Are your workouts productive in your pursuit of becoming a better golfer?
by Director of Fitness, Ted Bonham
The question presented in the title is one you have to ask yourself. A lot of you have gym memberships. When you go to the gym for a work out, what are you working on? Do you have a specific fitness plan? Do you keep track of your progress?
I work with a lot of athletes throughout the year and spend a great deal of time researching physical fitness. I integrate my experiences with other talented experts in the field specifically the men and women at the Titleist Performance Institute and Greensboro, N.C. local, Dr. Damian Rodulfo from Guilford Orthopedics. Through this comprehensive approach I am able to provide my clients a path for them to reach their physical goals.
As an example, let us say you have a swing fault where you are coming over the top and have an uncontrollable slice or a pulled shot. Is it a swing fault or is it a physical mobility problem that is causing the swing fault? Going to your local gym without the proper exercises could make it worse. At Precision Fitness we evaluate our clients to see exactly where they are physically then structure a fitness routine for them. This routine strengthens their weaknesses and enhances their strengths.
Interestingly, I have found throughout my time in physical fitness that many golfers work outs, that is if they work out at all, are counter productive. An example of this and one of the areas that concerns me the most is when a female high school golfer tells me she is in a weight lifting class at school? She is better off quitting the golf team and joining the football team as a linebacker because that is the exercise training she is going to get from that class. I actually had a female high school golfer that wanted to out lift the football team. I was able to talk her out of it.
Another problem I face is an athlete that spends a lot of time in the gym. It is very difficult to have them mentally give up the standard weight lifting exercises they are accustomed to and work more on the stability, mobility issues that involve the golf swing. In the majority of my top golfers’ workouts, we rarely lift more than twenty pounds.
If your golf workout program does not include exercises for the “Big Four” than I can honestly say your workout is not helping you in your pursuit of becoming a better golfer. In future blogs, Jonathon and I will cover the “Big Four”.
Remember when going to your gym or workout facility, go there with a specific plan, follow your routine and make certain to track your progress. Talk to your swing coach to see if there are physical areas in your golf swing that you can improve on to make you a better, more consistent golfer.
