The biomechanics of golf

For many people, sticking with a regular exercise routine can become a pain in the neck. For golfers, improving their game often becomes a pain in the back. Literally. “Most of my golf clients complain of chronic back pain,” says Jason Berg, a certified personal trainer who owns Infinity Fitness Inc. in downtown Spokane with his wife, Hillary. “Half to two-thirds of golfers have low-back pain.” Golfers also frequently suffer shoulder, wrist and—as golf spectators learned by watching Tiger Woods last season—knee injuries. That’s where the field of golf biomechanics can come into play. Golf biomechanics involve a set of training principles intended to help golfers improve and maintain a consistent golf swing while eliminating pain and avoiding injury. Berg is certified as a golf biomechanic through San Diego-based CHEK Institute. CHEK stands for Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology, but Chek also is the last name of the institute’s founder, Paul Chek. According to Berg, the first task in golf biomechanics involves de-conditioning muscles, or correcting muscular imbalances. For example, he says, a golfer might have a stiff neck or one hamstring that’s tighter than the other. Often, this imbalance is caused by a sedentary lifestyle or long hours at a desk in positions that aren’t ergonomically correct. “The focus is on flexibility and getting a range of motion,” Berg says. “Just getting a person to stretch three times a week will help.” Craig Thielman, a 59-year-old recently retired salesman who lives in Spokane, says he hasn’t had any golf-related injuries, but he went to Berg to improve his golf game. Thielman says the exercises he did with Berg improved his balance and flexibility. “I think what he does is he tries to build your body to be able to get most out of a golf swing,” Thielman says. “I think that’s the key to what he does.” Thielman adds, however, “The only problem is, if you have a lousy swing, you still have a lousy swing. It doesn’t guarantee anything. You still have to have a good swing.” Once flexibility has improved, golfers work on strength training, which is aimed at improving club head speed and driving distance. Berg says he uses a lot of resistance training and functional-position exercise. For example, he has golfers pull on a weighted cord in a motion similar to swinging a golf club. Typically, he doesn’t have golfers use conventional weightlifting machines to build strength. “You can get strong on an exercise machine, but it’s not going to help your golf game,” Berg says. “You’re not going to be strapped to a bench when you’re swinging.” While he advocates functional-position workouts, some of Berg’s exercise routines are far from natural. In one, he has golfers try to swing a club while balancing on a rubber platform atop one half of an exercise ball. In another exercise, golfers kneel on an exercise ball and swing a club. “If you can swing a club like that, you’re going to be more comfortable on the golf course,” Berg says. The universal goal of all of those exercises it to strengthen the core muscles that are used to swing a golf club. In addition to preventing injury, strength training can help to increase stamina on the course. Berg says many serious players like to play multiple rounds, either at courses near home or on golfing vacations. Such players report getting tired toward the end of the day and seek training with him in order to finish golf rounds strongly. Thielman says his stamina has improved since he began working with Berg. “I don’t golf a lot, and from hole 15 on, I would start to get a little tired,” he says. “This helped me with that.” While golf season is fast approaching, Berg says demand for golf biomechanics is consistent throughout the year. He does say, however, that the workouts he prescribes vary depending on the season. For example, during the golf season, he doesn’t have golfers do much strength training. Rather, he concentrates on range of motion and flexibility. He doesn’t want to work on building muscle while golfers are trying to perfect their technique. Berg is one of only a few CHEK-certified golf biomechanics in the Northwest, though a couple of other personal trainers in the Inland Northwest have said they hope to become certified soon. Hillary Berg is certified personal trainer and a CHEK-certified exercise coach, but she hasn’t attained the golf certification. Infinity Fitness is located at 204 N. Division. For more information on the company, go to www.infinityfitnessinc.com. For more information on the CHEK Institute, go to www.chekinstitute.com.