Golf swing power is truly sought after by many golfers short and tall. A powerful golf swing can be easily accomplished if you’re standing 6ft tall over the golf ball. Knowing the right mechanics of the golf swing, along with the right timing is essential. If you take two golfers of the same height, the exact same swing, same golf club and ball, the results in distance would probably be the same. If you take the same scenario and one golfer is approximately 6ft. tall, and the other approximately 5ft. tall, the advantage would be to the taller person. You’re probably saying, no kidding Sherlock. A taller person creates a longer and bigger swing span, which in turn generates more club head speed. Unleashing a huge drive can be monstrous if all golf mechanics and timing are in sync for a fairly tall person. So how does a shorter golfer stand to compete?

The answer would probably lie in the golf muscles of a shorter golfer. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go out and bench press 400 lbs everyday. By exercising your upper and lower golf muscles two or three times a week, you can make a world of difference. The golf muscles that need to be exercised would be the legs, thighs, and whole upper portion of the body. The upper portions of the body are the main coil of the golf swing, with the arms and wrist getting the most exercise. As these same muscles are used most to guide and control the weight of the golf club through the motion of the golf swing. The lower portion of the body is strengthened to reinforce the upper portion of the golf swing. There are many books and videos on the Internet that address these exercises.

Golfers that prefer to exercise outdoors and are not sure of the appropriate exercises to use should take the exercise out on the practice range hitting golf balls. By hitting golf balls at the practice range, you will be exercising the important golf muscles naturally, and greatly improve your golf swing at the same time. Have you heard of golf muscle memory? It is a part of the brain that remembers a movement. Putting it another way, have you felt a muscle say, stop right there? This same part of the brain will tell moving parts of your body how far you can take it, so you do not injure yourself. It also signals for the timing of certain muscles to kick in and take over, if your latter part of the brain were paying attention. It would also remember good habits and bad habits in the golf swing. One must be careful in their practice routine on avoiding the bad habits. Practicing regularly will exercise these certain muscles and train them for further swing improvement in proper moves and timing. Your golf muscles will take the golf mechanics and timing to a higher level of power by exercising them over and over again.

With regular exercise and practicing the golf mechanics and timing of the golf swing, both short and tall players can compete on the same level. To out distance your taller competitors, it would help to pack a few extra pounds of golf muscle behind your golf swing. The same would apply for the taller golfer to stay ahead of the crowd.

The reason being is the belief that your &’physical limitations&’ are keeping you from optimal swing mechanics, power, distance and accuracy.

For the aging golfer this is most prevalent.

Without a golf-specific exercise program, it is virtually impossible to maintain and/or improve swing mechanics. The human body declines rapidly without stress being put on it.

What I mean&’is muscles and bones need stress and pressure on them to remain strong, stable and injury-free. Without this stress&’the body weakens and breaks down quickly&’resulting in a rapid decline in strength and flexibility.

This is death to your golf swing!

The old adage &’ &’use it or lose it&’ is very true. Haven&’t you experienced a time when you were too busy with family obligations, work commitments and other stress-related issues and you felt you didn&’t have the time to devote to your health and fitness?

What happened shortly after that?

Did you energy level go down? Did you start getting aches and pains and even newfound stiffnesses? How about your golf game? Did you feel like you didn&’t have the same amount of umph on the ball?

This is that declining strength and flexibility I&’m talking about. And the ONLY way to stop this from happening is maintaining some sort for fitness for golf program if it pertains to your golf game.

There are also two forms of fitness. &’General fitness&’ and &’sport-specific&’ or fitness for golf in regards to you as a golfer.

There is a major difference between these two forms of fitness.

One that is very common is going into a gym, plopping down on the machines and isolating one muscle group at a time in a controlled environment. Picture for instance an abdominal machine. You lie down in it, grap fixed handles that guide you through a set range of motion.

That would be considered &’general fitness&’.

On the other hand, picture standing (just like you do in golf) holding a single hand weight (dumbbell) straight out in front of you, and rotating (turning) back and through just like your golf swing. That is an exercise that would be consider fitness for golf. It directly benefits your rotational strength AND flexibility&’enabling you to make a bigger turn with more power.

This area rapidly declines with the older golfer. Abdominal strength and flexibility if not tested often, will decrease, and the ability to make a full backswing with stored energy will be less and less&’resulting in a massive reduction in power output, therefore distance.

So the next time you&’re on the course and you get frustrated about you lack of distance off the tee&’ask yourself &’what was the last time you worked on your BODY?&’

Your answer will dictate your performance on a daily basis.

I have just barely scratched the surface of the importance of fitness for golf&’but I hope I&’ve got you thinking about how important Fitness for golf is if you want to play your best golf.

Specific to golf &’ Get rid of the traditional gym machines which focus on isolating specific muscle groups and require no stabilization work by additional muscle groups.

Integrate some old and new fitness tools which allow you to move your body in a more functional setting. These include cable machines, fitness balls, medicine balls, balance disks, traditional dumbbells and don&’t forget about the power of using your own bodyweight.

Increase Core Stability &’ More efficient movement creates more efficient power. Golfers maintain an athletic posture over long periods of time and require both trunk and core stabilization and endurance.

By increasing your strength and endurance in the core region of your body, you provide both a solid base of support for rotation in addition to the proper transfer of power throughout the body.

Vary your Planes of Motion during Exercise – A golf fitness program will have varying planes of motion as part of your weekly strength routine. Planes of movement include front to back motions, left to right and rotational exercises. Some good examples include multi-directional lunges and medicine ball wood chops.