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Strength & Conditioning for Golf
by Mark L. Archambault, PT, PhD, CSCS
Strength and conditioning is a major growth area in golf. Golf has always been thought of as a skill-based sport, requiring minimal fitness. The reality is that the golf swing is a movement that requires a great deal of intermuscular coordination. To achieve a technically and biomechanically sound, reproducible golf swing requires flexibility, strength, stability, balance, power and endurance.
Many of today's touring professionals follow a total golf conditioning program that includes swing instruction, mental training, physical conditioning and nutritional counseling. The result of this "golfer evolution" is a lean, athletic golfer who appears stronger, more powerful, more flexible and fitter than golfers of previous generations.
There are three key elements that should be considered when constructing a golf-specific strength and conditioning program: flexibility, strength (including static and dynamic balance, and power), and cardiovascular conditioning. The time spent on each element and the intensity of the program is determined by the golfer's physical and physiological needs, the golfer's training history, and the golfer's goals.
Flexibility: Increased flexibility = Decreased resistance to optimum swing path
Stretching is one aspect of the total strength and conditioning program that has been performed by golfers for many years. Information on how to stretch is plentiful, and many golfers take it upon themselves to complete a total body stretching routine. In practice, each golfer should have an individualized flexibility-training program designed to meet their specific needs and requirements based on physical assessment results. The screening process allows the physical therapist to identify short and tight muscles and design a flexibility program to address these tight tissues.
To be effective, the flexibility program must address the findings of the physical assessment, must be specific to the golf swing motion, and must incorporate both static and dynamic flexibility exercises - the golf swing is both a static (address and finish positions) and dynamic event. The stretches should be done in a specific sequence to ensure best results. Muscles should be stretched first, followed by joints; static stretches should be followed by dynamic stretches.
Potential benefits of increased flexibility include: 1) increasing the dynamic range of motion required to execute the golf swing, 2) decreased stretch reflex, 3) greater ability to withstand tensile forces at end of range of motion, 4) decreased injury potential, 5) increased power through conditioning soft tissue to become more elastic, 6) slowing down the natural decline of muscle and joint function that occurs with aging.
Strength: Increased strength = Increased striking force to the ball
A strength-training program designed to meet the individual needs of the golfer can result in physical adaptations that enhance the swing changes the golfer is striving to achieve. Strength-training programs should progress concomitantly with the golfer's development. Strengthening exercises should start at the appropriate level for the golfer based on the findings of the physical assessment, and over time the neurological demand of the exercises should be increased in accordance with the golfer's progress. The initial strength-training program should focus on corrective exercises designed to develop sound movement and muscle recruitment patterns. This is far more important than focusing on strength gains. Increased strength with poor exercise execution may result in possible injury rather than improvement.
Once exercise techniques have been learned and correct movement skills established, progression should increase the workload. Initially, exercises in the frontal and sagittal planes should be performed and mastered. Transverse plane strength and control may be introduced and perfected over time after the simple planar movements can be well executed. Obviously rotational strength is very specific to the golfer's needs, and should be a medium- and long-range goal of any golf conditioning program.
Golf requires strength and power of many muscles in the body. The muscles act together to create complex movement patterns rather than contracting in isolation. Exercises should utilize complex movements to develop intermuscular coordination. Thus multijoint exercises such as deadlifts, squats and rowing exercises should form the foundation of such a program. Special attention must be paid to the deep stabilizing musculature of the trunk. Proper functioning of the transversus abdominis and segmental stabilizers (multifidus) is crucial for injury prevention, balance, posture control and power development.
Static posture may be defined as "the position of the body at rest" (Chek). As the golf swing uses one side of the body in differing function to the other, static postural imbalances are common in many golfers. One of the goals of the strength-training program should be to return the body to "normal" resting posture as postural deviations may be contributing to swing problems, and possible injury.
Once sound static posture has been developed and reinforced, dynamic postural stability should be developed. Dynamic postural control can be defined as "the ability to keep each and all working joints in optimal alignment during any given movement, such that the efficiency of the movement is facilitated and injury is prevented" (Chek). Dynamic postural control and stability will improve swing consistency and maintain joint and soft tissue health.
Cardiovascular Fitness
A minimum level of cardiovascular fitness is required to complete 18 holes of golf. Optimum fitness would have the golfer feeling minimal fatigue (physical or mental) at the conclusion of the 18 holes of golf. It is accepted that physical fatigue increases levels of mental fatigue. Inadequate fitness may result in decreased mental abilities including poor concentration and decision-making, and skill deterioration. Adequate levels of cardiovascular fitness will reduce the effects of fatigue.
Strength and conditioning should not be seen as a panacea for every golf problem (that is not to say that every golfer does not need a specific strength and conditioning program). The primary aim of strength and conditioning programs for golfers is to decrease any and all physical issues that may be limiting swing improvement or swing consistency.
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