There's been lots of talk about stack and tilt and whether or not it can cause you to have back problems. As it happens it's said that 80% of professional golfers on the tour experience 6 weeks per year with back problems... remember, these are the guys that for years have been using conventional style swings.

I have found in my research that some critics say that stack and tilt can cause back problems and others say that it actually causes less stress on the back. I can openly say (as it's my own experience) that my back feels better than ever using stack and tilt.

I did just stumble across a picture on another website where it was trying to say that stack and tilt is hard wearing on the back, I think it's worth taking a look at it...



The chap on the left is using a 'rotary swing' and the one on the right is stack and tilt. So let's take a look at the rotary swing position.

• His entire body weight has shifted forward including his head and shoulders.
• All of his weight goes down through his left ankle, which looks like it could roll over at any minute!
• Not only have his shoulders rotated but they've gone so far that his back is actually facing the camera.
• The club is wrapped around his head.
• His back is arched but you can't tell because it's facing towards us.
• His right shoulder has come up under his chin.

I can't see how a) how that can possibly be good for your back or ankle, or b) that it is an easily repeatable position. I don't know if i'd actually WANT to twist my spine or shoulders that much. This chap must either be made out of rubber or 17 years old!

If you look at the stack and tilt position, the hands are high not wrapped around the neck, the club isn't about to hit him on the back, the right bicep isn't tucked under the adams apple, the left ankle doesn't appear that it's about to snap, the belt buckle and chest area appear to comfortably face towards the target and not beyond it, the head is in a comfy position looking at the ball, the whole body hasn't had to move forward and balance over the edge of the left foot.

Frankly it's the kind of position I could see myself, my dad or my grandad achieving quite easily... not overly athletic and yet solid enough to have hit the ball properly. If I told my dad to get into the position on the left he'd probably tell me where to go... and it wouldn't be a good place

Worldwide millions of golfers already have back problems, I haven't found any evidence to show that stack and tilt causes any problems not already existing within the game HOWEVER that said, I did notice that to start with that I did have some soreness... that was because I was using muscles that I had never used before in 15 years of hitting golf balls. I did 100 situps once (about 10 years ago) and couldn't walk for 3 days!

Right now I'd go as far as to say that my back feels better than it ever did... and my ball striking is improving week by week.

No player Andy and Mike have coached have had any time away from tour due to a bad back.

What Golf Swing is Easiest on the Body?
September 28th, 2010 by John Graham


For all of you that are unaware, I am at an AMF meeting today(Monday and tomorrow) in Dallas, Texas. AMF is an organization of like minded golf professionals that will get together to share information on all subjects golf. Each year, there is an AMF Instructor Division Summit that brings a bunch of us together in an effort to learn and share ideas about the golf swing and/or playing golf. It’s a great place to network and learn some new information about teaching this great game.

Our first presentation was from Rod Cook and Dr. Troy Van Biezen about the subject of “Injury Prevention/Performance Improvement.” A nice presentation on some of the physical issues juniors are beginning to face and some steps they have taken to help prevent golf related injuries. Dr. Van Biezen gave us some staggering quotes about numbers of doctor visits that were occurring each year related to golf. Care to guess? If you said 15 million, you are a brighter person than me. 15 million doctor visits related to pain created from the golf movement.

From all accounts, Dr. Van Biezen is a leader in the industry as confirmed by TPI founder Dave Phillips and many other golf professionals that use his services. He is certified in a special category of soft tissue rehabilitation called A.R.P. This stand for Active Release Therapy and we were recommended to find an A.R.P. doctor to join our team in working with our students. There was a long discussion about information that was covered in the first TPI Golf Fitness Instructor seminar about physical problems and there impact on the golf swing and the likelihood of future injury.

One of the big areas Dr. Van Biezen mentioned that contributed to a great many injuries was the combination of reverse pivot in the backswing and reverse ‘C’ position in the follow through. Very shortly after that because we all were golf professionals, some one noted that those things looked like what some had read about the Stack and Tilt swing. Instantly, Dr Van Biezen became somewhat uncomfortable and asked Dave Phillips to respond to this area. Dave was also quite reluctant to answer but rather reminded everyone exactly what the Stack and Tilt backswing should be like and that it wasn’t a target leaning spinal condition at the top of the backswing. Rather, it is a spinal tilting to the golfers left side that is rotated.

Shortly after, Dr Van Biezen tells some stories from his time traveling with the PGA Tour Fitness van about how many players are getting treated week in and week out. Some names get thrown around and some questions are asked along with some success stories.

I felt that this Dr Van Biezen seemed like a very bright and respected guy in the industry so I put my hand up to ask the question everyone wants to know the answer to. I have a tendency to stir the pot a little and I thought I would give it a try. It gets to my turn and I ask, “In your opinion, relative to injury preventation, is there a best anatomical/biomechanical way to swing a golf club that is the easiest on the body?” “Is there a best way.” Dr. Van Biezen says, “You’re going to make me say it aren’t you.” I start to get excited. Noone ever answers that question. I had no idea what was going to happen next. His answer……

Stack and Tilt!

The room shut down. All the talk stopped. Up till then, I could here little snickers about the system when they were talking about injury. This was especially true when the subject of reverse pivot and reverse ‘C’ was being discussed. During that talk Dr. Van Biezen mentioned that he had worked with some stack and tilters on there backs while he was on tour.

He went on to say, assuming the player had no imbalances or weaknesses that stack and tilt presented the least amount of sheering forces in the spinal region when performed correctly. Amazing as it sounded to many, it just made me laugh. I love when people that don’t research get slammed. To me, and from second hand information, it seems pretty clear that TPI is in agreement with what Dr. Van Biezen was saying. I hypothesize that this information will come out in a big way at the TPI World Fitness Summit but that’s just a guess.

Please feel free to ask any questions or leave comments on this post. Hopefully, at some point, AMF will post the video of this presentation and all doubt will be cleared up about if what I am saying actally happened. My guess is some of you won’t believe me but I promise you the information contained above is accurate.
Posted by John Graham on his blog.