Golf!

Does anyone else play golf here?

I’ve recently come out of retirement from 2 years ago when I was 20 and am thinking of taking up the game more seriously now.

Would like to discuss training (edit; note; training here means technical training, as I assume that other than general fitness exercise aimed at improving golf swing is a waste of time) methods as well if anyone wants.

P.S feel free to post some abuse, but remember don’t knock it 'til you’ve tried it - it’s fun to play if not too fun to watch most of the time.

James.

Believe it or not, I played off 2 when I was 19 but gave up due to a loss of interest. I’m still a single figure handicap player even today, but play alot less often.

Knock golf???..

No, it would be very stupid to knock PGA tour golfers. They earn more money after a Tour win than all the athletes put together performing at the Olympics.

I think Dwain Chambers earned $200,000 for the whole season last year. When Tiger he was winning everything was on what???.. $1 million PER WEEK.

If there is anything you want to know, just give me a buzz…

Not true…last I checked, some pretty big NBA stars were playing Olympic basketball and they get paid fairly well.

As far as golf, sorry I won’t be much help there. I agree with Mark Twain: A good walk, spoiled!

I Love golf… as much as I like track and field, its disciplines aren’t the same as a game like golf or baseball — those two, in particular, are crafts that require the mastery of skills. There is something profoundly more difficult and rewarding about them to me.
But I’m not good enough at either, so I love what I do do - track. I play golf every week in the summer.
“The hard is what makes it great” - Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) in “A League of their own.”
Re: Training methods — My guess would be that it would look a lot like a GPP phase for a track athlete, except -

  1. No need for maximal sprinting effort
  2. High Emphasis on improving rotational strength and endurence (lots of ab and back work)
  3. all of that would have to take a back seat to actually playing the game and perfect daily practice. Golf is just too damn hard.

What I would suggest is

  1. Daily calisthenic and medball work, focused on the core strength and endurance - such work can have the volume and intensity easily manipulated. General Conditioning exercises (jumping rope, medball conditioning exercises, light kettlebell swings, burpees, whatever) would also be included. -20 minutes tops

  2. For CNS stress, I’d focus on Powerball or Kettlebell Snatches, Snatch throws, or similiar exercise. I think this is optional really, but I’m not sure it wouldn’t hurt

  3. For limit strength I’d focus on Pull-ups (million different ways to cook it- weighted, for reps, etc.) other good ideas - weighted push-ups/dips and good mornings (3x10x60% of 1rm squat – not really limit strength, but this provides SQ like stimulation at a much less muscular and CNS stress. playing 18 everyday is a lot tougher on stale, sore, or tired legs.)

  4. Additional strength work would be like WSB’s extra workouts - they would be quick, aimed at hypertrophy and not difficult.

  5. additional tempo, but I’m not sure how neccesary that would be if all the above were implemented.

just some thoughts/ideas

First off I must warn you I am a total know all when it comes to golf :smiley:

Below are key points from an article I have written on training for golf.

As the swing is dynamic you should train with explosive movements, the best of these are based on the Olympic Lifts, power or hang versions. When doing the clean I suggest, completing the movement with an overhead press, especially during the main golf season. The reason for this is to get more bang for your buck and as shown later I recommend weight training only 2 days per week at that time of year.

The type of squats you use is dictated by your choice of Olympic Lift start, lifting from the floor involves the hamstrings more than from the hang for this reason if you are lifting from the floor I suggest medium stance, full range squats. If however your Olympic lifts are from the hang, I suggest you use Box Squats as this style focus more on the posterior chain.

Another ingredient in the mix is sledgehammer GPP, nothing too fancy here, just a sledgehammer and a tire. I suggest a light sledgehammer to keep the reps up and help focus on starting the movement with the core not the arms. This has a direct carryover to the rotational strength required for injury free golf and helps balance muscles unused during the golf swing. A good basic routine is (based around a right handed golfer);

4 minutes downward with hands close together, switch hand position after each minute.

4 minutes from left shoulder across body with right hip and hand leading, left hand is used to raise sledgehammer only.

2 minutes from right shoulder across body with left hip and hand leading, the right hand is used to raise sledgehammer only.

The reason for the reduced time from the right shoulder is to countrer imbalances caused while practicing and playing.

The mainstay of your cardio should be walking. “Say what? Athletes don’t walk” Calm down, as much as I am a fan of HIIT, it has no direct benefit to golf performance, the reason being that a round of golf can last up to 5 hours and you walk nearly 3 ½ miles. Even fit runners get tired legs from being on their feet for that length of time and to fully enjoy a round of golf you should walk the course not ride a cart. The walks should be between 30 and 60 minutes, preferably on sand, hills, using weighted vests or backpacks and should be performed 2 to 3 times per week. As well as walking I strongly recommend that you start each weights session with 3 x 3 minute rounds of jump rope and GPP. Basic two feet together jumping is fine as you want to be warmed up not exhausted, the GPP exercises which are performed for 30 seconds at the end of each 3 minute round could include but not be limited to, jumping jacks, shuffle splits, star jumps, slaloms, or mountain climbers, rest 30 seconds after the GPP exercise before starting the next round of jump rope. Once the workout is completed another session of GPP should be performed for 6-10 minutes as dynamic stretching and to enhance recovery. See, I said it was for athletes.

Stretching is another vital ingredient and should be done every day, certainly after each weights or walking session.

Direct rotator cuff work should be minimal during the season to avoid overuse, during the off season, exercises such as Figure 8’s, Cuban press, or similar exercises should be incorporated in your schedule to prevent injury.

Each session commences with 3 jump rope/GPP rounds. Once completed perform Javorek plus, this is performed with the bar only and is a giant set of the following 6 exercises for 6 reps, snatch high pull from knees, clean high pull from knees, squat/press, good morning, bent over row, overhead squat. This is a great way of hitting the specific lifting muscles.

