[alexagt]

The Importance of Golf Fitness. By Alex Fortey, Athletic Golf Training.


Every golfer wants better distance, accuracy, and consistency – in short, a better golf game. That’s why golf training aids represent a huge industry and we spend countless hours at the driving range perfecting our swings, honing our short games, and trying endless new approaches and techniques to help improve our handicaps. And while it’s true that the right equipment, flawless technique, and hours of practice can vastly improve any golfer’s game, one of the most effective golf game improvement strategies remains one of the most overlooked: golf fitness.



Benefits of Golf Fitness

Golf is a game of mechanics. With each swing of the club, you enlist your body as a machine to align and accelerate your club head to and through a specific point – the ball. To accomplish this feat, your skeleton serves as a series of levers and joints, powered by more than 22 muscles, to propel your golf club.

It’s curious that despite the fact that no two swings are identical, so many different golfers can achieve similarly good results. The single best swing technique is impossible to pinpoint, but the single common denominator among the majority of the world’s greatest golfers is simple to spot: golf fitness.

You can tirelessly work on the mechanics of your golf game, but if you don’t have a well-oiled machine to execute those mechanics you will never realize optimal results. That is to say, without an excellent golf fitness regimen you will never reach your potential as a golfer. You must prepare your body for golf.

Benefits of an excellent golf fitness program include:

Increased speed
Increased agility
Increased flexibility
Increased power
Increased shot distance
Increased consistency
Enhanced concentration
Increased stamina/Decreased fatigue
Decreased injury risk
Life-long health benefits
Lowered handicap and a better golf game
A better you
Golf Fitness for Increased Speed, Agility, Flexibility, Power, and Distance

A sound golf fitness program increases flexibility and agility, enabling you to:

Put your body through the full range of the golf swing motion, from turning your shoulders on your drawback to twisting your spine so your navel points at your target at the end of your follow through. A full range of motion gives your swing the power it needs to increase distance.
Optimize your gross and fine motor skills for a more efficient swing and the ability to snap your wrists at the critical moment for maximum swing speed.
Harness the balance and coordination necessary to hit the ball with accuracy.
Golf Fitness Enhanced Consistency and Concentration

Golf fitness enhances consistency and concentration by:

Strengthening your core and golf-specific muscles, so you can master your golf swing with greater efficiency and control.
Contributing to muscle memory and reduces repetitious fatigue, resulting in increased overall efficiency.
Influencing your brain to release feel-good endorphins and create a network of golf-specific neurons that train your body to relax and perform at its peak for each shot.
Increasing cognitive ability and concentration naturally, reducing mental mistakes and leading to more accuracy and confidence in your golf game.
Golf Fitness for Increased Stamina, Reduced Fatigue, and Reduced Injury Risk

Playing 18 holes of golf can drain you of energy. Repetitive movements also drain energy. The average golfer on a 72 par course requires 87 to 95 swings of the golf club, not to mention the number of practice swings and times you have to bend down to pick up your ball. Fatigue and inflexibility lead to sloppiness and injury risk, but a sound golf fitness program:


[*]Increases strength and flexibility to reduce strain.
[*]Enhances your overall health for increased stamina and reduced fatigue.
[*]Fine-tunes your body for decreased injury risk, saving your calves, knees, back, neck, arms, wrists, and shoulders from painful and limiting injuries.
[*]Trains golf-specific muscle groups but also your whole body so you can play 18 holes effortlessly – and even tackle otherwise grueling 36-hole days with ease.
[*]

Golf Fitness for Improved Handicap, A Better Golf Game, and A Better You

You’ve read about the remarkable strides you can make in your golf game by following a well-prepared golf fitness program. You’ll enjoy life-long health benefits by engaging in a sound golf fitness program. The sweetest part of golf fitness that it not only lowers your handicap for a better golf game, it helps you enjoy a better life. Improved golf scores mean you’re happier on the course; improved health means you’re happier in your life.

A sound golf fitness program means a better golf game. And it means a better you.

By Alex Fortey. Athletic Golf Training

[BIG STU]

Got to agree with all you said 100%. Personally I have lost weight about 40 lbs in the last year. I have not been really dieting per say but have cut out all my soft drinks, cut out all snacks and eat less food at meals. I have been doing golf related exercizes. I try to hit at least 50 balls in the morning before work. i am now able to make a full turn on the ball which I have not been able to do for some number of years. since loosing so much weight my swing speed has increased 5 mph over last year and my driver distance 15 yds or so. I am generally feeling better. Still i need to drop another 40 lbs. I am 6'2" and now weigh 300lbs which is a lot better than 345 i weighed a year ago. keep up the good writing

[GolfSpy Matt]

BIG STU, on 23 October 2011 - 07:33 PM, said:

