Alex Perry over at Golf Magic had the rare opportunity of visiting a windsurfing golfing genius in the south of France, Terre Blanche, to be precise, to go over his theory – or should that be theories? – behind why he believes that supportive apparel can not only look good but actually help control a golf swing. Not to mention add 11% to your club head speed by wearing a specially designed compression shirt. Impressed? Doubtful? Read on.
Jean Jacques Rivet was, once upon a time, a windsurfer of some repute. When injury cut short his aquatic adventures, he turned to terra firma and the much less physically demanding sport of golf. However, taking what he had learned at sea about the human body and its manoeuvrability to command the wind to make a surfboard go in the direction you wanted it to by ducking and diving, twisting and turning beneath a sail, he developed the Biomecaswing.
So innovative was his research and the end product, combined with how by using it he quickly developed his golf game to be able to do without a handicap, he was asked to be the Ryder Cup team consultant on biomechanics. If that wasn’t justification for his methods on its own, he was subsequently asked by apparel manufacturer Under Armour to determine whether clothes not only maketh the man (being French, he would obviously have concurred with that theory), but also maketh the golf ball go further.
So, whilst Alex Perry was travelling to Nice and on to the European Tour Performance Institute ou l’homme qu’ils appellent ‘JJ‘ is now based, and I was sat a hop, skip and a jump from the concrete jungle that is the Spaghetti Junction, Rivet was preparing an all-singing, all-dancing presentation of his findings.
Using the golf swing analysis he’d carried out – nay, relished – on Lee Westwood and Justin Rose to name just two European Tour golfers, his findings in favour of Under Armour’s compression apparel was quite conclusive. Even Perry admitted that some of the equations and theories were beyond him, but the bottom line is that the compression kit imparts resistance on certain muscle groupings.
What this in turn does is reduce lateral movement in the golf swing, initially through restriction but, as all resistance trainers will be familiar with, the more often weight is used to work muscles, the sooner they become resistant in their own rite. With this increase in muscle, the likelihood of injury is also greatly reduced as the muscles are taking the strain – and more of it – offering protection to cartilage, joints and bones. And that is scientific fact.
Rivet’s golf record speaks for itself. The ‘thank you’ letters on his office wall witnessed by Perry vouch for his expertise. The fact that Perry couldn’t decide whether to post his original article under apparel or golf equipment, eventually opting for the latter, underlines both. Under Armour compression clothing does indeed maketh the better golfer. Voila!
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