If there was one thing we learned from watching Tiger’s game and training routine, it’s that golf and Olympic style lifting may not mix. The game of golf does not require the kind of spinal rigidity that powerlifting, weightlifting or any barbell lifts require. When weightlifting (deadlifts, squats, bench press etc.), we want very stiff joints to help protect the spine and move heavy weights. In golf, we need mobility.
Let’s look at a few different body areas and piece together the golf swing. We want good mobility in the hips, allowing us to bring the club back and rotate without excessive movement through the low back. As we swing from there, again we need to be able to rotate through the ball with our powerful core and hip muscles. We call on the low back to stabilize and allow the hips to rotate through the swing, ending up with your belt buckle toward your target. Now here’s where it gets tricky and may be a contributing factor to Rory’s back pain. In a golf swing, we need great mobility through the thoracic spine (mid-back) to help bring the club through the ball. Essentially, the movement in the golf swing occurs above and below the low back. When we lack mobility in these areas, the low back cannot properly stabilize to get the club through the ball. However, with a few compensations (excess movement through the lumbar spine) we can still swing the club. In a strength training routine focused on performing multi-joint, full-body, heavy lifts, it is wise to create a very stiff spine to help perform those lifts and avoid injury. If you’re going to get involved in strength training, learning to stiffen the back is a must to protect it.
It’s important to note that many professional Olympic lifters maintain a great deal of exercises to help them achieve good mobility. While their focus is to create power through a very strong, rigid core, they need peripheral mobility. Olympic lifters want to be able to deep squat (mobile hips) while at the same time keeping the entire spine very stable and rigid. While a golf swing requires great hip mobility, it also requires great thoracic spine mobility (mid-back) to help bring the club through the ball. In doing all these compound Olympic lifts, it seems Rory most likely forgot to increase the amount of mobility work he was doing, leaving him vulnerable to injury.
Looking at Rory Mcilroy’s routine, we see him mixing exercises- ones that require high spinal rigidity like heavy squats and deadlifts, and ones that require extreme mobility like the golf swing. Now in the short-term, this more than likely increased his golf ability (more power, more strength, higher swing speed), but this is not a sustainable long-term strategy. Olympic weightlifting and golf are two sports with differing requirements. At a professional level, it is my opinion, that they do not mix well and Rory would be wise to stick to increasing his mobility rather than compromising his spine with heavy Olympic lifts.