Your Golf Season Doesn’t Have To Be Over

It’s rolling deep into fall and before you know it, we’ll be wishing Merry Christmas to everyone (well, maybe not everyone). For most golfers this means putting away the clubs in a hard-to-reach place just behind all the winter clothing in a closet. It’s just as well; they won’t be needed for another 6 months. In much the same way golf clubs get put away so does the golfer’s mental thoughts of the game. It’s almost as if the sport doesn’t exist, and for many it doesn’t. For others, a small dose of depression sets in as the season rolls to an end.

The game must go on. No, I don’t suggest you move to Florida for the winter. Living in the north forces you to take a break from the constant swinging, and it is prime time for you to jump on a strength and conditioning plan for golf. This is the off-season. Just as in all sports, the off-season is time for conditioning. It’s time for you to prepare yourself for the next season. The off-season is not the end of golf… it’s actually the very beginning of the next season.

The beginning of the off-season need not be strenuous. In fact, it’s a good idea to take a couple of weeks to unwind from the season, do some light stretching, and put together a plan of attack for the remainder of the off-season. Focusing on light stretches and rest helps the body recover from the repetitive stress it endured during the season. Your golfing frequency during the season and level of conditioning will determine how much rest time you need.

After the recovery phase, it’s time to train. In most cases a gym that provides suitable equipment is helpful, although you can get very good training from a stability ball, a few light dumbbells, and your own bodyweight. Regardless of where you are working out, most of your exercise choices should require stabilization while you perform the movement. In other words, do not use machines or other assistance devices that take away from your body’s own stabilizing duties. Exercising a particular muscle or set of muscles in the absence of core control will only downgrade the neurological system. Thus, in most cases, machine training should be limited because machines do the stabilizing for you. Cable systems are not considered machines, and these systems are very useful for golf conditioning.

Your diet can also have a strong influence over core control. Many of us follow a diet plan that creates abdominal stresses such as bloat, frequent gas, infrequent bowel movements, and intestinal inflammation. If this is the case for you, then you are likely not achieving the full potential of your core. Abdominal stresses have the ability to inhibit core function through the reflexive action of the small intestines. This is because of the close relationship of the intestines and abdominal muscles. For more on this, read some of the articles posted at www.sbbiomechanics.com. Basically what I’m telling you is eat for nutrition and reduce the amount of crap you feed yourself.

A general periodization plan should be followed when conditioning for golf. It’s generally a good idea to start off with a light weight for 12-15 reps during the first 2-3 weeks of training. You also want to incorporate a mixture of exercises that hit all three planes of motion (front-to-back, side-to-side, and rotation). After the initial three weeks of 12-15 reps you can then go down to a 6-12 rep range. You would then adjust the weight accordingly to maintain a challenge. It’s a good idea to eventually train the abdominal and hamstring muscles around 8 reps. These muscle groups tend to be fast twitch dominant thus responding better to heavier weight and fewer reps. Muscles in the back tend to respond better to higher reps. Don’t forget to incorporate stretches for all the tight areas. Training 2-5 times per week, depending on your schedule and desire, should yield good results.

So as you can see the golf season, in some ways, is just beginning. It’s all a matter of perspective. Conditioning for golf is still in its social infancy. Not many golfers take advantage of the huge benefits it provides. Perhaps the benefits are opaque to you, or maybe it’s a matter of time or desire. Regardless of the reason, the value of golf conditioning has certainly proved itself time and time again.

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