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BASI PILATES FOR THE RECREATIONAL YOUNGER GOLFER:

FOCUSSING ON KEY MUSCLES TO IMPROVE YOUR SWING

INKE VICTOR

COURSE YEAR: 2018

DATE: OCTOBER 2018

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

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ABSTRACT

Golf is a precision club-and-ball sport. A round of Golf takes about four hours

to play (based on 18 holes to complete). The Golf swing is a multipart

movement of the whole body. It requires that both the upper and lower body

should be used in a rhythmic and coordinated motion. By focusing on four main

areas of the body, and applying the Basi Pilates Principles, one can improve

your swing. The areas of focus include strengthening the gluteal and abdominal

oblique muscles, and improving shoulder mobility and strength.

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CONTENT PAGE

1. ABSTRACT

2. ANATOMY: KEY MUSCLES USED IN THE GOLF SWING

2.1. THE MAIN HIP ROLE PLAYERS

2.2. LATERAL ROTATORS OF THE SPINE

2.3. PRIMARY MOVERS OF THE ARMS

2.4. FOREARM EXTENSORS

3. CASE STUDY

3.1. INTRODUCTION TO THE BASICS OF PLAYING GOLF

3.2. THE GOLF SWING

3.3. SIMILARITIES BETWEEN BASI PILATES AND GOLF PRINCIPLES

3.4. CASE STUDY DESCRIPTION

3.5. PILATES PROGRAM GOALS

4. BASI SYSTEM CONDITIONING PROGRAMME

5. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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2. ANATOMY: KEY MUSCLES USED IN THE GOLF SWING

2.1 THE MAIN HIP ROLE PLAYERS

• Gluteal Group

There are 3 muscles that

make up your gluteal group:

• The gluteus maximus

• The gluteus medius

• The gluteus minimus

The gluteal muscle group are the biggest muscles of the hips. These muscles

help us to squat, rotate and help maintain (stabilize) our posture as we move.

During the golf swing the gluteal group help provide support and balance to

the lower body and stance as the body rotates.

2.2 LATERAL ROTATORS OF THE SPINE

• External Abdominal Oblique

• Multifidus

• Rotatores

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According to Dr. Larry Van Such of Secrets of Speed and Quickness Training at

Athletic Quickness, the three major muscles worked in the spine, during the golf

swing, are the rotatores, the external abdominal obliques and the multifidus.

The external abdominal oblique covers the side of the ribs down to the hip.

This muscle helps flex the trunk, laterally flexes the pelvis and trunk, as well as

rotates the torso.

The rotatores help rotate the spine and assists in extending the spine. It also

helps to maintain the posture during movement.

The multifidus is a long spinal muscle with many points of origin and insertion

and helps with rotation and lateral flexion of the spine. As with the rotatores

and other deep back muscles, it assists in maintaining posture and spinal

stability.

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2.3 PRIMARY MOVERS OF THE ARMS

• Pectoralis Major

• Posterior Deltoid

• Teres Major

• Latissimus Dorsi

The pectoralis major, is a large muscle in the chest. This muscle is largely used

to control the movement of the arm, helping it flex, adduct and rotate, and also

plays a role in deep inhalation.

The posterior deltoid helps abduct and extend the arm.

The teres major help to adduct and internally rotates the arm, and assists

the latissimus dorsi when the shoulder extends and flexes.

The latissimus dorsi is one of the biggest back muscles and works in conjunction

with the pectoralis major to move the arm. Its primary function is to adduct the

arm. Other functions include extension and rotation of the arm. All movements

which is necessary to perform a golf swing.

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2.4 EXTENSORS OF THE FOREARMS AND MAJOR GOLF GRIP MUSCLE

• Triceps brachii

• Anconeus

The primary function of the

triceps brachii is to extend the

forearm.

The anconeus muscle is a small triangular elbow muscle connecting the medial

side of the ulna to the lateral side of the humerus. The main function of the

anconeus is to is to extend and rotate the forearm and is used when the arm

holds on to something or needs to carry something.

Together these two muscles help keep a supported straight forearm during the

golf swing.

3. CASE STUDY

3.1 INTRODUCTION TO GOLF

Golf is a precision club-and-ball sport. A round of Golf takes about four hours

to play (based on 18 holes) to complete. A lot of people think that golf isn’t a

lot of exercise and an easy game, but Golf does require a certain level of fitness,

flexibility, strength and concentration.

