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Year-Round Golf Conditioning

To get the most out of your game, you need to know how to arrange your year-round workout schedule to maximize your results.

By Mike Romatowski
for the Titleist Performance Institute

The top professional golfers of the modern era are extremely strong, flexible, and fit. They are willing to work out year-round to maintain their “fitness advantage.” To get the most out of your game, you need to know how to arrange your year-round workout schedule to maximize your results.

The experts at the Titleist Performance Institute have identified seven physical performance factors that are crucial to every golf conditioning program: posture, balance, mobility, stability (the combination of strength and balance), power, coordination, and endurance.

These factors are interactive. For example, if you have poor posture, it will be difficult to have good balance. Likewise, mobility and stability are co-dependent; you cannot gain advantage from one in the absence of the other. A third such example is the inter-relationship of power and coordination. It is almost impossible to produce maximum power without optimal coordination.

While you must pay attention to each of the seven physical performance factors, it is wise to emphasize certain ones at different times of the year.

You should split your calendar year into three phases as follows:

Off-Season – 3-4 months (example: Nov. – Feb.)
Pre-Season – 1-2 months (example: Mar. – April.)
In-Season – 5-6 months (example: May – Oct.)

Important: Even golfers who live in warm weather climates (such as San Diego or Phoenix) should divide their year into these three categories. Golf conditioning works best when there is a specific focus according to the time of year. Even if you can play golf year-round in your home environment, you will benefit from dividing your workouts into these types of segments.

There are several ways to divide up your year. Here is one of the best:

THE OFF-SEASON SEGMENT (Posture, Balance, Stability)

Posture is actually perhaps the most crucial component of golf conditioning. It’s not the most glamorous, but it is so important that it merits constant attention. Without good posture in your everyday life and in your golf address position, you cannot hope to maximize the other physical performance factors.

Off-Season is the perfect time to get as strong as possible. Weight training and the use of a stability ball will be your main tools. Don’t be afraid to hit the weights hard and heavy – the stronger you can get, the better. This is also the best time to improve your balance, because stability is the combination of strength and balance.

THE PRE-SEASON SEGMENT (Power and Coordination)

Pre-Season is optimal for development of power. Power is strength at high speed. Since you have spent the off-season getting as strong as possible, this is the perfect time for power training. And, since power is dependent upon good coordination, pre-season is also optimal for giving coordination drills a high priority in your workout.

THE IN-SEASON SEGMENT (Mobility and Endurance)

During your actual golf season you want to avoid any feeling of being “muscle-bound” or unduly muscularly fatigued. Working on mobility (flexibility) and endurance will keep you in fine shape and won’t interfere with your swing motion. Thus, the in-season segment is perfect for stretching and cardio.

For more information about Titleist Performance Institute, please visit www.mytpi.com .