Better your golf game with strength training

Golf is not just a pastime for many who live here on Daniel Island, but rather it is a lifestyle. Outside of putting and chipping, the golf swing requires us to produce high velocity and high force efforts to drive the ball. There are an infinite number of ways to swing a golf club based on what you can physically do and what you are trying to achieve. For the amateur golfer, maximizing swing speed to improve distance is beneficial for both lowering your handicap and keeping the game enjoyable. 

 

While it is important to spend time practicing and working on your swing mechanics, what are you doing off the course to better your game?  

 

Professional golfers like Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau have made strength training respectable, if not essential. Phil Mickelson’s recent PGA Championship win is perfect advertising for the benefits of strength training. Strength and power could mean a better tee shot, increased control and stability on tricky approaches, or increased length on long par fives. 

 

Creating a robust neuromuscular system that can perform powerful, efficient, and repeatable movement patterns through strength training is vital for increased performance, longevity and pain-free golf. 

 

When we train with heavy loads relative to our own strength, we teach our central nervous system how to recruit available muscle fibers to increase our peak force development (i.e. power). Our skeletal muscle adapts to mechanical overload by increasing muscle size. With increased muscle mass and strength, your body is more conditioned to tolerate the stresses from swinging at maximum speeds and at high volumes. Managing load through practice and play volumes, strength training, mobility, and sleep are the best tools we have for injury prevention so you can enjoy your many years out on the course!    

 

During the golf swing, force is transmitted through the body, beginning in your feet and legs, through the core, to the shoulders, arms and hands where finally the force is transmitted through the club to the ball at impact. 

 

An excellent way to build lower extremity strength and stability is through squatting. Any type of squat variation including front squats, back squats, goblet squats, or a loaded jump squat are great options. Deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts are other beneficial exercises to strengthen your hips and posterior chain, and can be performed with a barbell, kettlebell, or dumbbells.  

 

Core exercises with a rotational component are ideal. Good exercises include rotational medicine ball throws, pallof presses, tall planks with rotational reaches, wood chops, and Russian twists.  

 

Rows are a simple, yet effective exercise for scapula, or shoulder blade, strengthening that can be adapted to your level. Bent over rows, single arm dumbbell rows, inverted rows, seated cable rows, TRX rows – the list goes on and on. Overhead pressing, bench pressing, and the suitcase carry challenge upper body stability and strength. 

 

Strength training programs and progressions should be customized based on your capabilities and physical limitations. It is important to become familiar and proficient with exercises before loading them to a high intensity or high volume. Work up to a weight that is difficult for three to five reps and complete three sets. As you become more advanced, however, loading must increase to continue strength gains. 

 

If you have pain or functional limitations, please seek a medical professional.

 

Dr. Kayla Rymer, PT, of Made2Move Physical Therapy, is a resident of Daniel Island. For more, go to made2movept.com.