Golf Fitness and Exercise Questions...

I welcome any and all questions, but cannot guarantee I can get to them all. I will be answering one question per week. Any questions pertaining to personalized programs are answered in the member’s forum of the My Golf Trainer section.

"I am considering starting a golf workout to improve my golf swing and help me avoid golf injuries. There is so much information out there, can you give me advice or a golf workout tip that can help me out?"

I can totally sympathize with you. Golf workout information is all over the net. Some good, some not so good. Given the source, background and experience, you need to take it with a grain of salt. Trusting the information you apply, so as not to hurt your golf game is critical. In considering a workout for golf, you need to remember there are several components you should not ignore. In simpler terms they are strength, flexibility, balance, endurance and coordination.

Any golf workout program should incorporate the above aspects throughout the entire program. The key ones are strength AND flexibility. Ignoring either one of these is a big mistake. Golfers need to improve both their golf specific strength and range of motion (flexibility) together. Your golf swing has physical limitations. Every golfer has some physical limitation that causes swing faults and mishits. By diagnosing what those specific limitations via golf fitness evaluation you will be able to devise a golf workout routine that will meet your needs. Knowing exactly what you need to work on will save you a ton of time and money on programs not suited for you. Staying focused and being consistent with you new workout will make all the difference.

"I’ve tried everything to imrove my driving distance to no avail. Lessons haven’t helped; I bought a new driver and didn’t see any added yardage; and I go to the range twice every week, working on my driver as much as I can. What can I do to improve my driving distance before the end of the golf season?"

Based on your attempts to improve your driving distance, you’ve ignored the number one thing that will give you the quickest “bang for your buck”! Your body! Your body swings the club and dictates the outcome (ie. Driving distance, accuracy, and consistency). Without knowing your physical limitations, strengths and weaknesses, I can take an educated guess that you are not able to make a full backswing, and any attempt to make a full backswing takes you out of your golf posture and adds a tremendous amount of tension in your swing.

This is called swinging outside your physical capabilities. The only way to prevent this from happening is to work on your core strength and flexibility. By improving this area of your body, you will be able to generate a substantially higher clubhead speed and ultimately distance. This is all without swinging any harder than you do right now. The beauty of a stronger core is the body’s ability to produce more power with less effort. Look at the PGA players. Of course we know they have phenomenal swing technique, but they are also capable of beyond full backswings with no tentions, therefore bombing their drives over 300 yards consistently.

"Winter is finally over and I am starting to play golf again. I had intentions to embark on a golf fitness program during the winter but didn’t. I have gone out twice already and seemed to have lost over 25 yards on my drives and my consistency is terrible. Knowing that I will be playing more golf, and wanting to improve, what can I do right now to see improvement?"

All is not lost. I would strongly recommend working on your body via golf fitness exercise training to improve your driving distance and consistency. A loss of yards could be a whole host of reasons like non-solid ball to clubface contact; lack of full backswing; excessive body movement in your downswing; improper sequence resulting in non-efficient impact position and improper balance and stability causing consistency issues.

These are just a few of the culprits, but most of them can be remedied by improving you golf specific strength and flexibility…which will in turn create a very stable, controllable and repeatable golf swing that’s infused with power and efficiency. realize time is an issue since you most likely have a full-time job, family, other outside commitments (including playing golf), and time constraints. But I ask you…how important is playing better golf to you? Or do you want to keep playing the same game time-and-time again?

Coming up with a concise “in-season” golf conditioning program is the goal. Even more important is narrowing down your specific needs; driving distance and consistency. My recommendation for starters would be a simple core golf training routine that incorporates both strength and stretching “rotational” movements. This will quickly improve your power output, and stability in your golf swing for better consistency.

An example would be...

Lying Leg Twists combined with Lying Leg Crossover Stretch...
Seated Trunk Rotations combined with Seated Twist Stretch...
Standing Stationary Golf Swing (w/single dumbbell) and Backswing/Follow Through Stretch...

This is 6 total exercises you can do in your home with almost no equipment. It will only take you 15 minutes max and will make a huge difference for you on the course. Here’s to your best season ever!

Mike Pedersen
Golf Performance Expert