How Golf Fitness Exercises Can Improve Your Game

So you’ve fallen in love with the game. And like most of us, you just want to play better. You turn everywhere for tips on how to speed up your progress. How do I improve my golf swing? How do I putt better? Which clubs will help me stay on the fairway? What are the best clubs for me right now? But have you asked how to improve your fitness for golf? That’s right. Golf fitness exercises can improve your game dramatically.

Golf is a demanding game, both physically and mentally. To play at your best, you need to be fit. Ever look at Tiger Woods’ physique? He wasn’t born that way. He got bigger and stronger the same way that most serious golfers are doing it today. By making a golf fitness routine a priority in his golf game improvement strategy.

Why Fitness for Golf Matters

The simple golf swing derives its power and accuracy from a golfer’s strength and flexibility. The golf swing is a product of perfect coordination between the golfer’s mental focus, hips, torso, and arms and the club and ball. Your fitness is essential to the flexibility, upper body rotation, and strength needed to drive the ball accurately for 9 or 18 holes of golf. Golf swing mechanics become a lot easier to master when you can first master your own body motion.

Golfers that understand the importance of flexibility are able to rotate their shoulders much farther back in relation to the hips during the critical backswing stage of the golf swing and control the path of the downswing on the way to swinging through the ball.

Unless you’re fit enough for the physical demands that golf dictates, your game will struggle to improve despite everything you know about the techniques.

Even a Few Golf Stretching Exercises Can Help

Developing fitness for golf can help you in many ways. If you would like to improve your own flexibility to enhance your golf game, there are some very simple stretches you can do every day. These are the same stretches that some of the pros use.

Golf Stretching Exercises for the Hamstrings

Executing a proper golf swing requires that you maintain the angle of your spine throughout the stages of your swing. If you’re out of shape, this can be challenging. You can improve this by strengthening your core and your hamstring muscles.

By keeping your hamstrings flexible and limber, the power of your golf swing will be increased tenfold. In addition to enhancing your swing, you will reduce the chances of pulling a muscle in the back of your legs.

Hamstrings stretch: Sit down on the floor with your legs out in front of you at approximately a 60° angle to each other. Now, simply bend forward at the waist, nice and easy. You should feel the stretch in your hamstrings. Reach until you feel the point where the stretch feels tense but without pain. Hold this position for 10 to 15 seconds and then return to the upright position. Repeat this process 5 to 10 times each day.

Golf Stretches for the Back

To execute the backswing properly, you need to turn your shoulders 90 degrees to wind up your body in preparation for the power you will unleash during your downswing, contact, and follow-through. You’ll need a flexible back and torso to do this rotation. Stretches such as those demonstrated in yoga for golf are good exercises.

This yoga-influenced stretch lengthens the large muscles that run up the sides of your back (latissimus dorsi), as well as the upper back. Practicing this exercise will enable your body to turn more easily into the backswing. Every week try to increase the distance of this stretch each time you bend to the sides.

Back stretch: Standing with your feet shoulder width apart, raise both hands over your head and clasp your palms together. Now simply bend to the left side slowly until you feel a tight stretch on your right side. You should feel tension in your right side, upper back, and shoulder area. Hold this position for 10 to 15 seconds, release, and repeat for the opposite side.

Golf Strengthening Exercises for Muscles

Weak quadriceps can keep you from bending your knees into the proper position, so your swing suffers. Stronger arms and a stronger torso drive balls farther. Strength exercises can include weights and band exercises that will build muscles and improve your swing. Other exercises can stretch the muscles, making them more flexible and less prone to injury.

Stretching the triceps can help loosen up the muscles in your arms and shoulder area.

Triceps stretch: Standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, reach one arm over your head. Then, bend that same elbow down as if you are grabbing for the center of your back. Now, with your other arm, reach over your head and grab the elbow of the first arm. Pull gently on the elbow while the hand of the first arm reaches as far as possible down your back. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds and then repeat for the opposite side. Try to increase the distance of your stretch each week.

Golf Fitness Exercises Work

Try these and then develop your own golf stretching routine. The important thing is to increase your flexibility and fitness. This will make your body stronger and less apt to be injured while you are playing.

Golf is like any other game – you have to be toned and tuned in to improve all the things that will bring it all together and make it work for you. A commitment to doing golf fitness exercises regularly can make a huge difference in your game.