Biomechanics of Golf Swing
The biomechanics of the golf swing refer to the positioning and movement of the body during the swing. A golf swing is actually an unnatural act for the body and understanding the body's reaction is key to improving your game.
The major reason people concern themselves with the biomechanics of the golf swing is that the body was not designed to do it in a natural way. Swinging a golf club at a small white ball was not really a selective evolutionary trait of human beings. When we decided to do it, it turned out that to do it right we had to move our bodies in a rather unnatural way. There are two good reasons for studying the biomechanics of your golf swing. The first is to learn the proper body positioning and the second is to understand what types of exercises can strength the muscles needed to put more power into the swing.
Tiger Woods has created a mini-revolution in the study of the biomechanics of the golf swing. It has been estimated that he addresses the ball with a club speed that is routinely 25 miles per hour faster than the majority of his competition. This increased speed is not the result of his superior natural strength or any unusual natural body configuration. It is simply the result of superior physical conditioning that stresses exercise designed specifically for swinging a golf club.
The ability to design specific exercises for a golf swing comes from a complete understanding of the biomechanics of the swing. With our superior medical knowledge and the technological advances in recording and computer simulation, we know more about biomechanics than it was possible to understand in the past. Much research and study has gone into all major areas of sports medicine and it has rapidly become a major career field.
The vast popularity of recreational golf and the large rewards of professional golf have provided financial incentive for the study of biomechanics. The results of these studies are available to even the amateur today through a series of instructional videos that are able to teach the fine points of a more powerful swing. A golf swing is really a series of body movements and positioning that allows very little margin for error. Although practice is still the surest method of improvement, understanding the proper body biomechanics leads to more useful practice techniques.
Specific golf related exercises and physical conditioning can be another lesson learned from the studies of sports medicine and the emulation of the World's most successful golfers. There should be a word of caution, however, to the recreational golfer. It is important to not let science take away the fun. Before long we will be learning that a certain diet will improve our swing and add distance to our drives. It is possible to become a slave to technology, but with that said, there is much valuable information out there about biomechanics of a golf swing and it will help.