Got to agree with all you said 100%. Personally I have lost weight about 40 lbs in the last year. I have not been really dieting per say but have cut out all my soft drinks, cut out all snacks and eat less food at meals. I have been doing golf related exercizes. I try to hit at least 50 balls in the morning before work. i am now able to make a full turn on the ball which I have not been able to do for some number of years. since loosing so much weight my swing speed has increased 5 mph over last year and my driver distance 15 yds or so. I am generally feeling better. Still i need to drop another 40 lbs. I am 6'2" and now weigh 300lbs which is a lot better than 345 i weighed a year ago. keep up the good writing

Congratulations and keep up the good work, Stu! Over the last few years, my dad has gone from over 400 pounds to recently weighing in at 220! To say that his health is better is a crazy understatement, to say nothing of his golf game.

[Manavs]

alexagt, on 12 October 2011 - 12:28 AM, said:

you enlist your body as a machine to align and accelerate your club head to and through a specific point – the ball. To accomplish this feat, your skeleton serves as a series of levers and joints, powered by more than 22 muscles, to propel your golf club.

alexagt, on 12 October 2011 - 12:28 AM, said:

Strengthening your core and golf-specific muscles, so you can master your golf swing with greater efficiency and control.

Hi Alex - Welcome to MGS, I appreciate your article and love it when more people talk about health and fitness. Ive got a few questions regarding your article that don't make sense to me.


In the first quote, you mention how the body is a machine, and as machines do, the sum of their parts work as a whole. Then you go on to say how 22+ muscles (out of the ~640 in the body )serve to move the machine. You go on in the second quote to state that improvement will be found in strengthening the core muscles and golf specific muscles (not by working the machine as a whole).

I'd implore you to explain how specifically targeting and strengthening golf specific muscles, rather than treating the entire body symmetrically as a whole, does not create ill fated muscular imbalances in the physique which negatively effect and alter a person's reflex action, in this case their golf swing.

[finalist]

How do these guys play golf at the top level for so long?

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[Manavs]

finalist, on 24 October 2011 - 01:32 PM, said:

How do these guys play golf at the top level for so long?

tim-herron-2011-4-24-19-50-23.jpg
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john-daly-topless-golf.JPG

fitness is a component (along with nutrition and mental clarity). each of your examples have had roller coaster careers. huge ups and downs. just because their level of mediocrity is far above the majority, does not invalidate the importance of fitness/health.

[GolfSpy Matt]

Also, I think that as golfers become more and more aware of the importance of fitness, I think we will see fewer (zero?) professional golfers with the above pictured physiques. There may always be one or two guys with so much talent that they can win despite being in terrible shape, but I think it will be a tremendous exception to the rule.

[Maverickping]

The pictured above are the exception as we all know. I could not imagine why one would not want to be able to "perform" to the best of their potential and in my opinion that is being physically able to perform. Especially as you get older it is a must.

I played a lot of sports when I was younger and now at the age of 56 and 5 knee surgeries (L twice and the R three times) between the two, it is paramount for my well being let alone golf game.

I even messed up my left shoulder this past spring in my backswing with a wedge! More things to work on for the coming season, I will eagerly be following any tips that can be offered here.

[Manavs]

bump for alexagt

[TWshoot67]

I'm not saying who's right and who's wrong but it seems to me that right now there's a trend that Tiger woods started as to golfers getting into great physical shape. Before Tiger Woods almost no one cared about their fitness level that played golf. It may have been a stereotype, but more often that not when you see comparisons to all the other sports golfers were never really considered athlete's. I mean you go back to when Jack and Arnold were playing. There was one guy who walked the walk and talked the talk, that was Gary Player. If there were 10 total players back in that era that worked out I'd been very surprised. Now since the Tiger era I'd say at least 30-40 % consider working out a necessity. It's obvious that the players today are much more then just golfers , they are athletes. If you go back even further before Jack and Arnold you would have found plenty of people built like the overweighted players shown above. I don't think Walter Hagen was doing too much working out back in his day or any of his contemporaries for that matter. Unless you consider smoking/drinking part of the workout process. I use to be one heck of an athlete when I was younger. Should have played professional hockey but because of major knee injuries and no one to put me on the proper path of rehab and fitness I now deal with all types of nagging injures. Then falling from 20' has led me to a full knee replacement at age 45. Now while I was waiting for that knee to be replaced (insurance to approve surgery) I gained almost 50 pounds. Not being able to walk for 2 years can cause such a weight gain. That and self loathing. Well i'm putting that in the past, i signed up at the gym and will be getting back to whatever this wreck of a body will allow me to get back too. I have no problem with hard work. I did that as a plumber for 30+ years. Now it's time to do this at age 48 if I want to play golf at age 70 and beyond. See i know I can do this because before i had this bad fall in April of 2008 I went from 225 down to 187. Dropped from a 38 inch waste to a 34 inch waste. So now that my new knee is working its time to do what is absolutely necessary!. Any advise..... I'm all ears...and belly!

