crucial elements of the golf swing. Nashville PGA professional Virgil Herring emphasizes its significance, stating, 'If you can’t pivot, if you can’t coil into your trail leg in the backswing, you can’t play, period.' But what exactly is the pivot? What physical qualities are necessary to pivot without compensation? And how can we develop a body that is mobile, strong, and powerful enough to execute an effective pivot? Let’s explore these questions and unlock the key to a better golf swing.

Reintroducing the frontal plane could be one of the most impactful changes for your golf game. Neglecting to train in this plane limits opportunities to develop strength, speed, and power in a critically important range of motion.

By focusing on the frontal plane, we can help prevent injuries, boost clubhead speed, and address negative swing characteristics like slide and sway. Simply assessing and training in this range of motion can make a world of difference.

If you’d like a deeper understanding of your mobility, strength, and power in the frontal plane, reach out! I’d be happy to explore what you might be missing and how we can optimize your performance.

Doug quickly recognized how his limited trunk mobility was restricting his golf swing, creating unnecessary tension and discomfort. Compounding this were recurring bouts of shoulder and low back pain. A comprehensive evaluation revealed three key areas of restricted mobility—hips, thoracic spine, and shoulders (especially in flexion)—all of which contributed to compensatory patterns in his swing and exercise movements.

To address these issues, we started with targeted mobility interventions, including soft tissue mobilization, chiropractic adjustments, and corrective exercises. As Doug's mobility improved, we introduced strength training to stabilize his newfound range of motion. This was followed by power integration, swing-specific transfer drills, and practice with actual golf swings.

The results have been transformational. Doug has significantly improved his swing mechanics, enhanced his ability to collaborate with a swing coach, and increased his longevity in the sport. Nashville Golf and Athletic Club won’t know what hit them when Doug steps onto the course this spring!

In this article, I want to review a case study from a local Nashville golfer. We will review his reason for coming in, goals for care, what the comprehensive exam found, and the stages of care we went through with examples of what we worked on to improve and how we did it. First, let’s learn more about Doug…

Creating lag in the transition to the downswing is vital to an efficient and powerful golf swing. That being said, we need to be strong and mobile enough to express this characteristic effectively and without increasing our likelihood of pain and injury to the involved structures (low back and hips). This means mobility training, strength training, power training, and applied programming to integrate to the golf swing are all required to see performance improvements and benefit our longevity in the game.

Incorporating targeted swing drills is essential to translate the work done in the rehab setting into Tiger’s full swing. By integrating the mobility, strength, and power we’ve rebuilt into his lead-side knee and hip, these drills not only reinforce proper mechanics but also compel his body to rely on that side effectively. This approach can help him generate more power from his lead side while restoring his body’s confidence to utilize it during his swing.

This crucial step combats the lingering effects of compensating for past pain, injuries, and surgeries—effects that often lead to excessive stress and forces being placed on the lower back. If left unaddressed, these factors could have contributed to or even laid the foundation for Tiger’s chronic low back injuries. Addressing these elements holistically could make all the difference in preventing such issues and optimizing performance.

As we dive back into Part 3, Tiger Woods' journey has been nothing short of a test of resilience. Over the years, he has faced numerous setbacks, including multiple surgeries on his lower back and knees, as well as chronic issues with his ankles and Achilles tendons. These challenges, compounded by relentless back pain, have cast a shadow over his recent years as a golfer. And just when it seemed like he couldn’t face more adversity, the roll-over car accident in 2021 added another daunting chapter to his story. This is where we pick up…

Up until now, Tigers injuries have primarily been contained to the left lower extremity, with a few exceptions. We have described up until now the concept of regional interdependence and how a perfect storm may have been brewing for Tigers low back starting all the way back with his first procedure to remove 2 benign tumors from his left knee. Eventually, the world was distracted from the numerous knee surgeries and ankle injuries and the spotlight finally landed on Tigers low back. The knee’s, ankles, upper back and shoulders were forgotten, but not by us. These regions played and continue to play a vital role in the creation of Tigers low back pain, injury, and eventually surgery.

Up to this point, Tiger Woods has suffered an extensive amount of pain and injury. He has repeated pain and injury to his left knee, following a surgery in the left knee to remove two benign tumors in 1996. Since, the left knee and ankle has been a constantly recurring source of dysfunction and pain. Eventually, he also had right achilles and left shoulder injuries until finally, substantial low back pain in 2014.

Are the recurring injuries in the left knee and ankle a product of the initial insult from the 1996 surgery? There’s no way to know for sure, but our understanding of regional interdependence, compensation, and proprioception tells us there is likely a link. The same factors will now play a role in the development of Tigers low back pain. Years of pain, surgery, and dysfunction in the left knee and both achilles WILL impact the creation and absorption of forces in different joints in the golf swing. As we avoid force production in certain joints, we alter our motor patterns and forces us to use regions of the body sub-optimally. We will explore this more in part 3…

At the start of Tigers Woods professional career, he underwent a knee surgery to remove two benign tumors. He went on the dominate in his early professional years, again getting surgery on the same knee for a benign cyst. There is more surgery and trauma to come to this left knee that we will cover in follow up articles, but I believe these were the beginnings of compensations leading to tissue overload that will eventually cripple Tiger late in his career. We’ll continue to discuss Tigers injury history as we move along his professional career accomplishments.

