Golf fitness pursuits can be a bit mystifying. We’ve established how important your golf fitness pursuits are to lowering your scores, but step foot in a gym and you’re greeted with an endless array of machines and weights. What’s more, there is no shortage of experts in the gym or online telling you what routines or exercises you should be doing. The confusion can lead to anything from inefficient training to a lack of motivation to even set foot in the gym at all.
There are some staples, however. Ask two different experts to design the perfect golf workout program for you, and you are bound to get different prescriptions. There should be some common fundamentals, though. If you’ve stepped up your golf fitness efforts in pursuit of lower scores, make sure you’re including these moves.
Deadlifts, a Golf Fitness Staple?
If you read “deadlifts” and your mind went to massive 300-pound strongman competitors in knee wraps and lifting belts, relax. Not that kind of deadlifting. You needn’t put every disc in your spine at risk to see significant benefits from adding deadlifts to your routine.
Posture is important in the golf swing. Set up poorly, with a rounded and slumped or excessively arched back, and you will sabotage your ability to rotate. That severely limits your power potential and will likely cause some pain.
A good swing instructor will work to make you more conscientious of your posture and help you set up to the ball properly, but they can’t help you if your postures issues are due to a lack of strength. Regularly incorporating deadlifts will strengthen your entire posterior chain (fitness-speak for all your muscles on the back you can’t see without a mirror) and give you the ability to assume and maintain proper golf posture.
Squats & Lunges
Golf is a power game. The more you have of it, the farther you’ll hit the ball. The farther you hit the ball, the lower you can potentially score. It’s a pretty simply formula really. How can you build that power? One of the key ways is by developing lower body power, and squats and lunges are the ticket to doing it.
The Rear Elevated Split Squat, otherwise known as the Bulgarian Split Squat, may be the best place to start. The Bulgarian develops single-leg strength, balance, and stability, and allows you to attack your legs without the excessive load on the lumbar spine caused by traditional back squats.
Lunges and reverse lunges are also an excellent option. If you long for your high school football glory days and insist on traditional back squats, go for it. Back squats are an exceptional exercise for building lower body strength and overall power. A word of caution though: golf asks a lot of your lower back, and so do back squats. Be sure to train with proper form, and consider opting for belt squats if you’re lucky enough to train at a gym with that piece of equipment.
Rotational Power Moves
Rotational power training for golf strengthens the glutes, thoracic spine, and core, resulting in gains in clubhead speed and efficiency in your golf swing. Kneeling cable or band rotations, medicine ball rotations, and different chop variations are excellent movements to train rotational power. For our money, the Pallof Press is the way to go.
Set up one side of the cable crossover machine at chest height, or use a band, and stand sideways to it. holding the band or cable attachment against your chest. Now, brace your core and press the band away from your chest, and resist the band’s attempt to pull you. You’re now performing a Pallof Press, training your body to resist unwanted rotation and greatly improving core stability and strength.
Consult a Professional
Deadlifts, squats, and training for rotational power are three essentials of any golf fitness program. On their own, they do not constitute a complete training regimen, however. Fortunately, there are professional trainers out there who specialize in golf.
Build your posterior chain with deadlifts, further build your lower-body power with squats and lunges, and build your core with the Pallof Press or other rotational power moves. Include these staple movements in your golf fitness routine and you are sure to see gains on the course.