On average the golfer walks 8.5 – 9.5 km distance during a game of golf (18

holes plus off-course measurements). The golfer is allowed up to 14 clubs per

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round and aims to hit the ball into each hole on the course with the fewest

numbers of strokes possible.

3.2 THE GOLF SWING

The Golf swing is a multipart movement of the whole body and moves through

all three planes. It requires that both the upper and lower body should be used

in a rhythmic and coordinated motion. With each swing, the Golfer wants to

achieve the greatest accurate distance with control and consistency.

The execution of the swing can be divided into four phases for muscle analysis;

a. The Set-up of the Swing

It is important to note that the set-up and stance of the

golf swing is one of the most important factors of the

swing. This is the one thing that the player has full

control off and plays a huge roll in optimally hitting the

ball during the swing. Precision and balance is key.

b. The Back Swing Phase

This can be described as the part going back,

stretching the muscles, winding them up and readies

them for the release on the down and forward swing.

The golfer starts the back swing by leading the club

head with his/her hands and shoulders, rotating up and

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back. During this motion, the weight shifts to the rear

foot and rotation of the hips will follow.

c. The Down or Forward Swing Phase

The muscles that built up releases, swings forward and

through. This happens by leading with the rotation of

the hip, then the trunk, followed by the shoulders,

steady arms and club down towards the ball.

d. Follow-Through Phase

Maximum tension is released as the club hits the ball.

The golfer finishes the swing by completing the

rotation of his/her hips forward to the direction aimed,

followed by the right arm rotating over the left and

swinging upwards. The head which should be held

completely still during the whole swing finally lifts up

and forward as the trunk rotates with momentum

completing the swing.

It is important to complete the follow-through phase

on acceleration as this will increase the accuracy of

your swing, and reduce the changes of injuring yourself

through the impact.

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3.3 SIMILARITIES BETWEEN BASI PILATES AND GOLF PRINCIPLES

Eight of the ten BASI Pilates principles are can be applied in the game of Golf.

AWARENESS Both require spatial and body awareness.

BALANCE Balance in the muscles, body posture is key to an accurate

swing.

BREATH

As with Pilates, coordinating one’s breath with movement

helps recruit the correct muscles and helps with a better

execution.

CONCENTRATION

Concentrating on the body and its movement is just as

important in Golf as Pilates. Loosing focus could lead to poor

execution and/or muscle recruitment.

CENTER Staying centered, calm and keeping control is very important

in Golf.

CONTROL Being in control of your muscle movements means you have

more control over your swing and in return of your execution.

EFFICIENCY

Recruiting the correct muscles, with the correct set-up and

posture will in affect lead to less energy being used and

greater accuracy.

PRECISION Golf is all about precision. Hitting the ball where you want to,

requires precision in alignment and movement.

HARMONY The Golf swing is a multipart coordinated movement of both

the mind and body.

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3.4 CASE STUDY DESCRIPTION

I am a 28-year-old female who has been playing golf recreationally for more

than three years. I have always loved sports and being active.

When I was younger I played various sports, most of them only required a

certain level of skill and focus, these sports or activities normally never lasted

longer than 30 min. After a couple of years playing Golf only on holidays I

started to love the game and over the past three years, I started playing more

often. Playing more regularly I wanted to improve my game, especially after I

realized I have stagnated at a certain level.

I started going to the driving range more and played more games hoping this

will help me improve. This did improve my game and swing to a certain level

but not as much as I wanted. I soon realized that after the first nine holes (two

hours of playing) my muscles started to fatigue, taking all my energy and

resulting in lack of concentration. Being younger and generally more mobile

and active this was very confusing and frustrating as I thought my overall

strength and flexibility was good.

During this time, I also started with my Pilates Comprehensive Course which

helped me gain a greater understanding of the human body, and in return my

own bodyl. Through learning more about how the body works and gaining

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more self-awareness of one’s own body, I found key muscle weaknesses in my

body, which is critical to the general golf swing.

