Powerful Golf Exercise Benefits Will Lower Your Scores

When you combine golf and fitness, the golf exercise benefits you realize can truly be amazing.  Not only does your health and stamina improve, most golfers see lower scores when their fitness improves.

The thought of exercising for golf has only recently gained popularity.  Up until the mid 1980’s, golf was really considered a lazy person’s sport.  Watching professional golfers on television only confirmed this perception.

While we won’t name names in this article, for those of us old enough to remember, several overweight, hard-drinking and chain-smoking professional golfers come to mind! Beer bellies and smoker’s cough don’t quite conjure up images of golf exercise benefits.

I think what really helped the current golf fitness trend gain a mainstream foothold was the distance some of the younger golfers were driving the ball.  We started to see several golfers consistently hitting 325 yard drives. We were curious how they were able to do this.  More importantly, we were even more curious how we could do the same!

There are really three areas of golf exercise benefits.  First, a fitness program helps you become more flexible.  Second, exercise improves your strength and stamina.  Finally, improving your health increases your self esteem, confidence, and overall well being.  All three golf exercise benefits produce measurable results on the golf course.

Corresponding to these three areas of golf exercise benefits, there are three types of exercises...

...There are exercises to improve flexibility.  These include basic stretching, yoga, pilates and other low resistance activities such as swimming. 

...Exercises that provide resistance such as weight lifting helps improve your strength and overall stamina. 

...Finally, cardiovascular exercises such as jogging, brisk walking, and cycling help improve your overall health and fitness.

Flexibility

Improved flexibility and range of motion produce the most beneficial golf exercise benefits.  First and foremost, greater flexibility means you will be less susceptible to injuries.  Golfers with a low degree of flexibility often suffer from shoulder and back injuries.

The backswing produces a tremendous amount of momentum.  This momentum helps to rotate the body and complete a full backswing.  Unfortunately, when a golfer’s back and shoulders aren’t very flexible, these muscles tighten and freeze while the momentum of the backswing continues. 

When the muscles fight the swing, they can tear. Muscle tears will lead to bursitis, rotator cuff issues, and back problems.

In addition to reducing the risk of injury, golf exercise benefits that come from improved flexibility include greater swing speed and higher trajectory shots. 

Having a greater range of motion, a golfer can produce a longer swing arc.  Without getting into the physics, a longer swing arc means the club head hits the ball at a much faster speed (swing speed).  These faster speed results in longer, higher shots.

Strength and Stamina

Resistance exercises such as weight lifting produce a different set of golf exercise benefits.  Ironically, greater strength doesn’t necessary mean you’ll hit the ball any farther.  Distance has more to do with your flexibility and swing speed.

When you improve the strength in your larger muscles (shoulders, back, and legs) and you concentrate on using these larger muscles to control your swing, you’ll immediately notice something amazing.  Your shot consistency will skyrocket!

You see, larger muscles can’t jerk as easily as the smaller muscles.  They’re larger, they move slower, and they have more deliberate motions.  In short, they are easier to train than your smaller arm muscles.

Golf exercise benefits from strength training also produce improved stamina.  While golf isn’t exactly a high impact sport, it is tiring - especially during a highly competitive round.

When you strengthen your legs and back, you’ll stay fresher longer during your round.  You’ll no longer find yourself "bonking" on the 14th hole since your body is worn out.

There's one important point to note about strength and golf.  If you lift weights, use low weights with high repetition sets.  Your goal is to tone and build core strength – not bulk.  Body builders are terrible golfers.  Their muscle mass simply gets in the way and slows down their swing.

Also, focus your strength exercises on your forearms, shoulders, back and legs.  You can tone your biceps but don’t overdo it.  Bulky biceps usually restrict your range of motion and can have adverse effects on your game.

Overall Health

When you follow a consistent fitness program you’ll notice an improvement in your overall health.  When you feel good and feel good about yourself, your self esteem and confidence improves.

Confidence due to golf exercise benefits will positively impact your overall game.  You’ll stop thinking about driving your ball out of bounds.  You’ll stop worrying about missing three foot putts.  You’ll also stop worrying about how bad you’ll score.

Confidence and doubt are opposites and therefore can’t exist in your head at the same time.  You may think we’re making a leap here but we’re not.  When you’re physically fit, you will indeed have greater confidence.

Your worries will be replaced with confidence.  You’ll start thinking about how far or accurate you can hit your drives.  You’ll start trying to hole your eight foot putts, not just the three footers.  Every round you’ll get excited about trying to break your own personal scoring record.  Doubt is replaced with confidence and optimism.

Take a moment and think about your level of fitness.  Start doing a few flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular exercises each week.  It may be tough at first. 

But keep with it!

The moment you start to see the golf exercise benefits, you can be sure that your golf exercise programs will get a whole lot easier and more fun!

Golf exercise benefits and more golf fitness tips here.