“I Want You To Fix My Swing.”
Recently, a golfer came to us after we helped a friend of his build a stronger and more mobile shoulder, resulting in a more consistent swing. He wanted the same results, or as he put it, "I want you to fix my golf swing."
I'm not sure what his friend told him, but he was convinced that we could help. I wasn't convinced - but it was my job to find out if we could.
We started as we always do — with the consultation. A consultation for a golf swing fix looks a little different than a consultation for neck pain, but they both have some key similarities.
What's the history, any past injuries, what have you tried, what has and hasn't worked, and most importantly, what do you think is going on and how did you get here?
The Slide
So what was going on?
Well, the beginning of golf season started, and he wanted to fix the slide that started creeping into his game at the end of last season, which resulted in a loss of accuracy and power.
To address this, he started with a series of lessons with his golf coach and initially noticed some improvement after the first few months.
However, pretty predictably during the first three to five holes and last three to five holes, his slide would show back up. He'd have about nine good holes, but his improvements didn't translate to the others.
When someone is dealing with a slide (moving toward the ball on the downswing) or a sway (moving away from the ball during the backswing), four things come to top of mind:
How is their hip mobility?
How well do they separate their lower body from their upper body?
How is their glute strength?
How is their balance?.
When someone is dealing with an issue at the beginning of a round, one of the first things I ask is what their warm-up consist of or if they even have one. If it's something that shows up later in the round, fatigue could be one of the components involved. These are not universal truths, but they often help to paint a more complete picture.
How Life Shows Up In Our Swing
While all of these thoughts were lingering in the back of my mind, I asked him a more important question, "When did the slide first start showing up?"
His answer was that it first appeared after he'd gone on a golf trip with some friends overseas late last summer — right after three brutal weeks of traveling for work. As we dissected the events leading up to the development of his slide, it started to become apparent that he'd dealt with some back pain randomly throughout the years.
It rarely stuck around for longer than a week, and as long as he did a few yoga poses his wife showed him, it usually went away in a few days. He mentioned that due to the work travel before the golf trip, his lower back had been aggravated, but it wasn't something that caused him any concern because he knew how to deal with it.
Once they landed, he popped a couple Aleves, drank a few beers with his friends, did a few stretches before bed and felt much better the next morning and proceeded to play 72 holes of golf in three days.
How were those four rounds of golf? They went okay, but weren't his best showing. After a few more questions, I felt like we had enough information to proceed with his assessment.
The Assessment
During his assessment, a few key things stood out.
First, his hip mobility was good, but during internal rotation there was a little lower back discomfort, nothing major but noticeable. His separation of lower body and upper body was good enough to pass the basic test, but when holding a lunge ad rotating his upper body he felt uneven from side to side and their was some tightness in his left glute. Glute strength and balance were strong, but there was a little ratchety movement during the pelvic tilt test.
So what did all of this tell us?
Let's go back to those four things I think about when someone has a slide.
Hip mobility — good, but internal rotation bothered his lower back.
Lower body-upper body separation — he passed the basic test, but the lunge with rotation was uneven side to side, and he had some tightness in his glute.
Glute strength and balance were strong, but during the pelvic tilt test there was this ratchety, almost stuttery movement pattern instead of a smooth, controlled motion.
Independently, these components don't tell us much. But when you put the pieces together alongside his history, a picture starts to emerge.
Remember the timeline?
He'd had random lower back issues for years, but nothing that stuck around. Then three brutal weeks of work travel, a long flight, and 72 holes in three days on a back that was already aggravated, even though the beers, stretching, and a few Aleves “helped”. But his body registered that experience differently than his brain did. His brain said, "Back feels okay, let's play." His body said, "Let's protect this area just in case." And the way his body protected it was by finding a way to get through the swing without fully rotating through his hips. That's the slide. It wasn't a bad habit that crept in because of laziness or bad mechanics. It was a strategy his body chose to keep him on the course without loading a movement it didn't fully trust.
And this is exactly why the golf lessons helped but couldn't finish the job. His coach was giving him good information. He knew what to do. And when he was warmed up and feeling good on holes 6 through 13 or so, he could do it because his body was warm, his focus was high, and nothing was fatigued. But on those first few holes when he was cold and his body was still deciding how much movement to allow, and on those last few holes when fatigue set in, his body defaulted back to the safest available option, and the slide showed right back up.
The Fix
So what was the fix?
It was addressing the thing that was driving the whole pattern.
We needed to calm down the low-grade irritation in his lower back that was still sending those protective signals. We needed to build his hip's ability to rotate under load without his back jumping in to help. We needed to get his glutes stronger through their full range of motion, and we needed to improve the motor control of his lower back so his pelvis could move smoothly instead of ratcheting. Lastly, we needed to build enough endurance in all of that so it held up for 18 holes and not just the middle 9. After six weeks of targeted work on his lower back and hip strength, a warm-up built specifically for him, and three 15-minute at home mobility sessions a week, he's moving in the right direction. The slide is showing up less, and his shots are getting more consistent.
If stories like this sound familiar — where more lessons and range time haven’t been able to fix the same recurring inconsistencies — you’re not alone. Many golfers we see deal with this exact frustration. If you’re curious what might be driving it in your own game, we’re always happy to chat.