How many of you have plugged “golf swing exercises” into Google and hit the search button? There is no shortage of information available on the subject – that’s for sure! How many of you have actually tried the exercises? I don’t mean stretches as you warm up and I don’t mean swing drills. I mean actual exercises – where you might break a sweat. For the small percentage of readers who are still answering in the affirmative here is the final question: did exercising make you better or worse? The problem with generic golf exercises is that if you don’t know your physical limitations, you don’t know what to spend your time working on. After all, golf time is getting harder and harder to come by!
Here’s and example: Your golf buddy is having a terrible time with his shoulder turn. He just can’t seem to get good separation between his upper torso and his hips at the top of his back swing. Beginning to get frustrated, he searches the internet for exercises to remedy his situation. Finding a plethora of articles on the importance of core stability, he marches confidently off to the gym for a 30 minute abdominal workout including planks and physioball exercises (sound familiar?). Four to six weeks later, he is back on the course (with rock-hard abs mind you) and even less rotation in his back swing. Now, don’t get me wrong, a strong core is very important in a golf swing. However, there are much more effective exercises to increase rotation in the back swing.
To make matters even more complicated, often a physical limitation that you notice is the result of one you don’t. Perhaps our golfer above has a postural fault that will simply not allow his back to rotate properly. If the postural issue is not addressed, the rotation will not improve – regardless of the exercise performed.
So, what is a guy or gal to do? First, understand that in all but the most extreme cases, exercise of any kind will likely be beneficial to your health and well being. Compound exercises (those that involve moving many joints at a time – such as the overhead squat) will be best and will have a low risk of overdevelopment of a particular muscle group.
If your goal is to improve your golf game you will have the best success talking with a professional. Golf professionals may have some insight but this is a bit beyond their expertise. TPI certified fitness professionals will be able to identify your specific issues and prescribe exercises to target those areas. A TPI screen may be the most efficient and effective way to improve your game!