Realistic Goals of Golf Conditioning, Part 1
Mike Romatowski
30 Extra Yards on Your Drives?
Golf conditioning books often proclaim that you can follow a certain exercise program and get 20 or 30 extra yards on your drives. Although I would like to say that is possible, I would list the following additional factors as major contributors to the elusive 30 extra yards:
a. A properly fit driver that takes advantage of the newest technology. There is simply no denying that a club with the proper shaft flex, bend point, clubface loft, swing weight, and overall weight is a crucial component of modern day golf. There are many extra yards lurking for you if you can find the best driver to match your swing.
A golf exercise program obviously does not address this component. PGA teaching pros and golf retail shops usually have this service available in some fashion.
b. An on-plane swing that delivers the clubface squarely to the ball rather than delivering a glancing blow.
Your teaching pro is the obvious source of an on-plane swing. Certain golf exercises actually do specifically address the ability to create and maintain an effective swing plane. A skilled golf conditioning specialist can perform a golf physical evaluation that reveals the golfers muscle imbalances. Then, by looking at a down-the-target-line view of the golfer’s swing, he can correlate the muscle imbalances to the swing plane faults and devise a menu of corrective exercises.
c. A faster swing. There is no arguing with the laws of physics. A club head which strikes the ball at 115 miles per hour will propel that little bugger a lot farther than a club head that is traveling 80 miles per hour.
This is where golf conditioning gets really interesting!
I am often asked, “What exercises can I do to increase my club head speed?” The most realistic answer is, “You must eliminate the factors which are decreasing your club head speed.”
These factors include tight muscles, weak or inhibited muscles, poor balance, poor stability, poor hand-eye coordination, and (most important) poor kinematic sequencing.
Kine-what??? During the downswing all body segments must accelerate and decelerate in the correct sequence with precise and specific timing so that the club arrives at impact accurately and with maximal speed. The correct sequence of motion for the major segments is: pelvis – trunk – arms - club.
You can think of this as the body unleashing a series of slingshots in rapid-fire succession: The pelvis speeds up, then stops and “slings” the trunk. The trunk speeds up, then stops and “slings” the arms. The arms speed up, then stop and “sling” the club through the ball. All of this happens in a fraction of a second.
The most common fault of poor–to-average golfers is that they do not sequence these segments properly. High-handicappers almost always have a faulty sequence, often described as “starting down with the trunk and/or arms instead of the hips (pelvis).” This is a major impediment to club head speed.
10 + 10 + 10 = 30…
It might be more realistic to get your 30 extra yards by thinking of it this way: I’ll get 10 yards from a properly fit driver, 10 yards from a better swing plane, and 10 yards from a faster swing. Golf conditioning can help you with the latter two components.
Mike Romatowski creator of "18 Magic Moves for Golf Conditioning", owns Five-Star Fitness, a golf conditioning and post-rehab facility in Owings Mills, Maryland. Mike works with amateur and collegiate golfers, including 2005 U.S. Open participant Marlowe Boukis and AJGA (Chicago) winner Michelle Grilli.
The articles at GolfFitnessProducts.net are for informational purposes only and are not intended to substitute for direct examination and exercise prescription by the appropriate health professional. It is strongly recommended that you do not perform any exercise program without the consent of your personal physician.
