Tom Kite’s Golf Swing from an an Anatomical Perspective
The whole world assesses golf swings based on what the club is doing (swing plane, shaft across or laid off, face open or closed) at the top and at impact. Does no one realize the muscles move the joints which cause the club to move?
Some body movement is considered – such as weight shift , rotation and wrist-release. This type of body movement, however, is ‘global movement’, which means that several joints act to create is.
The forces which produce power and swing speed are assessed as well, and once again involve global movement.
Finally, any golfer wishing to improve ball-striking is given a haphazard mixture of the above elements, and told to improve his/her swing to match particular elements of the swings of the best golfers in the world (it is always presumed they do it perfectly). On the other hand, ironically, golfers are treated as individuals, and many teachers proudly claim, “I teach the golfer not the golf swing” meaning that he tailor-makes solutions for the individual golfer. A very exciting concept indeed for a society which is highly individualistic.
However, all of the above concepts lack something fundamental. They fail to realize that, male or female, short or tall, old or young, and whatever race, creed or culture, we all have one basic thing in common, which single-handedly determines all our movement (which golf certainly is a type of):
So, let’s assess Tom Kite’s swing from a purely anatomical perspective, one joint at a time, to see how efficient it is, how efficient it could become and what potential for injury is has or has already had.
