Here was a professional teaching instructor that was charging his clients high rate lesson fees and he was laughing about golf fitness. I was shocked and I was turned off. No matter what type of golf instructor he was, as a student of the game of golf, I could never take him seriously or recommend any recreational or up and coming amateur golfer to receive golf instruction from him.
The number one frustration for golf instructors is their students can not physically perform the swing changes they are trying to accomplish, do to poor or lacking golf fitness.
"But I workout at the gym" is heard many times when I ask golfers if they are doing anything for the physical side of their golf game. That's admirable but golf fitness is a very complex niche.
I'll call it a "niche", even though there are over 28 million golfers in North America. I can think of no other recreational demographic that has that kind of participation that does not take physical training seriously. There are very young golfers (some say too young) and there are very old golfers, and a bunch in between. They come in all sizes and shapes and all with different degrees of athletic backgrounds, yet very few of them can tell you that they practice golf fitness that is specific to helping them enjoy and perform better.
One of the most amazing contrasts in sport is witnessing a golfer that is 5'10" tall and weighs less than 160lbs, hit a golf ball off the tee with a driver over 300 yards in distance with accuracy. Then you take a ex-strength sport athlete, like a football player, that is 6'4" tall and weighs 240lbs and he struggles to generate enough clubhead speed to hit the ball 225 yards in distance and lacks any consistency, but can bench press over 300lbs. What makes the small statured golfer more explosive than the large ex-football player? Strength? Skill?
Golf fitness is unique, hitting a golf ball is a highly coordinated skill that blends mobility, stability, balance/body awareness, strength and power. We call those the five absolutes of golf fitness. Sure it is a skill, and it requires hand eye coordination, but hitting a golf ball is a skill. The act itself is no more difficult than ping-pong when it comes to hand eye coordination. The blending of the five absolutes of golf fitness is the key for a powerful yet graceful golfer and this is where golf fitness get's chaotic.
How do you practice golf fitness, and still maintain the high level skill. Traditional golf fitness includes strength training, flexibility training, and some conditioning training. This is your basic strength and conditioning approach. As golf equipment has went through modern technology changes, golf fitness has remained stagnant. Better athletes are playing golf, even recreational golf. Your body is the most expensive and the most tunable piece of golf equipment you will ever possess, yet golfers will neglect their fitness in lieu of purchasing the latest and greatest technology in the search for more distance or a better game. The golf game improvement equipment market is huge. The golf fitness market is almost non existent. Why?
One of my favorite quotes in all of sports was made by Ted Williams, "It's the Indian, not the Arrow" was his reply when asked about the size of the bat he used. What Ted was eluding too was the bat size really didn't matter if you didn't have the physical attributes to handle it, nor the skill to use it effectively.
With Platinum Golf Fitness we have reverse engineered what is needed to build a better golf machine. The system is a blend of mobility, stability, balance/body awareness, strength and power practice using body weight and light to moderate kettlebell movements, that can be practiced daily by any level of golfer. The results are tremendous, we have seen increase in shot distance by 15-20% in a very short time. Golfers now can get into the the correct swing positions easily and generate more clubhead speed. Golfers are playing pain free for the first time in years and enjoying and loving their game again.
So what are you doing for golf fitness? Don't laugh. You could build yourself into a better golf machine.
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