He also determined how eating according to the Precision Nutrition principles and living an athletic lifestyle also improved performance. Get the latest news and tips from Golf Tips, delivered right to your inbox! Interestingly, for men, leg strength was important, but arm and upper body strength were co-related with their ability to drive the ball. My experience is that each player is quite different and the process has to be quite fluid and adaptable in order to get the balance right from week to week. Flexibility has been defined as the range of motion (ROM) around a single joint or a series of joints and reflects the ability of the muscle-tendon units to elongate within the physical restrictions of the joint (Hubley-Kozey, 1991, in Testing of the High Performance Athlete). And beyond physical prowess, PGA players have also discovered the importance of physical preparation and nutrition while recovering from injuries. So, when training for trunk and rotary power there needs be an equal amount of pushing and pulling in the workouts. To stretch the lower back and hip flexor muscles. Of course spin rates and launch angles play a major role in overall distance as well, but once you have the speed, those are easier to adjust with the right launch monitors. Then execute a ½ golf swing, while balancing only on one leg. To increase strength of the abdominal oblique muscles. It is important to prevent injury, as well as to ensure proper positioning at address, and throughout the swing. Balance is a critical element of optimal golf performance. Examples of exercises that enhance aerobic cardiovascular function include swimming, walking, jogging, running, skipping, step machine, and rowing. Power is how quickly you can achieve that contraction. To make an exercise more powerful and to train your muscles and joints to move quickly and accurately just decrease the weight that you might be lifting in the gym and increase the speed of your movements. And who doesn’t want to hit it further? Instructions: Take for example Brooks Koepka, Mark Leishman, Rickie Fowler and Jason Dufner. Developing Your Skills 1 Start playing as early in life as possible. If you keep running putts past the cup, grip down on the handle more. Cam Smith initially tested poorly in many of these areas; he was a skinny weak kid with posture and mobility issues that needed addressing to help him to continue playing amateur golf around the world without increasing his risk of injury. The other benefit of this exercise is that it stretches your hip flexors and trains your core. Stability and Balance — I use a protocol developed by GravityFit called the Core Body Benchmark. Strength and power are essentials for any golfer and can help improve driving distance, as well as play from the fairway and also the accuracy of the short game. Note that the golfers are able to maintain an upright posture at address and throughout the swing. Flexibility is generally considered to be an important component of sport performance, … Also note that the natural curves of the spine are also retained. Lifting heavier weight with fewer repetitions increases muscle strength and bone density better than lifting lighter weights with highe… This is a foundation exercise for all functional training as this contraction can be performed at any time during exercise to increase core stability and balance. He also tracked season long tournament performance. Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/subscribe_widget?p=grandeilkinghttp://body-attitude.blogspot.com.es Bring the legs up off the ground and, with straight arms, slowly rotate your upper body to one side as far as possible in either direction. As a result of specific attention to each of these pillars, the new breed of player is leaner, more muscular, and more flexible than players in the previous generation. Below is my current method of training tour pros. Stand in address position with a golf club in your hands. There are two ways of training how to play. Either play with the new skills on the golf course or try to practice under playing conditions. This is of particular importance to the sport of golf, where free movement is critical in developing optimal swing mechanics and club-head speed. As of this summer, there is some great news for golfers everywhere. How do you think they got, and stay, so good? Dr Wells also found a relationship between aerobic capacity and total score short game (chip shot efficacy) and putting average. Playing golf for the approximately 26 million golfers in the United States means paying money for greens fees, not getting paid. This system supplies oxygen to the muscles which the muscles then use to produce energy for activity like walking, and for recovery from intense bursts of exercise like the golf swing. Advance to practicing this contraction while seated, then while standing, and then while walking. If you or someone you know has … Musculo-Skeletal — This is a series of very simple range of motion and localized stability tests for the major joints and spinal segments. Instructions: If you’d like a reprint of this scientific paper, you can request one by emailing Dr Wells thru his web site at drgregwells.com. I will often prescribe a watered down version of the usual program, reducing reps, sets and load while still focusing on great technique. For an excellent core strength program that is specifically designed for people who are rehabilitating from back injuries please look up Solid to the Core. This is because these core stability muscles are used in most daily activities, not just while playing golf, and therefore they can be-come easily fatigued predisposing us to instability, injury, and poor golf mechanics. Next step is putting together the training program. Dr Wells is the Director of Sports Science for the RCGA (Royal Canadian Golf Association) and the Canadian Golf Association’s Men and Women’s National Amateur Golf Teams. Take control of your health and fitness and get the body you've always wanted. Strength — Four or five exercises designed to elicit a strength adaptation while challenging the ability to hold posture and balance. Step 3: Training to Increase Your Swing Speed. This is similar with how hu… running shoes for running, cross training shoes for indoor training. It’s allowed the whole process to become more fluid and reactive, improved quality of training sessions and made it more fun for the players. Traditionally, most golfers believed there were a few key components to address for the building the ultimate golfer: instruction/shot making, equipment, mental preparation, and course management. Repeat as recommended. Cam Smith has followed this structure the entire time we have been working together. Overall strength and muscle growth. For more information on core stability and back health refer to a book by Dr. Stuart McGill, a spine biomechanist, from the University of Waterloo. Posture has been defined by Paul Chek (Golf Biomechanics Manual, 1999) as “the position from which movement begins and ends.”