Golf & Fitness

[Mr_Theoo]

It seems like this is becoming a trend on tour, look at Rory and now the leaner Dufner. Is good fitness important to play your best or is it just a trend that'll fade?

[Kor.A.Door]

Most likely will be trend, but it's not going away anytime soon, there is a lot of success with it right now.

[PlaidJacket]

Fitness never hurt anyone regardless of what you're doing. I could use more of it.

[ZenGolfer]

IMO, golf-specific fitness among amateurs is a fad that will fade over time but among the best players in the world, fitness is always going to be important.  Theyre always going to seek even the slightest advantage.

[westy]

Fitness is important, but......

 

Over training trying to find an extra yard or two will be an issue.

 

I'm not much of a one for fitness, a couple of miles walking a day suffices for me.

 

Perhaps a few sessions on an exercise bike to get the heart pumping.

[Kenny B]

Makes me tired watching people work out all day.

[mr_divots]

At the local courses, it seems those in pretty good shape usually have better games.

But no one looks like they're working out constantly, exactly. Just active people. Staying "active" can do a lot. Just don't sit all day. 

 

I think these "teams" surrounding pro golfers are somewhat opportunistic hangers-ons. I think we have as many examples of injury and career tanking as we do workout success stories.

 

Craig Stadler lost a bunch of weight and he admitted his game suffered. Doesn't work for everyone.

[RoverRick]

Fitness never hurt anyone regardless of what you're doing. I could use more of it.

 

I'll drink to that.

[Undershooter]

Fitness is very important to the game if it is executed correctly. Most people don't utilize it in the right way to improve their game. It's not going anywhere for the best in the world. Sure their will always be outliers but that's in any sport. I'm not in as should be so I don't have room to judge but that may also explain why I am playing like crap right now.

 

For those who don't think fitness in golf is important, that means they don't understand physiology.

[dru_]

Proper fitness is a good thing, regardless of the lifestyle or sport. Where it becomes a problem, and I think the fad nature of it, is when fitness becomes bulk and you have net losses in ability due to over-building.  I think a great example on tour right now is Camilo Villegas. When he first started playing on the tour, he was supremely fit, but not particularly over muscled. Then came 2012. He was absolutely ripped, his physical build crossed the line from fit, to overbuilt in some aspects, and the fluidity of motion was compromised because of it.  His game suffered for it. As 2013 rolled around, he seemed to scale back a little on the muscle bulk, and the form returned, for the most part, and his game has gotten better, but not really back to the level he played at in 2009-2010.

 

Then you look around at some of the other names that have really emphasized fitness in golf, Tiger has struggled with consistancy as he has added muscle mass (and I think it could be argued that much of his injury plagued couple of years can be tied to trying to overpower rather than finesse). Rory has added some bulk, but he seems to be working to find a happy medium.  I think we can watch the next couple of seasons to see if he goes too far as well.

 

And that is something that I think is a common thread.  Once you start hitting the gym, and you see results, it is EASY to get carried away, or unbalance your workouts, and even disrupt your balance by focusing too much on muscle mass without considering the other bits.  I go back to the early days of pro football starting to understand that there needs to be grace along with the power and the teams that started adding ballet, yoga and other forms of balance training to their workouts and the reactions from the press and people.  

 

So no, golf fitness probably isn't a fad that is going away anytime soon, but as always there is a tipping point where too much is, well, too much.

[sp0rtsfan86]

Happy medium is there somewhere. I think it was Darren Clarke who said he lost 20 pounds of fat and lost his game, so he went back to his old habits and his game recovered. Just because your fit doesn't mean you will automatically play better. IT can mean you can play more and at a consistent rate instead of tiring on the back 9. Just think everyone has their own sweet spot when it comes to fitness and how you use it to better yourself and your game.