With the Masters being on last weekend I thought I’d chime in and discuss the idea are strength training the golf athlete. We’ll run through the reasons I believe it’s a positive thing, the benefits and how it has helped a number of top golfers.
Golf, a single sided, rotational heavy, sport can benefit from a strength and conditioning programme like any other sport. However, like any other sport, the number one rule when talking S&C is to remember that skill training should dominate. We’ve said it before here but training 7 times a week in the gym with me and getting new max jump heights and bench press 1RMs won’t improve how the golfer reads a shot, it’s not going to improve their putting percentage or help them achieve a cleaner contact with the ball. S&C for the golfer does a number of other things. Developing better overall strength and stamina is one.
Golf is a long game and can be played over 3-4 days. Injury reduction is one of the primary functions of any programme a golfer will do. The frequency at which they hit the ball and move through the same action is quite high, and it’s the same action repeatedly. Therefore, risk of injury can be high, the same muscle working day in day out, shot after shot while others are neglected. Furthermore, the amount of energy expended just getting around the course is huge, not to mention the effort of hitting the ball. Improving the athlete’s strength and endurance, along with good nutrition habits, can help them stay at their top level for longer throughout the round. When looking at the programme we want to develop 3 main areas.
Movement Quality
Strength and Power
Force Transfer
Movement Quality
One of the key elements to any programme for any athlete or member of the general population should be movement quality. I’ve been lucky to spend time with the physical preparation coaches to Padraig Harrington, Shane Lowry and a few other top tour golfers. They all say the same thing. Getting their athletes to move in patterns that are different to that which they experience in their golf game is a major focus and even prescribed on a daily basis.
Being able to control their body through simple movement patterns like cross body crawls and reaches can have a huge impact on their overall control while also helping to reinforce and improve neural pathways within the body.
Strength
Improving the golfer’s strength, particularly the lower body, can help them when it comes to adding distance to their shot. Most of the power comes from the rotation of the hips and shift from back leg to front leg, especially on a long drive. Squats and deadlifts can be used to develop overall lower body strength for the golfer and depending on what rep and set range you programme you can use them for hypertrophy or muscular endurance.
So, if most of the power comes from the lower body does the upper body need strength development? Yes, in my eyes it does. However, movement and mobility should not be compromised for strength. A tight and immobile golfer won’t do much on the course, the main goal for the upper body should be to open up the T-Spine and increase rotation through the shoulders and upper back.
Power
You’ve helped the golfer develop a greater level of maximum strength, their deadlift is at an all-time high and they feel great. But it’s still slow. Including some power-based exercises can be beneficial for loads of reasons from helping increase club head speed to engaging the central nervous system pre-comp. However, the final element can be make or break.
Force Transfer
A golfer needs to be able to generate strength and power from their legs, through their hips, into their torso and down through the club head. Being able to effectively use the ground and trunk as an anchor to move through can help the golfer maximize their strength through the club head. Think about a cannon firing, if it’s placed on a solid surface and anchored down it will shoot true, however, if it’s in a canoe and fired… probably won’t have the same result. The movement drills, especially the cross-body movement patterns are the key foundations to improving force transfer from ground to lower body to torso to club. Progressing up from there we might look are different stability exercises such as a Pallof press to improve overall trunk strength.
Each one of the above programme features cannot function without the previous one. Each builds upon the last.
Does every golfer need to incorporate S&C? No. Does it help? Yes. Any golfer I have talked to always talks about improving their drive through a programme and truth is yes, it should help that but to me, the other benefits are just as important. They include but are by no means limited to better ability to get around the course, reduced risk of overuse injury, less pain and stiffness the day after and better sequencing through the body. Did Tiger win the Masters down to an S&C programme? Definitely not, but if you ever get the chance to ask him, ask how much his trainer helped get him back after the back surgeries. Ask him the importance of daily movement and warm up exercises are to his overall game. Ask him if he’d be able to get around so efficiently if not for a training programme. I think I know his answers, but if you get the chance, ask and let me know.
Any golfers out there, reach out and let’s chat about areas that might be of importance to developing your game. This post hasn’t even tipped the surface of match day warm ups or deeper programming concerns, but instead was an insight into the thought process of where a golf athlete fits on the strength and conditioning spectrum.
See you Sunday,
Rory.