. Flexibility is generally considered to be an important component of sport performance, injury prevention, and optimal health (United States Olympic Committee, teamusa.org). Powerful movements are explosive and few movements in sport are as powerful as the golf drive. These muscles are most likely to fatigue during the day, especially when walking long distances while performing explosive movements like the golf swing. After developing a very unconventional training program, one not used in golf circles prior, Dr Wells encountered some resistance from prominent golf coaches. In the end, he tested balance, flexibility, posture, core stability, strength and power, cardiovascular fitness, and performance enhancement. Information on training and injury history, time available for training, access to facilities and goal setting all help to dictate what’s included in a program that fits in with the individual’s life. Good postural muscle strength will also prevent any unwanted movements from occurring. I also measure power in a vertical leap and rotation movement. Core strengthening can be achieved by practicing specific exercises. Even though you may be rubbing elbows with some of the most elite golfers in the world, does not mean you will be paid as much as they are. I’ve seen many different approaches work for many different pros. 1. Put these four players through a physical testing protocol and the results would be extremely varied — yet, over 18 holes of golf there is just 0.79 shots difference between first and last. Start in a lunge position with the hand holding the pulley or tubing, then rotate the body forward as if you are punching: You can do the reverse also to train the opposite muscles: Golf performance depends on effective transfer and co-ordination of energy from the legs through the core and the arms, all of which hinges on strength and power of the core musculature. A strong aerobic cardiovascular system will also help deal with mental stresses and helps people be able to relax under pressure situations. A simple push – pull exercise using a pulley system is a great way to practice holding great posture during rotational movements like the golf swing. Harris English— Improving posture in spine, including head/neck. The goal of the balance training program is to promote good front to back and side to side balance and body control. In essence, they wanted proof that Dr Wells’ training ideas worked. There are 29 muscles in this area! Here's what you do: Make yourself a practice station on the range. Postural — I take photos in standing and golf set-up positions from in front, behind and both sides. It's time to train your game like a Tour pro. This has allowed them to train harder, compete more often, and play more rounds injury-free. Instructions: The most obvious benefit of improved strength and power in golfing is the positive effect on club head speed, which can be increased dramatically with proper training. I’m simply trying to establish postural tendencies that can be identified by alignment of major joints. Purpose: of force in less than 0.2 a second.”, “Over the last 10 years, golf has been transformed from an activity into a sport by athletes such as Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam and others.”, “People are definitely training, but up until recently, there was very little research anywhere on the world on what the exact relationship is between fitness and performance.”. We found out at Exos Golf Experience, where top pros hone their form and their physiques. Overall strength and muscle growth. Perform this workout up to 3 times per week (or mix in any other full-body strength workout). I have poached and adapted aspects from various different testing methods including TPI, GravityFit, Ramsay McMaster, Scott Williams and Train With Push. For starters, he concluded that for women, lower body power was the most important element of their ability to drive the ball. “We found that abdominal or core strength was not related to ball speed and distance, which is totally counter intuitive to what was first thought,” says Wells. Instructions: What I mean by this is making sure that every rep is done with great focus and determination. They believe that hitting more golf balls will do nothing but tire them out. Far from it. It’s an easy way to shorten, or … Look behind you to add to the stretch. Far from it. The sport of golf has been revolutionized by the incredible performances of players like Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam. As we all know, the more speed you generate, the further you’ll hit the ball. While the study was extensive, some important, simple lessons came out of it. Another extension is to perform this movement while sitting on a Swiss ball. This quote by Tiger Woods is supported by the laws of basic physics, that is that power = force (strength) x distance (flexibility) / time (greater club-head speed). One of my athletes, Cam Smith, over the course of a season recorded his slowest club head speed when he was strongest and heaviest (muscle mass) and fastest club head speed when he was lightest and weakest. In essence, muscle power is the ability to apply a lot of force very quickly. Instructions: Here's the complete workout plan. All Rights Reserved. For example, a straight line between the ear, shoulder, hip and ankle is considered ideal. Fine motor control can be measured in your accuracy – greens or fairways hit. Begin this exercise lying sideways on the ground placing your lower arm on the ground. Reach him at www.gravityfit.com. Start it now, and prepare for the greatest golf season of your life. Here’s an example of a national team golfer doing jumping lunges: Strength exercises like push ups are great for golfers. To increase the rotation and coil of the body about the spine. To make these strength exercises golf specific you can add some imbalances as shown here. Perhaps most importantly, a comprehensive strength training program that works all muscles and joints (even those not necessarily used in the golf swing) will help reduce the chances of injury by ensuring that you have a strong and stable musculoskeletal system. Ideally, you will practice for a minimum of 6 hours per day for a minimum of 5 days. The number of hours pro golfers practice during a tournament week depends on the individual player. Purpose: But they all are very flexible players who can generate tremendous club-head speed while swinging in balance. Now, there is a difference between strength and power. This serves to highlight the importance of a customized approach to training. The second level of this exercise is to perform the arm lifts while only using one foot to keep balance – thus one arm and the opposite foot are raised off the ground at the same time. While keeping your hips on the ground, slowly push your upper body up as far as possible. Advanced: If you are unable to move equally in both directions, place extra emphasis on the tight side. The Workout to Supercharge Your Golf Swing.