Tim

[GolfSpy Matt]

TWshoot67, on 07 November 2011 - 07:20 PM, said:

I'm not saying who's right and who's wrong but it seems to me that right now there's a trend that Tiger woods started as to golfers getting into great physical shape. Before Tiger Woods almost no one cared about their fitness level that played golf. It may have been a stereotype, but more often that not when you see comparisons to all the other sports golfers were never really considered athlete's. I mean you go back to when Jack and Arnold were playing. There was one guy who walked the walk and talked the talk, that was Gary Player. If there were 10 total players back in that era that worked out I'd been very surprised. Now since the Tiger era I'd say at least 30-40 % consider working out a necessity. It's obvious that the players today are much more then just golfers , they are athletes. If you go back even further before Jack and Arnold you would have found plenty of people built like the overweighted players shown above. I don't think Walter Hagen was doing too much working out back in his day or any of his contemporaries for that matter. Unless you consider smoking/drinking part of the workout process. I use to be one heck of an athlete when I was younger. Should have played professional hockey but because of major knee injuries and no one to put me on the proper path of rehab and fitness I now deal with all types of nagging injures. Then falling from 20' has led me to a full knee replacement at age 45. Now while I was waiting for that knee to be replaced (insurance to approve surgery) I gained almost 50 pounds. Not being able to walk for 2 years can cause such a weight gain. That and self loathing. Well i'm putting that in the past, i signed up at the gym and will be getting back to whatever this wreck of a body will allow me to get back too. I have no problem with hard work. I did that as a plumber for 30+ years. Now it's time to do this at age 48 if I want to play golf at age 70 and beyond. See i know I can do this because before i had this bad fall in April of 2008 I went from 225 down to 187. Dropped from a 38 inch waste to a 34 inch waste. So now that my new knee is working its time to do what is absolutely necessary!. Any advise..... I'm all ears...and belly!

Tim

Tim,

I don't have any particular advice to offer you, I'm not any kind of expert, but I do wish you all the best in your efforts to get back to your fighting weight! Clearly you've got the right attitude, and that's half the battle. Over the last couple years my dad has lost about 200 pounds, so I know it can be done, and the benefits are tremendous.

[Manavs]

TWshoot67, on 07 November 2011 - 09:20 PM, said:

I'm not saying who's right and who's wrong but it seems to me that right now there's a trend that Tiger woods started as to golfers getting into great physical shape. Before Tiger Woods almost no one cared about their fitness level that played golf. It may have been a stereotype, but more often that not when you see comparisons to all the other sports golfers were never really considered athlete's. I mean you go back to when Jack and Arnold were playing. There was one guy who walked the walk and talked the talk, that was Gary Player. If there were 10 total players back in that era that worked out I'd been very surprised. Now since the Tiger era I'd say at least 30-40 % consider working out a necessity. It's obvious that the players today are much more then just golfers , they are athletes. If you go back even further before Jack and Arnold you would have found plenty of people built like the overweighted players shown above. I don't think Walter Hagen was doing too much working out back in his day or any of his contemporaries for that matter. Unless you consider smoking/drinking part of the workout process. I use to be one heck of an athlete when I was younger. Should have played professional hockey but because of major knee injuries and no one to put me on the proper path of rehab and fitness I now deal with all types of nagging injures. Then falling from 20' has led me to a full knee replacement at age 45. Now while I was waiting for that knee to be replaced (insurance to approve surgery) I gained almost 50 pounds. Not being able to walk for 2 years can cause such a weight gain. That and self loathing. Well i'm putting that in the past, i signed up at the gym and will be getting back to whatever this wreck of a body will allow me to get back too. I have no problem with hard work. I did that as a plumber for 30+ years. Now it's time to do this at age 48 if I want to play golf at age 70 and beyond. See i know I can do this because before i had this bad fall in April of 2008 I went from 225 down to 187. Dropped from a 38 inch waste to a 34 inch waste. So now that my new knee is working its time to do what is absolutely necessary!. Any advise..... I'm all ears...and belly!

Tim

Tim,
you bring up a great point. If you look at all the major manufacturers who would've guessed 10,20 or even 30 years ago thats under armour would be selling skin tight clothing to golfers ? the simple fact that there are companies that believe they can make money selling fitted shirts and slacks goes a long way in proving that the fitness craze is more then just a fad. It's here to stay .

all the best with moving forward in your health. Let me know if I can be of help .

Michael