Golf Swing Fault: Right leg straightening
Right leg straightening on Back swing
In this article, we show how your physio can work in conjunction with your golf coach. Exercises and drills, can be designed to allow your body the best chance of breaking unhelpful patterning in your golf swing.
Many golfers will commonly straighten their right leg during their back swing. This will often lead to::
• Right leg to spin out with resultant poor loading into their right leg
• Right hip finishes high spinning out
• Often accompanied by them reverse tilting to the target
• Overuse of their back and upper body to create power in their swing
• Proper loading of your right gluteal and leg during your takeaway, makes an over swing basically impossible, creating incredible power in your golf swing
• As well as over swinging and the club becoming too flat, weakness in your right leg and tightness of your right hip, can all contribute to this poor patterning in your swing
If you load your muscles in the proper sequence, they will unload in the proper sequence!
Three simple exercises to help you address this fault include:
1) Flexibility: Windscreen wipers (Right Hip Internal rotation)
• Lying on your back with legs spread apart
• Drop knees side to side and gradually increase range as you warm up
• Aim to let your knees drop to the floor allowing a rotational stretch on both hips
• Knee dropping to the midline encourages internal rotation in that hip
2) Strength: Forward lunge with medicine ball Rotation over Lead Leg
• Lunge forward and drop into front leg
• Rotate medicine ball over the frontleg
• Forward foot is planted as you rotate turning into your hip joint
• Do not allow the planted lead foot to roll out
• Feel the ground reaction and how you load into the hip of your lead leg
3) Functional: Band around knees step and turn into your back swing
• Set up in golf posture bands around knees
• Take small step back keeping right knee soft and bent
• Plant foot not letting it roll out
• Turn into backswing feel loading of right gluteal and leg
Coaching Drill
• Set up with soft flexed right knee
• Place stick behind right knee
• As you turn into back swing, do not allow right knee to straighten
• Ensure right foot stays planted, not rolling outwards
• Allow your hips to rotate
Ready to improve your swing?
See former PGA tour golf physio Kam Bhabra