Instruction

Drip, Drip Drip: There goes your strength during the golf season

Published

10 years ago

Sep 8, 2014

Nick Buchan, a UK strength and conditioning coach, co-authored this story.

There have been some articles published recently about in/off season training and periodisation. In our opinion, their recommendations to avoid certain exercises or use a block periodisation method to target different athletic attributes are somewhat flawed.

We would like to propose a different way to look at managing your training loads during the golf season without giving up the proven, effective exercises that got you strong in the first place!

Before we come to the recommendations, it’s worth doing a little background research and actually looking a little closer at what periodisation is and how the principles are effectively applied.

What Is Periodisation?

Periodisation at it’s most basic level is not a lot more than a long-term plan for progress in your training. Or to put it better “periodisation is planned long-term variation of the volume and intensity of training to prevent overtraining and promote optimal performance at the desired time.” Note that there was no reference to exercise selection here.

Probably the most common method of periodisation amongst athletes is block periodisation. Block periodisation is utilised to allow the athlete to focus on developing one single athletic attribute above all else in each block before switching to another for the next block. The blocks will be ordered so that each one builds upon the attribute developed in the last. Speed and power being developed after a strength block for example, mobility and stability before adding strength.

In summary: By using periodisation we are seeking to manage fatigue from training in such a way that performance throughout the season is unaffected by our physical conditioning.

How Do We Apply It?

Now that we have a handle on what periodisation actually is, let’s take a look at who we are applying this method to. Below are some of the questions we must ask ourselves before putting together a periodised program for a golfer:

Question: What athletic attributes are needed for golf performance?

Answer: Strength, power, mobility, stability, basic cardiovascular fitness (for walking the course), balance, co-ordination

Q: What is the golfer trying to achieve from training?

Developing the characteristics above in order to improve our bodies’ functionality in swinging the golf club so we can hit the ball further off the tee, our irons closer to the hole and stay injury free in the process!

Q: How often are they competing?

For the vast majority of golfers this is likely to be a once a week, maybe with the addition of a mid-week comp for those with a little more time!

Q: How often are they involved in skills practice?

For the average amateur golfer (with a job, family, etc) this is likely to be something in the range of 1-2 hours, 1-2 times a week.

Q: What level of athlete are they? Do they have much/any experience training in a gym? Do they have a pretty solid athletic background? Are they in good physical condition right now and training on a regular basis?

The average amateur golfer, based on our combined experience, probably answers in the negative to most of those questions.

Q: Is training of the athletic characteristic going to negatively impact either skills training or performance?

We need to look at this from a few different angles.

Energy Systems Recovery — Strength training and golf require very different energy systems and therefore different recovery mechanisms are used. Residual fatigue from one activity is unlikely to affect the other and so strength training and golf could be performed on successive days with no negative effects.

Soreness — DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness) can leave you feeling quite tender after a strength training session and this could potentially impact your full swing performance.

Limited flexibility from strength training — Strength training will not restrict your range of motion in key areas for golf unless you neglect your flexibility work. Sitting on your backside is much more likely to make you tight in all the wrong places!

Answer in summation… Yes, potentially if training isn’t managed effectively.

Who Are We Working With?

So after considering the answers to the key questions we have a decent idea of who we are working with. We have a golf athlete with a relatively low training age and experience, who competes once per week and practices 1-2 times per week, but needs to develop a whole host of athletic attributes in order to improve his/her performance.

Is it really wise to stop doing all the really effective exercises, drop all the weight off and use high repetitions for whole duration of the golf season and slowly but surely leak out all the gains made doing proper training in the winter time?

Or can we be a bit smarter and continue to get stronger, faster and more stable and solid all year round without affecting our performance on course?

Recommendations

By following the advice below, the average golfer can arrive at the course on comp day fresh, loose, limber, and in better shape than the week before!

Structure your in-season training to have more whole body routines. Thus getting decent workload on each area of the body and reducing soreness on particular areas of the body.
Reduce the overall volume (reps). Maintaining strength during the in-season is really important and doing less sets and/or reps will allow you to do so, whilst minimising DOMS and CNS fatigue.
Stretch and trigger after each training session, pay special attention to thoracic and hip rotation and gaining length in hip flexors and pecs
Hydrate and eat effectively. You should be doing this all the time, but especially before and after workouts as it will aid recovery
Keep doing the big movements. They are really effective!

Don’t let people convince you to give up really effective exercises for fear of becoming tight, sore or overtrained. Be smart with your training, seek out good advice and follow a program that will help you develop as a golf athlete all year round and improve your performance on course.

Example Workout

Here’s an what an example in-season workout might look like in terms of exercise selection, sets, reps, tempo and rest:

Please consider this is all relative, our recommendations are based on the AVERAGE golfer. Different levels of athlete competing at different levels of competition could and should adapt these recommendations to suit them.

Co-Authored by Nick Buchan, UK Strength and Conditioning Coach – http://strongergolf.org/

References

M. Siff (2003) Supertraining, Supertraining Institute
M. Rippetoe & L. Kilgore (2008) Practical Programming for Strength, the Aasguaard Company
M. Robertson (2013) Bulletproof Athlete, Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training

Nick Buchan, a UK strength and conditioning coach, co-authored this story.

