One of my colleagues asked an expert in the field who is the founder of Peak Performance how many players on the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour set up with your recommended "Neurtral Spine"...The expert replied " Not One!"...the PGA Professional said "Thank You" and then proceeded to sit down witha silent ovation from his colleagues...
Can you hold the gaze of the object(ball) in the center of the fovial field with neutral spine?
Are the Eyes and Ears vital in relationship to balance and stability?
Is the Spine divided into Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar & Sacral Segments?
Does everyone have the same "everyday posture"?
Is posture Learned/Conditoned?
How many "experts" have won major torurnaments?
Here's a small sample of some quantifiable measurements?
Cervial Spine....20 degrees of Flexion
Thoracic Spine....20 degrees of Flexion
Lumbar Spine...20 degrees of Flexion
Sacrum....Slight External Rotation
As you can see...hardly neutral spine....
Use a 2 Leighton Flexometers an the Truth will reveal that in G.O.L.F. the spine is hardly neutral!!!
It is obvious that none of the players' pictures has the NEUTRAL SPINE. Tiger Woods is the closest, but if you look at his IMPACT alignments, his eyes have moved considerably from the address posture, his head has dropped, and his upper spine has rounded out.
Now... there is a difference between the pictures here, and the pictures of many amateur golfers. These tour players have an athletic look to them. The amateurs often have VERY excessive curves of the upper spine, and have the tail bone tucked under them.
I suppose some of the players that have very poor posture... can sometimes get into better postures(that end up looking similar to the pro pictures) by trying to get NEUTRAL. However, how many of these people are actually hindered, by radically departing from their NATURALLY BEST POSTURE?
Another reason often given for the NEUTRAL POSTURE is to promote a bigger spinal rotation on the backswing and downswing.
However... all the players pictured, have good, if not huge shoulder turns. The lowered head, and slightly curved upper spine, does not seem to hinder them.
Now ..one thing in this discussion that has been overlooked is "Neutral Pelvis"...Neutral Pelvis is approximatley 30 degrees...and if you've ever looked at a lot of golf postures they range from 20- 40 degrees of waist bend...Coincidence???
I can not stress the importance of the ears as a marker and the tailbone location as a marker...take a look at the pics.....positioning of the ears....rotation of the pelvis locating the tailbone...
Last edited by annikan skywalker : 06-22-2006 at 08:20 AM.
Now ..one thing in this discussion that has been overlooked is "Neutral Pelvis"...Neutral Pelvis is approximatley 30 degrees...and if you've ever looked at a lot of golf postures they range from 20- 40 degrees of waist bend...Coincidence???
I can not stress the importance of the ears as a marker and the tailbone location as a marker...take a look at the pics.....positioning of the ears....rotation of the pelvis locating the tailbone...
Neutral pelvis? How is Mr. Baddeley's pelvis situated in relation to NEUTRAL in the picture posted? Which pro's pictures have a neutral pelvis?
Don't SOME the back problems of Mr. Nicklaus shoe up more from the face-on view? He had/has the "reverse C".
Hard to Tell..when clothes are on and they are only pictures!!! But you can guess!!! To me Badds has some "Swayback..going on!"
Nicklaus back problems come from not only the rotation ...but the excessive changes form lateral bending left and right versus the flexion forward and extension backward...The Angles in the 4 sections of his spine were constantly changing....
Hard to Tell..when clothes are on and they are only pictures!!! But you can guess!!! To me Badds has some "Swayback..going on!"
Nicklaus back problems come from not only the rotation ...but the excessive changes form lateral bending left and right versus the flexion forward and extension backward...The Angles in the 4 sections of his spine were constantly changing....
as- i believe i read somewhere that the early MORAD model (ca 1980s?) was tough on the back and was changed as a result ... can you shed some light on what those changes might be and what specifically in the old model was bad on the back and what in the new model is better for it and what tradeoffs in performance (distance, accuracy, etc) those changes produce. thanks.
as- i believe i read somewhere that the early MORAD model (ca 1980s?) was tough on the back and was changed as a result ... can you shed some light on what those changes might be and what specifically in the old model was bad on the back and what in the new model is better for it and what tradeoffs in performance (distance, accuracy, etc) those changes produce. thanks.
I never heard that...but you could be right...the early MORAD "swing" had a lot of Hip Acceleration ....but for the changes...there are way to many versions....
Some tour players I can think of that have/had back trouble are...
George Archer
Paul Azinger
Michael Bradley
Fred Couples
Ernie Els
Hale Irwin
Peter Jacobsen
Davis Love
Jack Nicklaus
Frank Nobilo
Payne Stewart
Lee Trevino
Fuzzy Zoeller
Some that have played/playing for many years with little or no injury that I have heard of...
Sam Snead
Gary Player
Craig Stadler
Nick Price
Miller Barber
Jay Haas
Raymond Floyd
Chi Chi Rodriguez
Dana Quigley
Do you think the difference is technique, genetics, posture, conditioning... or other factors?
Nicklaus' posture was obviously highly functional but in light of his recent comments probably not bio-mechanically optimal ... When asked this Monday if he has any plans to play another tour event, Nicklaus shook his head and replied, "Maybe if I get a new body," he said. "I've lost three inches of height. My vertebrae sit one on top of the other, so I just can't move. I have no ability to turn or do anything else."
Which posture for the average sized - height, limbs, etc - golfer and motion offers the best alignment of the spine in terms of efficiency of result and safeguard from injury? thanks.
Which posture for the average sized - height, limbs, etc - golfer and motion offers the best alignment of the spine in terms of efficiency of result and safeguard from injury? thanks.
Very Complex Question..but a Great Question....What ever delivers the optimum alignment and application of force...even if it does destroy the body per Jack Nicklaus....
The movements in the golf swing are by no means simple and safe on the body...
If you want a golf swing to be safe...It is built like a "School Bus"..which is safe..but at high speeds around tight curves is very unsafe...
If you want to a high performance golf swing..It should be built like a "Ferrari or Porsche" and able to maintain speed and stability through tight turns...
At this Medical Profession who is recently getting involved in the Golf Industry who have a lot of knowledge about the Human Machine...have very little knowledge in regards to the Golfing Machine and it's trillions of Variations are suggesting we set up and drive "School Buses"...
PGA Tour Players drive high performance machines...eventually they will wear down or even crash!!!!!!
Hybrid Mode