In general, I used to have weak glutes and my shoulder stability wasn’t great. I

also struggled with a lot of the rotational exercises learnt on course, showing a

weakness in my abdominal obliques

3.5 PILATES PROGRAMME GOALS:

Using the BASI exercises/ repertoire, my objectives was to gain strength,

mobility and balance on the following listed muscles in order to improve my

golf swing;

1. Strengthening the glutes to help stabilize the pelvis through the rotation.

2. Strengthening and mobilizing the shoulder and arms

3. Improving the core and trunk rotators strength.

4.BASI SYSTEM CONDITIONING PROGRAM

BASI BLOCK REPORTOIRE PROGRAMME

EQUIPMENT EXERCISE REASON WARM-UP

Mat

Roll-down, Pelvic Curl, Spine Twist

Supine, Chest Lift, Chest Lift with

Rotation

The fundamental warm-up places the most focus on spinal mobility.

FOOTWORK

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Wunda Chair

Parallel Heels, Parallel Toes, V-Toes, Open V-Heels, Open V-

Toes, Calf Raises, Single Leg Heel, Single Leg Toes

The series places a lot of focus on the stability in the pelvis with a lot

of focus on the upper body posture.

ABDOMINALS

Wunda Chair

Standing Pike Reverse

The added extension (co-contraction of the abdominals and

back extensors) in the flexion position is very functional to the

golf swing.

Wunda Chair Pike Sitting

This exercise places a lot of focus on the lattisimus dorsi and

activates the deep transverse abdominus in a flexion position.

HIP WORK

Reformer Frog, Circles

Down, Circles Up, Openings

Having back in a supported position helps increase the focus

on pelvic lumbar stabilization. SPINAL ARTICULATION

Reformer: Bottom Lift and Bottom Lift with

Extension

Hamstring strength and Hip Flexor control benefits through this spinal

articulation exercise, both important to balance in the swing.

STRETCHES

Ladder Barrel

Shoulder Stretch 1 & 2

Both stretches the shoulders. Stretch 1 has the added benefit of

stretching the lattisimus dorsi, while stretch 2 opens up the chest even more adding a good pectorial

stretch. FULL BODY INTERGRATION

Cadillac Side Reach

This exercise is very functional to the golf swing, the body is in

flexion while focus is placed on the rotation through the obliques.

Cadillac Cat Kneeling Stretch

Both abdominal and shoulder control are challenged in this

exercise. ARMS

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Cadillac

Arms Standing Series: Chest

Extension, Hug-a-Tree, Circles Up,

Circles Down, Punching, Biceps

This challenges the whole body through balance. This series

challenges all muscles in the arms necessary for the golf swing.

FULL BODY INTERGRATION

Cadillac Saw

The saw challenges the body to go into flexion and extension whilst

being in rotation, similar movements are required from the

body in the golf swing. LEGS

Cadillac Squats

The squad challenges stability and balance, strengthening the quads

and glutes, necessary for good balance in the golf swing, plus the

added movement through the arms and had grip.

Leg Weights

Side Lying Gluteal Series: Side Leg

Lift, Forward & Lift, Forward with

Drops

This series places a lot of focus on strengthening the glutes while maintaining a stable trunk and

pelvis.

LATERAL/ ROTATION

Cadillac Butterfly

Standing and rotating against resistance, this helps encourage

flexibility and strength of the lattisimus and obliques at the same time and challenges pelvis stability

while in rotation.

Reformer Mermaid The mermaid stretches and

rotation the sides of the body, a movement valuable for golf.

BACK EXTENSION

Reformer Pulling Straps 1 This exercise focuses both on the back and arm extension against

resistance. Reformer Pulling Straps 2

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5.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

As with most sports, physical fitness is key. Strengthening, stretching and

conditioning muscles specific to a sport will always help to improve the body’s

capabilities and potential, as well as reduce the chances of injury.

Doing the above focused repertoire for three to four months there was a

definite increase in my shoulder strength and mobility, as well as an increase in

abdominal obliques and gluteal muscles strength. I started feeling less tired

throughout the game. The first thing I noticed was that the game started to feel

a lot shorter and I didn’t feel exhausted by the end of it.

I can definitely feel that my swing is more consistent and accurate in general

and the number of poor shots is a lot less than it used to be.

I started seeing my Handicap going down during this time as well, which meant

my general game was starting to improve again. Since I started focusing on

strengthening the key golf swing muscles my Handicap has gone down with

three strokes.

Through the Pilates Comprehensive Course and conditioning program, I re-

learnt the importance of attention to detail and precision. Focusing on the set-

up first, staying calm, find the balance, breathing correctly and keeping focus

in order to achieve a precise, controlled and efficient movement.

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