Fitness for the Average Golfer

Fitness for the Average Golfer

Lately, a more careful look at the professional golf ranks will reveal many well-conditioned people. Such conditioning is needed to perform consistently well at a high level. After all, it isn't often noted, but the golf swing is an intensely athletic motion.
Some professional golfers don't look like athletes, the fact remains that golfers are athletes.

Given that fact, even the most casual golfer who incorporates the simplest of exercises can help himself or herself shave strokes off the handicap, and maybe a few inches off the waist.

A golf analysis company based in Germany, Golf Biodynamics, conducted a study using twenty-eight weekend golfers. They were introduced to an eight-week, “five-column” workout plan. The five columns were different sets of exercises that concentrated on five different fitness-related aspects of golf – coordination, balance, strength, the swing itself, and flexibility.

The results of the study were overwhelming. The group as a whole experienced an increase in upper-body rotation and an 80 percent gain in upper-body strength. T
he stability of their hip rotation also increased, resulting in a more controlled swing, and their collective clubhead speed increased by 9.4 percent.
Think they’re having fun knocking their drives past their playing partners now?

As with any workout regimen, the older a person gets, the harder it is to see results. Younger golfers and women, all with lower handicaps, saw more immediate results on the golf course.
However seniors and bogey golfers can take heart; the sport is a game of inches. The slightest change any golfer makes can have a significant impact in her game, and will help avoid back pain, knee pain, and other health problems many middle-aged to senior golfers experience.