How do you train like a professional golfer? Richard Weaver, personal trainer to scratch players, gives Fiona Adams the lowdown
Golf is a game of technique, timing and strategy, but there are many physical and fitness elements, on which the modern tour pro works to make his/her game stand up in tournament conditions week after week...
Mental strength and stamina
Are both affected by physical factors. Sip water regularly – even mild dehydration impairs cognitive performance. Good nutrition is essential to maintain energy levels for the swing and for good decision-making on the back nine. A huge pre-round salad with lots of vegetables (slow-release carbohydrates), plus an energy bar or banana on the tenth tee, will keep your focus down the stretch. Tiredness = mistakes and dropped shots.
Core strength
You need to be working your abdominals, but also the obliques in your sides and your back muscles. Sit-ups, planks and side-planks are your basics. Ab-roll-outs and Pallof press are even better. Consider also rotational strength. Twists (rotating your trunk) on the cable machine are essential. If you raise the handle to the top rung you can closely mimic a golf downswing with a cable wood-chop.
Back and legs
Strength Rule #1: deadlift. This is lifting weights on a bar from the floor to waist height and then lowering; technique is key. Start light and only do short reps of 4-6, staying focused on your form. Your glutes, quads and lower back will work intensely. As your back gets stronger you will be able to maintain a more consistent spinal angle through the swing. This aids ball striking and accuracy with irons and makes you steadier over putts.
Calves
Skipping is a great exercise for getting up on the balls of your feet and working your calves. A great cardio workout which develops co-ordination, it’s a superb option for a pre-round warm-up, activating your brain and footwork.
Balance
Try one-legged exercises, such as throwing a tennis ball against a wall and catching it, or a weighted medicine ball vertically, in socks or bare feet on a firm floor. The standing poses in yoga also train this skill. Look at the follow-through of top players such as Lydia Ko, who achieves beautiful balance even after a powerful drive. Strong feet help.
Attitude
A common tendency is to try to hit the ball harder as you grow stronger. This will mess up your timing. Trust your normal easy swing and fight the urge to go for long drives. Aim for accuracy with your irons, strong posture in your short game, coming out of the blocks well at the start of the round, and rock-solid concentration over the last six holes.
Latissimus dorsi
Nice strong ‘lats’ will give you confidence in pulling the club down from the top of the backswing. Try wide-arm pull-ups with palms facing forward – very difficult lifting your whole bodyweight. Most gyms have a lat pull-down machine on which you can build up the weight over the weeks to sets of actual pull-ups. Dead-lifts also effectively engage your lats.
Upper body
Press-ups (working pectoralis major) and shoulder presses (deltoids) will keep your strength patterns balanced. Avoid the temptation of overdoing vanity weights that bulk your chest and arms and could ultimately reduce flexibility. Core strength is more the modern focus.
Core elasticity
Think Rory McIlroy – his drives are like a catapult firing projectiles. This involves every major muscle group and the myofascia encasing them. Improve this with yoga. There are so many twists and holds in yoga that you virtually get a whole golf conditioning programme right there. You might initially be the worst in your yoga class, but who cares if it makes you the best player in your monthly medal?
Free weights
Consider a programme that includes back squats (with a weighted bar across your shoulders). The squat is a compound exercise that uses glutes, hamstrings, quads and lower back and which engages your whole core. Focus on technique, not the heaviness of the weight. Tour pros often suffer with back problems and have to balance strength exercises with rest and treatment, so get advice from a gym instructor. Deadlifts or squats might be your preference, but get very good at one or the other and do them often. Kettlebell swings are another option.
Warm-up
You are an athlete: do dynamic exercises which raise your heart rate or activate the muscle groups involved in the golf swing. Try bodyweight squats, a jog, 20 press-ups, twists with a resistance band or skipping. Get a sweat on. ‘Win’ the warm-up and be ready to dominate.
- Richard Weaver is a personal trainer focusing on sports-specific performance and runs YELO Studio Cycling in Marlow. Email: info@yelostudiocycling.co.uk
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