Weight training for golfers

A lot of golfers stay very far away from weight training. As I promised earlier, I am going to do several posts on fitness for golf. I’ve had a number of golfers request this and it can definitely help your golf game. Today we’ll talk about the benefits of weight training for your golf game.

Now why do golfers stay away from weight training? Probably two primary reasons- laziness and fear of losing flexibility. There may be other reasons, but these two are the ones I’ve observed the most.
So I will address these and then talk concerning the pros of weight training for golf. First, weight training is perceived as a lot of hard work but is actually no harder than any other fitness regimen. All of them involve hard work to get in shape. But weights have a number of stigmas and this is one of them. And, the bottom line is, fitness makes you a better golfer, so we need to get over it and get in shape. And unfortunately, golfers, like most of us, tend to stay away from most fitness programs as much as they do weight training.
As far as flexibility and the golf swing, yes flexibility is important. But we are not talking about trying to use weights to look like Governor Arnold. So we aren’t going to make your golf shirt cut into your bulging biceps. Just working on certain things to make you more fit and better able to enjoy golf for a longer time. And remember that any fitness program, not just weight training, should involve stretching. We’ll talk more about stretching exercises for your golf game another time.
Now, that we have that over with, let’s talk about some benefits to the golf swing from weight training. Then in our next post, we’ll talk specific weight training exercises for golf.
First, stronger muscles (remember not being muscle bound) help your golf swing in several ways. You are better able to take a full turn on the backswing. You also can get more distance and make better contact with a more athletic golf swing. Not by “muscling up” on the golf ball, but by being able to use the big muscles of you body in the correct way during your golf swing.
Another benefit that I have found is by being in better shape and being stronger you are better able to walk a round of golf. And, as I have written before, I believe that walking allows you to play better golf. See my separate post on that topic.
So are you other “golf nuts” sold on weight training for golfers yet? Well, I hope so. But either way, next time we’ll cover some specifics to help you get started.