Most golfers can’t imagine exercising to enhance their golf performance. They view golf as a leisure game that is more social than competitive. Now that’s not all golfers…as many of them do want to play better, and even some want to win their club championship or local tournaments.
For those of you who want to play better as you get older, the ONLY way is to strengthen and stretch your golf swing muscles on a consistent basis (preferably daily). You cannot expect to play good golf is your body is physically declining. This is IMPOSSIBLE! A weak and tight body will NEVER make a good swing…especially on a consistent basis for 18 holes.
With all this being said…what really is golf exercise?
Golf exercise is NOT going to a GYM and plopping down on a machine! I can’t tell you this strong enough. Golf is done ON YOUR FEET… in a very unique and very uncomfortable position called “golf posture”. How ever could SITTING on a machine help your golf swing? It CAN’T! No way!
Many golf exercises should be done either on your feet or on a stability ball where you can utilize your core muscles which are definitely used in your golf swing and can generate a high level of clubhead speed…which results in LONGER DRIVES.
Many of these exercises for golf should be rotational in nature, since the main movement in golf is turning (rotational). I laugh when I see trainers who say they are golf fitness trainers doing basic ab crunchs with their clients. Now…if you have a very out of shape golfer, then yes…you should build up the core strength before you start doing rotational exercises.
Mimic golf swing mechanics with resistance.
This is one of the easiest ways to accomplish your golf exercise goals. Break your golf swing into phases and use exercise tubing, dumbbells or medicine balls as resistance. A good example would be the baseball player swing a weighted bat. Very sport-specific. Golfers need to think the same way.
Well…I think that’s enough for now!
