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In the game of golf, strength is most often associated with distance, how far you hit the ball. Although it feels good to send your tee shot high and far, strength training for golf is important for reasons other than extra distance. First and foremost, strength (together with flexibility) provides the foundation for a more efficient, reliable golf swing, two qualities better players share. An efficient golf swing, or any athletic movement for that matter, requires some degree of stability, power, balance and coordination. And, guess what? Strength training provides a foundation for these. In other words, you can’t improve your club head speed without first increasing stability and power. And you can’t optimize your power without sufficient balance and coordination. And in order to maintain it for 18 holes, you need endurance. A comprehensive, golf specific strength training program, when combined with flexibility training, will therefore promote a more efficient and reliable golf swing, increase your endurance, and not to be overlooked, will reduce the risk of injury.

1. Efficiency: probably one of the more important results of strength training is improved efficiency. Strength in our legs, hips, trunk and arms, which make up the ‘links’ that connect the ‘kinetic chain’ that is our body, provides a stable base of support between each link. This allows the forces we generate throughout the swing to be more efficiently transferred from one link to the other and into the club head (and golf ball) with more power and control but with less effort and less stress on the body. A more efficient swing also contributes to the following:

2. A more reliable swing: strength training improves our ability to maintain our posture throughout the swing. Dynamic postural strength (combined with flexibility), provides a more consistent axis of rotation throughout the golf swing and allows for more precise coordination of the legs and arms with our core. Improved postural strength also promotes better balance throughout the swing.

3. Endurance: strength training improves our muscular endurance which delays the onset of fatigue. Fatigue will cause a breakdown in one or more links within the chain and will lead to any number of faults such as loss of posture and timing, which isn’t conducive to an efficient or reliable swing.

4. Injury prevention: improved efficiency and endurance, as described above, greatly reduces the risks of injury. Strong muscles, tendons, ligaments and connective tissue improves our strength and tissue resistance in addition to our joint mechanics, improving the body’s ability to absorb and distribute the stress of the golf swing, especially throughout the spine.

Anybody can benefit from a golf specific strength training program but everybody is different. Juniors, seniors, men, women and people with a history of injury each have strengths and weaknesses that need to be addressed. Your program should be balanced, focused and incorporate as many golf specific movement patterns as possible. Balance includes utilizing both sides of the body and targets the small muscle groups, such as the rotator cuff in the shoulder, as well as the large muscle groups, such as those in the legs, hips and back. While most of our strength and power is generated from the more familiar larger muscles, the less recognized smaller muscle groups are important because they act as “stabilizers”, anchoring one or more links together to provide a firm base of support for the larger muscles to pull from. This allows the larger muscles to work more efficiently. Weak and/or tight stabilizers reduce the strength, power and efficiency of the larger muscles. Utilizing golf specific exercises trains golf specific movement patterns so you are training coordination and balance in addition to strength (but this doesn’t mean that isolation exercises aren’t effective). Focusing on the purpose of each exercise and each workout and how it relates to your game will keep it practical and more fun.

In short, an efficient and reliable swing are two qualities that better players share despite their individual styles or swing types. Complement your lessons with a comprehensive conditioning program that includes flexibility and strength (don’t forget the cardio) and your swing will become more efficient and reliable, improving your consistency, balance and power while reducing your risk of injury.

But strength training also provides stability and improves our coordination. Strength in our legs, hips, back, shoulders and arms, which make up the links that connect our kinetic chain, provides a stable base of support for each succeeding link to work off. This allows the forces we generate throughout the golf swing to be transferred through each link to the club head and golf ball in a more efficient and coordinated manner. Improved efficiency yields greater power with less effort and less stress on the body. Core strength (strength in our trunk and hips) is important because it provides the foundation for the extremities to move on. The more stable and efficient our trunk and hips, the more efficient our extremities are. It doesn’t matter how fast you can swing a golf club if the foundation on which you are swinging is not stable enough to control the path of the golf club.

