GOLF1

When beginning to train for golf or any sport, there are three phases of conditioning:

Off-Season: Three strength training sessions per week for general base and core strengthening, as well as for muscle control is sufficient. During the off season months of January, February, and March is the best time to focus on overall muscle strength and enhance golf driving power.

Examples of exercises include:

Leg Press, Leg Curl, Leg Extension, Push ups, Pullovers, Lateral Raises, Bicep curl, Tricep extension and abdominal crunches

Pre-Season: Once you have a strong base and balance of muscle, you can maintain by reducing your total body strength training sessions to twice per week. Now is the time to develop sport specific skills utilizing tiny, but key muscles such as low back and rotator cuff musculature.

A Free weight program with lighter weight and more repetitions might include: Back extensions, trunk rotations, abduction/adduction of legs and arms, internal/external rotation of shoulder girdle, wrist flexion/extension

In-Season: Practice the sport! To prevent injury after long activity days with many rounds, you must rehabilitate those sport specific muscles. As with Off and Pre-season training, stretching all muscle groups before and after play will aid in not only a successful golf swing with a larger range of motion, but movement control and balance as well. A loss of balance can reduce a backswing or completely change the swing plane and, thus, the shot outcome.

The basic flexibility exercises that address the muscle-joint actions most relevant to golfers are standing or seated hamstring, lower back, and upper back and shoulder stretches.

There are many "free weighted" and inexpensive pieces of equipment that can be very valuable when training muscles specifically for golf. Examples include SPRI Exer-Tubes, Stability balls, Medicine Balls, and "The Golf Gym" tubing system developed by Gary Player himself. For price information, call SPRI Products, Inc. at 1-800-222-7774.

If you are an avid golfer and still not convinced that a little extra training can actually improve the power behind your golf game... remember Happy Gilmore? A Golf Pro had to step in and fine tune his golfing skills, but the muscle behind that drive came from Hockey Training! As with any exercise or fitness program you start, it is always wise to obtain the professional services of a certified personal trainer for guidance on correct form when performing any exercises.