Golf Fitness – Golf Exercises | US Golf TV

By Steve Zahn
August 19, 2013

08/19/2013

No one will mistake me for a golf fitness fanatic. Certainly, I am not out of shape but I am no gym rat either. Just average. But when it comes to fitness and golf – well I have good intentions! I admit it, I am simply not reliable at making time for the gym. No excuses but with a full time job, a working spouse, and two teenagers, if I have spare time I’m playing or practicing golf.

I do appreciate the need for fitness, however, and so I would like to share some fitness practices I follow:

  1. Stretching. I try to make time each day for stretching. Especially if I am not playing golf. Even though it does not increase my overall strength, I have found that, after several months of stretching on a regular basis, my overall flexibility is better. This allows me to achieve better posture at address, a more effective pivot motion, and an easier hip rotation on my follow through. Some of my favorite stretches are actually for office workers.  Golf Fitness Specialist, Dick Bartling, also provides tons of great stretching routines on USGolfTv.  Click on the Playlist.

  1. Chiropractic Care. Dr. Jensen does not mention chiropractic care in this chapter. I am not surprised as chiropractic care is a rather new concept in the golfing community. But it really needs more attention and, in my opinion, every golfer who aspires to play better should consider seeing a chiropractor on a regular basis. I’ve been under the care of a chiropractor for over two years, initially to address a chronic “hip pointer”. Not only am I virtually free of that condition, as an added benefit, I also experience less back pain playing golf. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find good articles on golf and chiropractic care, although Golf Digest did a back pain article a few years ago.

  1. Video Analysis. Not the classic fitness topic but Dr. Jensen did express concerns he has with video analysis. Specifically, he’s worried it can be used to place golfers into swing positions they are not physically capable of achieving. I’m sure this happens, but fortunately I can share a different experience. I took a series of golfTEC lessons about 15 years ago. These lessons had a positive effect on my physical well-being by showing me how my swing was causing strain on my spine. I was then able to make some adjustments that not only improved my health but, for the first time, made me a measurably better golfer. If you’ve never watched your swing, I would encourage you to add it to your total fitness experience.

Like I said, I am no Charles Atlas but I do understand the need for fitness in golf and I try to make it part of my improvement efforts.  And once the snow starts to fall, I’ll be back in the gym as well.  I promise!  (Fingers crossed!)

So there are my thoughts on Chapter 7. Join the discussion! Share your opinions! If you don’t have a copy of the book you can still get one and catch up.  Also, if you miss a week, my archived blogs are at: https://usgolftv.com/author/steve-zahn/

If you want you can also contact me at steve@usgolftv.com

Steve Zahn

4 Comments

  1. I simply wanted to write down a quick word to say thanks to you for those wonderful tips and hints you are showing on this site.

  2. Thank you for taking the time to comment and the nice words! We try to do our best to provide insightful tips to help golfers play their best!

  3. Great blog, nice content, good read, informative and well written.

  4. Thanks for reading and the comment Steve!

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