AS WE HEAD into the summer months, the golf season is now officially taking off.
Over the course of the year, I tend to train a handful of golfers who come into me looking for some help with their mobility, movement and core.
Let me start by saying I don’t play golf and won’t be able to fix your swing problems but the drills I have brought any golfer’s gym sessions, has helped them make great improvements on the course.
Furthermore, if you play any racket or rotational sports then this article should help you.
From competing myself, I have always picked up on one thing outside of the playing field: most people always think they need ‘sports specific’ gym programmes for their sport.
While I would recommend specific training for certain sports, you need to master the basics first.
So how do I help golfers and other rotational based sports people?
I first get them in and I asses their movement pattern, strength, power, mobility and core strength.
All of these areas are vital for a good athlete and if you can tap into these areas and improve them it can only lead to a better all round performance.
Like I said above, I may not be able to stop that snap hook off the tee but all of this can only compliment and improve your game.
After a quick assessment most golfers/sports people I train fall down in these three areas:
- Very poor mobility/flexibility
- Weak core
- Little to no warm up/cool down structure and throughout the course of the season they have picked up silly back, hip or shoulder issues and have played through them without finding the true cause or reason.
If you want to improve your game, find better positions, stay mobile and remain injury free then I really suggest you go work on the basics above.
These are the areas I suggest for golfers/sports people to look into and it really is nothing too specific.
- Mobility programme
- Strength training
- Power development
- Develop core strength
All these four areas can be put together into one 60 minute session and you only really need to do this twice a week.
The benefits I have seen in the space of three or four months have been phenomenal. Here is a example of a client. His upper back and overall mobility was quite weak and this overall prevented him from finding good start positions.
Now, I am not a golf coach but I do know that positions are important in all sports and if you can improve these they can only lead to a better all round game.
Straight away you can see a far better improvement in his upper back and an improved upright position. This can only lead to a far better starting block.
Generally speaking most people fall down on having a tight upper back, rounded shoulders, tight hip flexors and extremely tight hamstrings. I have already covered basic drills to combat those tight areas in this article.
Your mobility is key. Whether you are a golfer, sports person or anybody who wants to look after their body then you need to stay on top of your mobility.
As we age we tend to stiffen up, pick up wear and tear injuries and overall this can effect our daily tasks.
Most golfers I have worked with at the start have never really done any specific mobility warm up drill.
I put together this mobility circuit for golfers and it only takes five minutes; and it can be used by anyone. All you need is a basic resistant band.
Ideally I would always suggest golfers to look after their mobility and core first then look at other areas like strength and power work dotted throughout the year.
Most rotational based sportspeople need to up their core game. The stronger the core the better the performance in my opinion.
There are some superb rotational core drills out there that you bring into your plan, some of which are outlined in the video below.
David Last is a personal trainer based in Dublin. For more information you can follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Or you can send him a direct message here.
You can also see some of his previous articles here.
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