Transferring your perfect consistent driving range warm up swing to the golf course is a typical dilemma and a frustration of many a golfer. You’re killing it on the range, everything seems perfect. You’re convinced that you will have your best round ever and then right on the first tee you yank it out of bounds! Some golfers can play well for the first three or four holes, only to loose their rhythm on the fifth hole and throw away a great start. Others play like a dog the first four holes, finally relax and start to play better. Does this sound like you? If so there’s help.

Before anything, you do need to see your swing by way of slow motion video analysis with a recognized PGA golf professional to see if there is a major swing fault in your swing that might be making it difficult for you to control your swing on the golf course. I offer lessons with video analysis right over the internet. All you need is a camera and your home computer. For details go to www.bobbylopezgolf.com. With that said, there is a technique or sequence of events that help a golfer control their swing tempo and emotions on the golf course. Of course nothing in golf is “always”, but if you’re doing the right things you’ll have your share of success.

First off I like to begin my day with the short game warm up first. Most golf courses are not designed for my kind of warm up. They have the putting green near the first tee and the driving range across the way.

After doing my short game work, (see my special report on golf game warm up) I head for the driving range with about 20 minutes to spend.

I try to end my last swing with my Driver with just enough time to get the first tee comfortably, (make sure it’s a good driver shot or hit another one until you do). I want my last swing to be, the first thing
I can relate to when I tee it up.

You need to understand that when you hit a good shot, all the mechanics of your swing must have all come together at just the right time or sequence at impact, at the specific rhythm or swing speed you had on the range. Once most golfers get to the golf course, they begin to increase the RPM on their swing so that the synchronization of your swing falls apart. Resulting in a club face that is out of alignment with the path, or maybe your body out of position from swinging faster and harder or even slower.

At the first tee, picture in your mind that exact swing speed or rhythm you had on the last great tee shot you hit at the range only moments ago. If anything attempt to swing the golf club a notch or two slower than on the range. Don’t over do it, I said a notch or two. Swinging way too slow will have the same poor result as swinging too fast. Remember, having the arms and body out of sync is the problem. Your swing operates at a specific speed where all the parts seem to fall into place. Find that swing speed or rhythm and you got it made.

As the game progresses you may be in further risk of swinging harder or slower. Having a couple of bad holes can affect your swing speed tremendously. Depending on your personality some golfers get angry and swing harder. That only leads to further damage and a totally lost day.

One common flaw is mixing target golf with swing mechanics. Concentrate on swing mechanics on the driving range not on the golf course. I’m referring to driving range work for your swing, not the driving range warm before you play. Driving range warm up before play is for flexibility, tempo and rhythm not swing mechanics.

When working on swing mechanics on the driving range do not concern yourself with accuracy. You may experience erratic ball flight when making a swing improvement for 20 to 30 days or more. Once you head to the golf course let the practice on rebuilding your swing melt in to your golf game without having to think about it on the golf course.

Develop a pre-shot routine. Maintaining a consistent pre-shot routine on your range warm up and carrying it over to the golf course is key to your controlling your tempo and rhythm on the golf course.

I use breathing exercises to try and keep myself level minded and level thinking throughout the round. Stay away from coffee, anything with sugar like orange juice, sodas, even diet sodas because of the caffeine. What you eat or drink can greatly effect your swing tempo, rhythm and all around attitude.

Be patient on the golf course. What difference does it make if you bogey the first hole or the last, it’s still a bogey. Forget it. Keep playing, stay within your rhythm and hope for the best. Don’t force your game, like a young quarterback trying to force a ball in coverage and getting intercepted.

Getting emotional over a bad hole will only make things worse. Ben Hogan was probably the greatest at controlling his emotions on the golf course. Controlling your emotions doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Stay relaxed, concentrate on your swing rhythm not your mechanics, (that’s for the driving range) and enjoy the day. After all that’s why you play golf!

You may want to consider taking advantage of our One Day To A Better Golf Game Program. We do it all in one day! Short game, video instruction on the range, lunch with the pro, on course instruction with a PGA pro covering everything from club selection to alignment to controlling your swing on the golf course.