• Golf Fitness Exercises and Programs to Benefit Your Game
• Golf Fitness Exercises to Build a Better Golf Swing
• Nutrition for Golf
• Flexibility is Critical
• Pre-Season Golf Fitness Training
• Links to other useful websites

Golf Fitness Exercises and Programs to Benefit Your Game

The golf swing is one of the most intricate athletic actions performed in any sport, and even small errors in timing, body position, or sequencing will result in an inefficient golf swing. The golf swing requires mobility, flexibility, stability, strength, and power. If any or a number of these physical parameters are limited, the ability to execute each phase of the swing efficiently, in the correct order, and with the proper timing will be compromised.

In order to provide the golfer the opportunity to execute the biomechanics of the golf swing professionals within the industry suggest the implementation of a golf specific strength and conditioning program. Amateur golfers will sometimes start a general fitness program in an attempt to develop the physical requirements needed for the golf swing. The results are less than optimal from such a program because it does not address the specific requirements of the body in terms of mobility, flexibility, stability, strength, and power relative to the golf swing.

What the amateur golfer must understand is that in order for improvements to occur in the biomechanics of the golf swing, not only must the amateur golfer develop the underlying physical requirements of the golf swing; these requirements need to do be developed specifically to the positions, movement patterns, and physical requirements of the golf swing.

A golf specific strength and conditioning program will develop the

• Mobility
• Flexibility
• Stability
• Strength and power requirements of the body relative to the golf swing.

Mobility can be defined as the combination of both joint range of motion and flexibility. The development of mobility is predicated upon the flexibility parameters within the muscular system. Flexibility can be defined as the extensibility of all soft tissues surrounding a joint to allow for full range of motion (Michael Clark, Director: National Academy of Sports Medicine). If certain muscles are “tight”, the ability of a joint to move through multiple ranges of motion may be hindered. For example, the golf swing requires the hip to be mobile in order to execute correctly. If the surrounding muscles are “tight” the hip will be immobile and unable to operate through the ranges of motion required too execute the golf swing correctly.

In addition to mobility and flexibility training a golf specific fitness program requires the development of stability. This is achieved through golf exercises orientated towards strength development. Stability can be defined as the ability of any system to remain unchanged or aligned in the presence of outside sources (Dr. Greg Rose, Titleist Performance Institute). The development of stability within the body is contingent upon muscular strength. Strength is defined as the ability of your body to exert the required levels of force to perform the functional movement at hand (Michael Clark, Integrated Training for the New Millennium, 369).

This allows your body to correctly sequence the muscular contractions of the swing, maintain your spine angle, generate speed, and transfer speed to the golf club. Outside of mobility and stability the final component of a golf specific fitness program is power.

Power can be defined as the ability of the body to create the greatest amount of force in the shortest amount of time (Vladimir Zatsiorsky, Professor Department of Exercise and Sport Science, Pennsylvania State University). Basically, power is one component of developing speed in the golf swing. The more speed that can be developed during the swing will result in an increase in clubhead speed. In order to increase the power outputs of your muscles, it is necessary to implement

Specialized exercises. This is where The Extra 20 Yards® comes in.

The development of the mobility, flexibility, stability, strength, and power requirements of the golf swing is best completed through a golf specific strength and conditioning program.

We do not make any apologies for plagiarising much of this material – it is in the benefit of the wider Golfing community.