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Nick Randall

Nick Randall is a Strength and Conditioning Coach, Presenter and Rehab Expert contracted by PGA Tour Players, Division 1 colleges and national teams to deliver golf fitness services. Via his Golf Fit Pro website, app, articles and online training services, Nick offers the opportunity to the golfing world to access his unique knowledge and service offerings. www.golffitpro.net

6 Comments

Ben

Sep 10, 2014 at 3:58 pm

I’m 39. In high school I played baseball, football and soccer. I worked out pretty heavily. I didn’t get serious about playing golf till college. I suppose that makes me not average as I’m athletic and know a little something about the gym.

For the past 2-3 years I play golf once or twice a week if I’m lucky. Starting about 6 months ago I realized 40 was creeping up on me and I was a bit overweight and wanted to get a jump start on losing weight and getting back in shape before the big 4 – 0.

I live in Texas so there is no off season. I work out and play golf year round. I think the key is stretching, rest, and hitting balls on the days you don’t play.

Generally the second day after working out is the worst for muscle soreness. I generally never work out within 2-3 days of playing. Therefore I get all my gym work done M-Th (depending on weather my game is Sat or Sun). I still do back, bi’s, and shoulders on one day and chest, tri’s and legs on a rotation. This allows me to get a full body workout without exhaustion.

I believe that getting BIG is detrimental to golf. I do 2-3 sets of 15-20 reps with light weights to be cut, but not big. Also, since 40 is around the corner this helps save my joints which I’m noticing are a bit more sensitive to strenuous exercise 🙂

Every day after the gym I swing my “Orange Whip” swing trainer. The day before I play I’ll hit a small bucket to stretch and get loose and chip and putt to get feel back.

For the “average” golfer who doesn’t play on tour where they hit balls ALL DAY we need to do something to stay in shape as we get older and find balance. Since I started working out I’m down 20lbs, my blood pressure is back to normal and I have a single digit handicap for the first time in my life.

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TR1PTIK

Sep 8, 2014 at 3:21 pm

I agree with this article a lot more than the one I think Nick was referring to in the first paragraph. Honestly though, every person is different and therefore will have different fitness needs and limitations. It’s critical to factor in such things when setting fitness goals. Articles that slam certain exercises with no supporting facts only feed the misconceptions of less experienced athletes. It’s no different than people who slam Crossfit – I don’t care for it, but I have friends that do it or are SKILLED trainers. The reason Crossfit gets such a bad rap is people who don’t know what they’re doing (trainers included). When you know what you’re doing and have solid advice from experienced trainers you’ll see more gains and fewer injuries.

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Alex

Sep 8, 2014 at 1:55 pm

Couldn’t agree more, excellent recommendations across the board.

“Don’t let people convince you to give up really effective exercises for fear of becoming tight, sore or overtrained.” In other words, ignore bad advice like this: http://www.golfwrx.com/230747/5-exercises-to-avoid-during-the-golf-season/

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- Norm Platt
  
  Sep 9, 2014 at 1:47 am
  
  Alex I re read your posts from the link and clearly you don’t golf very often or particularly well. I’m an ex professional athlete ( squash) and I have a son who plays in the KHL and much fitter and wealthier than myself. I golf about 6 times a week and play 15-20 tournaments a year. My son hits the ice in August and is on the ice on an average ten times per week. If he has a game that day, they practice the morning of a game.
  I rarely hit the gym during my competitive phase when golfing or playing squash. I was on the national team as well.
  My son hits the gym about 3 times per week during the season for about 20 minutes per session with the team. I’ve watched some of these workouts and trust me, not one player, unless they are rehabbing is working very hard in these sessions.
  I would agree, if you are playing football, where there is one game a week for 15 weeks, it’s normal to hit the gym and perform some very dynamic exercise. Aside from Tiger Woods, who seems addicted to the gym because he has had so many surgical procedures, I doubt Rory McIlroy during a four week stretch of tournaments even sniffs a dumbbell or kettle ball.
  Today’s professional golfers are far fitter thanks to Tiger Woods. And further back Gary Player. But advocating or dismissing that golfers don’t get tired is disengenuous. When I walk 18 holes the last thing I want to see is a gym. I’m hungry, thirsty and a little washed out. And if I ever decide to hit a gym it’s because it’s raining out and I can’t play. Not because I want to get stronger. I’ll save that routine for November until April.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Craig
    
    Sep 9, 2014 at 10:47 am
    
    To be fair, Rory has posted pics of himself from the gym on Instagram during the recent stretch. I can’t speak for what he’s actually doing/lifting, but he’s in there working.
    
    Those five recommendations are top notch.
    
    Reply Report comment
gvogel

Sep 8, 2014 at 12:43 pm

Nice article.

But I am lucky if I can squeeze in swinging a weighted club, stretching, maybe a bike ride, while playing a couple of times a week.

Hey, at least I carry my bag!

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Instruction

Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?

Published

2 days ago

Apr 24, 2024

Shawn Clement

Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

Published

4 weeks ago

Mar 29, 2024

Terry Koehler

My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Published

2 months ago

Mar 4, 2024

Shawn Clement

Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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