Los Reales - Costa Del Sol - Winter 2006
The Role of Exercise in the Modern Game of Golf
There is perhaps no single action in sport that requires more overall muscular strength, joint flexibility, and movement coordination than a perfectly executed golf swing.
Today’s top young players are leaner, more muscular, and more flexible than the generation of golfers before them.
Muscle Suppleness
In my view, this is perhaps the most important requirement. I watch many“seniors” on the coast practise their swing through a limited range of movement.
Individual restrictions in one’s body can prevent the golfer from doing what the teacher, video or golf magazine tells them they must if they want to improve their game. What the pro sees as a swing fault is often only the manifestation of how the golfer attempts to compensate for a limitation.
In addition, Injuries can keep golfers off the course for long periods andeventually force retirement from the game. Stretching is vitally important to ensure that your body can move through the range of motion required in the golf swing without causing excessive stress on the muscles or joints.
Tight muscles lead to shorter drives, so you must increase your flexibility if you want to play — and live — comfortably. Smooth, coordinated movements lead to consistency in your swing.
What’s more, Arthritis is the major affliction for individuals over 50+ and research suggests, that many incidences could be prevented if people took time to stretch.
However, simply hitting balls at the driving range won't increase your mobility or loosen your tight muscles. You need a daily stretching and mobility routine to find comfort on the golf course — and afterward.
One simple mobility exercises is this. Kneel on your knees and hold your driver behind your back so that it is resting between your elbows. Place your hands on your hips. Your knees should be shoulder width apart or just fractionally inside. Your posture is the same as it would be if you wereaddressing a shot.
Now turn your shoulders as much as you can to the right or as you would normally do on your backswing. When doing this let your left hip turn to the right with your turn. Your knees should not move and expect some resistance down your left-hand side. Repeat 12 times BOTH sides. This drill can add power to your backswing.
Costa Del Sol Golf
Muscle Strength and Endurance
In golf, it is important to maintain your spine angle for a consistent swing. This means you remain bent or tilted at the hips. This requires sufficient strength and flexibility in your hamstrings, abdominals and lower back. If any of these are weak or tight, you will struggle.
The result is often off-centre hits, less distance, errant shots, and post-Golf soreness in the back! To strengthen your hamstrings, try lunges. Take a big step forward and dropyour bodyweight onto the front leg and let the back leg knee almost touch the ground. Keeping your body upright, return to the starting position. Repeat 12 times on both legs.
Optimal Golf also demands adequate strength in your shoulders and arms, as these connect your golf club with your body’s “core”. Plus by strength-training 2-3X a week, you will also help combat age-related loss of muscle mass, and increase your bone mineral density.
Muscle Balance and Agility
The golf swing is a motion that involves all parts of your body. Force is transferred from the ankles, to the legs, to the back, to the shoulders and through the wrists. So the smoother the transfer of force - the better.
Hence it is important to build “whole-body” exercises into your programme, often on unstable surfaces, to encourage “movement efficiency” and co-ordinated actions between muscle groups. Not only will this add a level of consistency to your game, balance and agility is key in later life, to prevent falls and similar accidents.
Cardiovascular Fitness - Keeping Body Fat Levels Down
Without a cardio component in a golfer's training routine, fatigue often sets inand limits the quality practice time required to make lasting changes in the golf swing. Concentration levels also drop towards the end of a game.
Tired, unfit golfers practice faulty movement patterns that can take over for correct golf techniques. These improper movement patterns practiced whenyou are tired may influence you swing when you are fresh and rested.
The best thing we can do for our health is to keep any excess weight off. Fora Golfer, a potbelly will also affect the centre of their swing. Not convinced? Simply look at the top 10 Golfers in your country.
All have narrow hips, a flat stomach, wide shoulders and a strong back. Such conditioning is all geared towards maximising distance and consistency in their drive.
Get In Shape for Golf! Get In Shape for Life!
Without regular exercise a golfer finds their strength, mobility and agility, sovital to the game, gradually diminish with age. By improving their strength, mobility, co-ordination and aerobic fitness, a golfer can expect to have better control over their body across 18 holes, thus optimizing their swing mechanics and accuracy, resulting in fewer "miss-hits" and lower scores.
So through combining golf practise with golf-specific conditioning exercises. I guarantee not only will you look and feel years younger… you'll also have a good chance to beat some of the younger players you might get paired with!
Noel Lyons (Med Golf Fitness Consultant) helped David Steele to break theEuropean Golf Marathon record with 774 holes in 24hr (43 rounds averaging 76per round)! This article is taken from the Power of Champions Book (2004) where 56 of the top Personal Trainers in the World came together to share their knowledge and experience.
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