7 Mobility Restrictions Causing Pain and Inconsistency in the Golf Swing

Golfers love improving their swing—new clubs, lessons, training drills, you name it. But here’s the truth: the biggest limiter to your performance (and the #1 cause of nagging golf injuries) isn’t your swing technique at all.

It’s your mobility.

Mobility restrictions silently change the way you rotate, load, and transfer power. They create compensations you can’t see, feel, or fix with simple stretching.

If you struggle with low back pain during golf, inconsistent ball striking, or stiffness after a round, these seven “hidden” mobility restrictions are likely holding you back.

1. Limited Thoracic Spine Rotation — Your Missing Turn

Your thoracic spine (mid-back) is built for rotation. But hours of sitting, slouching, and day-to-day stress create stiffness that forces your body to find rotation elsewhere—usually in your lower back, where it doesn’t belong.

Why it matters for golf:

• Decreased shoulder turn

• Loss of club speed

• Early extension

• Increased stress on lumbar discs and facet joints

2. Hip Internal Rotation — The Most Underrated Source of Power

Golfers obsess over hip rotation, yet few realize how crucial hip internal rotation (IR) is for loading and unloading the swing.

• Your trail hip IR helps you coil and load the backswing.

• Your lead hip IR allows efficient rotation through impact.

If you lack it, you’ll compensate with sway, slide, or lumbar rotation—leading to pain and inconsistent strikes.

3. Limited Ankle Mobility — The Root of Poor Weight Shift

Your ankles may be the last place you think about for golf performance, but dorsiflexion (forward ankle mobility) directly affects:

• Pressure shift

• Ground reaction forces

• Rotation into impact

• Early extension tendencies

When the ankles can’t bend, the body finds rotation in the knees or back—bad news for long-term joint health.

4. Poor Ribcage Expansion & Breathing Control

Golf is a rotational sport—and rotation begins with your ribcage. If the ribs can’t expand laterally or posteriorly, your ability to rotate cleanly plummets.

Pair this with shallow breathing, and your core stability drops… just when you need it most.

Why it matters:

• Decreases thoracic rotation

• Reduces spine stability

• Causes overuse of lumbar extensors

• Limits shoulder turn

This concept aligns with modern breathing models (like the SODA Pop Model), showing how diaphragm mechanics influence posture and movement.

5. Reduced Shoulder External Rotation — A Backswing Killer

A smooth, powerful backswing requires shoulder external rotation (ER). When you don’t have enough:

• Your trail arm “flies out”

• Your club path becomes inconsistent

• Your backswing shortens

• You lose stored elastic energy

This often leads to shoulder irritation, especially in older golfers or those with prior injuries.

6. Pelvic Control Issues — The Real Cause of Sway and Slide

Many golfers fight sway/slide for years, not realizing the root cause might be poor pelvic control, not bad technique.

If you can't control your pelvis in rotation:

• Your hips drift laterally

• You lose power

• Your spine compensates

• Your sequencing breaks down

A simple pelvis-on-femur movement test often reveals more about your swing faults than any slow-motion video.

7. Limited Neck Rotation — The Silent Saboteur

You read that right: your neck affects your golf swing more than you think.

When neck rotation is limited:

• Your head lifts early

• Your shoulders stop turning

• Your upper body compensates

• Your swing plane changes

Neck restrictions also throw off your vestibular system, which affects balance—a huge piece of consistent ball striking.

What These 7 Restrictions All Have in Common

They don’t just create stiffness, they create compensation.

And compensation leads to:

• Overuse injuries

• Lower back pain

• Hip irritation

• Shoulder pain

• Loss of clubhead speed

• Inconsistent contact

Most golfers try to fix this with stretching or swing drills, but you can’t “drill” your way out of a mobility problem. You need a targeted plan that restores rotational mobility, improves body-swing connection, and eliminates the hidden restrictions getting in your way.

Final Thoughts

Don’t wait around and push through limitations. Not only will you continue to learn poor motor patterns that affect your swing, which makes it harder to change later on, you will also put your body at risk for injury or chronic pain. At that point you WILL need to make changes, and it’ll be harder to do so.

Reach out for a discovery call or schedule a free consult with us to see if we can help!