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GOLF - THE ANATOMY OF THE FORWARD SWING

Understanding which muscles are involved in the golf swing will help you condition them to perfect your golf swing and lower your golf score.


One of the nice things about training your body to perfect a certain skill is that if you pay close enough attention to the way your body maneuvers anatomically while performing that skill, you can get a pretty good general idea of the muscles involved that make it happen.

You may not immediately know the muscles' names; but, you can begin to appreciate how perfectly the human body was designed. And, if you really apply yourself and do the proper research, it isn't long before you arrive at an entire list of muscles that need the proper training and conditioning that go into the perfection of a skill.

There are basically 22 muscles involved in the forward golf swing. The proper conditioning of these muscles will increase your club head speed and give you better control.

For AthleticQuickness.com, the nice thing about all of our programs is that we already have taken the time to identify the various muscles involved in performing a particular skill. And, in this article, we are going to list all of the muscles involved in performing the forward golf swing. This information is well documented in the TEE OFF with Isometric Training program.

The Golf Swing

The normal golf swing has three basic components:

1) The back swing
2) The forward swing or downswing and
3) The follow through

The back swing is like the wind-up in baseball that stretches your muscles and readies them for release during the forward swing. The forward swing or "release" part of the golf swing is when 100% of your speed and power is generated. This is what will determine your shot distance. The follow-through is what a lot of people say defines your "signature" as a golfer ... i.e., how you finish your swing defines your commitment to the game.

Because the forward swing is where 100% of your speed and power is generated, it is for this particular movement that we will define the muscles involved. The forward swing begins with your hips rotating laterally from right to left for the right handed golfer (just the opposite for the left handed golfer). This is the main function of the lateral rotators of the hips, and the names of these muscles are as follows:

Lateral rotators of the hips


Gluteus Maximus
Gluteus Medius
Quadratus Femoris
Pyriformis
Superior Gemellus
Inferior Gemellus
Obturator Internus
Obturator Externus
Gluteus Minimus
The forward swing continues next with lateral rotation of the spine and the names of these muscles are as follows:

Lateral rotators of the spine


External Abdominal Oblique
Multifidus
Rotatores
Once the spine has rotated, the shoulders also begin to rotate and a downward pulling motion of both arms takes place from right to left (for the right handed golfer), beginning over the right shoulder and passing in an arc-like fashion downward through the point of contact with the ball where both forearms end up in full extension. This is the main function of the primary movers of the arms and extensors of the forearms.

Primary movers of the arms


Pectoralis Major
Posterior Deltoid
Teres Major
Latissimus Dorsi


Extensors of the forearms

Triceps brachii
Anconeus
The fifth and last muscle group activated during the downswing are the primary movers of the wrists or wrist flexors and extensors. Note that for the right handed golfer, the right wrist flexors and left wrist extensors are activated.

Primary movers of the wrists (Right Handed)


Right flexor carpi radialis
Right flexor carpi ulnaris
Left extensor carpi radialis
Left extensor carpi ulnaris
There you have it -- twenty-two muscles that are primarily involved in the forward swing.

If you want to increase your club head speed and start making longer drives, then you will need to speed up the contraction rate within these muscles.

And, the TEE OFF with Isometric Training program will show you just how simple and easy it is to do.

Always glad to help!

Dr. Larry Van Such