Improving slide requires we improve our mobility and stability around the hip joint. We need to be able to turn into that hip fully and control the full force of the swing and the forces around the hip. When a plan of care addresses these components and we integrate it into the swing, it is then left to the swing coach to sequence these abilities fully and the trainer to help maintain and continue to improve total power output. Beyond the hip, the low back, thoracic spine, knee, and ankle are all required to be doing their job so that extra load is not taken up by the surrounding joints. A full evaluation is vital to make sure we are not just making improvements at the hip, but everywhere along the kinetic chain that needs it.

Low back pain in golfers has many physical causes. The pain can come from the lumbar facet joints, the intrinsic lumbar spine muscles, lumbar discs bulges, and lumbar discs protrusions with spinal nerve encroachment. Beyond the pain generators, the true causes of low back pain often come from joint restrictions or joint motor control deficits Addressing both the pain generators AND the functional limitations leading to the pain and inflammatory responses is critical for long term and effective treatment in golfers.

 Overall, treatment at IRPC follows 3 phases. Phase 1 is the orientation and general mobility phase. We must make sure we are beginning to address the lowest hanging fruit of movement and mobility. This usually means we are spending time working on improving the positioning of the pelvis and rib cage. Often times, simply by improving the movement and positioning at the pelvis and rib cage, we open up mobility at the hip joints, shoulders, and thoracic spine! At the very least, we begin to identify with clarity the asymmetry in mobility at hips and shoulders (key for phase 2).

In phase 2, we directly attack asymmetry in range of motion and strength while beginning to build back in motor control where it is needed. This phase builds on phase 1 by re-integrating the new mobility with strength and movement patterns, while cleaning up the remaining mobility losses. This sets the foundation for phase 3, where we begin to challenge the mobility and strength with power drills and end range strength. Here we use med ball throws, swing aids, bands, and the golf club to encourage the golfer to integrate his or her new physical capacities specifically into the swing. Keep reading to see some highlight of the progressions from phase 1 to phase 3 treatment…

So, the general flow of all golf specific day 1 comprehensive exams, is as follows.

1.        SFMA top tier global movement screen

2.        TPI golf specific physical screen

3.        Joint-by-joint mobility and stability testing

4.        Special and orthopedic testing

5.        Golf swing analysis

For different patients, the emphasis on different areas will be apparent. For any golfer with significant acute or chronic pain, there will be significantly more time spent working on orthopedic testing and diagnostic procedures. For pain free patients, more time is spent on the global movement screening and mobility/ motor control. That being said, we will always hit on both the functional components and pain components. Check out the part two article to see examples of how we work through a treatment plan based of a day-one comprehensive exam!

Specific and individualized passive AND active care are both critical for low back pain lifters. We need to be able to use both, with changing emphasis, throughout a treatment plan. Missing one component can result in getting stuck or stagnant in your improvement. Even worse, you might start to feel better without addressing the long-term, root cause issues that will result in a future injury, potentially worse than before. If you have recurring or on and off low back pain, getting comprehensive examination AND treatment is vital to stopping the pattern.

Power is the end-all be-all for the golf swing. It’s what we train for. Mostly. When we drive the ball 10-20 yards farther then we did 12 weeks ago, it is because of the power we gained. I say mostly because the mobility and strength we gained to get to the improved power production also plays a role in injury prevention, injury rehab, and longevity in the game of golf. Besides that, the translation of the hard work you put in for mobility, strength, and power training in the weight room is to translate to power production on the golf course.

This week, we are continuing the discussion on the significance of fitness training for golfers. Today, we are specifically talking about strength. Strength is indeed vital for creating and improving club head speed in the golf swing. It is also critical for increasing how long we can effectively practice and play without increasing the risk of injury and decreasing our longevity in the game. Let’s discuss a little further how strength training can be missed by so many yet be so critical to the game.

This week, we are starting a series addressing overall health and physical ability for golf. It is, as the title says, essential to address general fitness if we are to peak our golf skills. At integrated Rehab And Performance Center, we address, in hyper-specificity, certain aspects of fitness. This includes mobility, strength, and power. Further, we work to integrate these components into the golf swing. What we don’t do (surprise at the end of this article…) in our sessions is train overall fitness. Fitness is the long game, and critical to maintaining positive changes while chipping away at performance limiters. Fitness is broadly made up of mobility, strength, power, agility, and aerobic conditioning. Today we are going to address the mobility component of overall fitness.

This week, we're diving into how you can become the club champion at your course. Whether you're targeting your club's championship, a member-member, or a member-guest flight, this guide will cover the key concepts every Nashville golfer should know. We've gathered insights from local Nashville golf pros and drawn from Dr. Nick's extensive experience in rehabbing and enhancing golfers' physical capabilities to help them reach their peak potential. We'll explore what swing coaches are seeing in Nashville golfers, critical fundamentals that can’t be overlooked, and Dr. Nick's approach to supporting golfers—whether they're recovering from injury or aiming to elevate their game pain-free and performance-focused.