Finding Your Weakest Link On — and Off — the Links
The golf swing is this complex dance that rotational athletes are always trying to understand and improve.
It’s important to be able to assess your strengths and weaknesses in order to determine what it is specifically you need to work on — and plan how to get there.
Mobility, strength, and power are three different “jobs” your body has to do in the golf swing. When any one of them is off, the system compensates somewhere else — usually with lost distance, poor contact, or pain.
Let’s take a short look at each of these and how they play a part in your golf game.
Mobility
Mobility in the golf swing is controlled, usable range of motion in the right places, which allows you to create a full, efficient swing.
Ankles, knees, hips, thoracic spine, shoulders, neck, and wrists are all areas of mobility — with the two most important being your hips and thoracic spine.
When one of these areas is tight, there will be a compensation somewhere else.
Strength
Strength in the golf swing is how much force your body can generate and transfer.
Your lower body starts the process, followed by your core, and then your upper body. Without sufficient strength, the next part of the golf swing becomes very challenging.
Power
Power in the golf swing is your ability to produce force quickly through the swing’s range of motion and deliver it efficiently to the clubhead.
Power is what you do with the mobility and strength you already have.
Putting It All Together
To summarize:
Mobility gets you into efficient positions
Strength lets you own those positions under load without collapsing or compensating
Power uses that strength explosively so the hips, torso, arms, and club accelerate in order and peak at impact for ball speed
If you’re already training at SHAPE — great news — these qualities are already built into your program.
If you’re not, we recommend coming in for a Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) assessment to see exactly where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
Want to Find Your Weakest Link?
If distance, consistency, or pain has been holding back your golf game, a Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) assessment can help identify exactly where the breakdown is happening — mobility, strength, or power.
Instead of guessing, you’ll leave with:
a clear picture of your movement limitations
insight into how those limitations affect your swing
a targeted plan to improve performance and reduce injury risk