With the strength section of the workout, I suggest training for time rather than a certain number of sets . Each exercise is performed for 15 minutes, the first 2 sets are warm-ups and done using a lighter weight for 5 reps. The balance are 4-5 reps using a weight you can perform 6 ‘perfect’ reps with, do not go to failure. Rest periods between sets should be 90 seconds, but extend as required if you drop below 4 reps or your form gets sloppy.

Day 1
Golf

Day 2
Walk or rest.

Day 3
a.m. Walk
p.m. Weights

Snatch
Bench press
Good morning.
Barbell rows

GPP

Day 4
Golf practice

Day 5
a.m. Walk
p.m. Weights

Clean and press
Squats
Dips
Chins (palms towards you)

GPP

Day 6
Walk followed by ab circuit, this should be done at home unless your gym has a sledgehammer and tire. This is intense and I suggest using a medicine ball only for weights.

4 giant sets of
Saxon side bend x 5 each side.
Russian twist x 8 each side.
Accentuated negative full range sit ups x 8.
Lateral leg lowers (knees bent with medicine ball between knees) x 8 each side.
Dragon Flags (on floor) x 8

Rest 1 min between giant sets

Sledgehammer GPP.

Day 7
Rest or short game golf practice.

They let bicycles on the greens now?

OK innteresting discussion.

I was looking for tips on driving range routines or practice drills.

How does this sound? Does anyone really play golf here? I guess not.

Ok, well, to answer THAT question, the single best thing I know to do is play with my shot.
I take a small bucket of balls and try to hit each one as perfectly as possible, and sometimes I’ll just be looking to hit solidly, and sometimes I’ll improvise game situations.
60 balls in 2 hours.
This is going to sound silly, but I practice putting by trying to play mini golf perfectly…It’s fun, relaxing, and teaches you how not to worry and mess up your putting stroke with nerves.
I watch a lot of golf too, and it doesn’t hurt to take lessons from competent instructors or just talk to a lot of the better golfers at your club.

james,believe it or not but i’m hooked on the game since 2002 and playing off 9 at the moment.first of all i try to hit a few balls everyday to promote muscle memory which is the key in having a sucessful game.so my ball striking is praciticed basically everyday ranging from PW to driver depending on how i’m striking.also i spend minimum 30mins per day on my short game inside 50yards and this will really improve anyones game and this is where most strokes are saved.

at the moment i’m not involving weights with golf as i tend to over-power my swing with the strenght from the weight training.there is a fine line between swing within yourself.most of the drills i do are performed with clubs at my feet to help with alignment.i do take-away drills and always practice an in to out downswing which is vital for straight solid striking.as you know an out to in swing will pull the right and must be avoiding unless you can manipulate shots for reason.

first of all alignment.feet aiming in line with shoulders and club face.club in correct position ie PW middle of stance driver inside heel and so on.all such checkpoints will improve your swing and direction

When I was younger, I was a pretty damn good golfer for my age (77 at age 13 on a pretty tough course, about a 10 handicap), although I’m not that good anymore, as I switched the emphasis to track. Having said that although I don’t play competitvely anymore, I still play recreationally over the summer, and when my game is on I can still shoot low 80’s, with perhaps the occasional score in the 70’s. Truthfully, I believe the more golf you play the better you will be. Away from the course, general fitness should be the emphasis, ie strength, cardio, and flexibility, no need to be overly specific. Just remember that it’s good to be in shape, but it’s probably more important to just play frequently than it is to develop an overly complex fitness routine. I’m not saying it’s okay to neglect fitness, just keep it simple.

A book I think you should pick up is ‘Golf is Not a Game of Perfect’, by Bob Rotella. It is the best book I have ever read on the mental aspects of the game. For practice he reccomends that the vast majority of your time be spent on developing skills from 120 yards and closer (short game). This includes your chipping, sandgame, pitching and wedgeplay. The book also states that most of your long game practice should be spent with clubs you use off the tee (long irons through driver), and that a minimal amount of time should be spent on the other irons(4-9). He says that an excessive amount of putting practice is not neccesary, and that most practice should be on putts from 2 to 6 feet. To develop touch, he reccomends that you do your longer putts to the edge of the green, rather than to a hole.

Obviously you can change tinker with these guidelines to suit your own game. As I stated earlier, the best way to get better is to just play (and practice). If you want to be a really competitive golfer, tournament experience is also crucial. Hope this helped.

You got the responses you asked for

I’ve recently come out of retirement from 2 years ago when I was 20 and am thinking of taking up the game more seriously now.

Would like to discuss training methods as well if anyone wants.

More details are required.
What handicap are you on?
Game strengths?
Game weaknesses?
How much technical knowledge do you have of the swing?
How much time do you practice / play?
What pratice facilities do you have access to?
Left or right handed (for explaining stuff)?
Bad shot/s?
How long since you got back into it?
Average fairways hit?
Average greens hit?
Putts per round?

If you aren’t tracking the fairways, greens, putts and score on line I suggest you start, there are some pretty good sites.

Seeing as everyone is putting up there credentials, although I don’t play much now due to family comitements and well I got sick of it :smiley: I have heaps of technical knowledge and as a ‘player’ had a lowest round of 64 (9 under!) :eek: and played in national age group teams (not in US). I am sure I can help but without more input can’t.

If you haven’t already read it I suggest you get a copy of Golf the winning formula by Nick Faldo THE best book on the golf swing I have read period!

John

And, like I said, YES I DO.

I guess you haven’t read any of Ben Hogans books (The Greatest Striker of the Golf ball that ever lived). Hogan still remains my biggest idol ever in sport. A great quote of Hogans, “I hit golf balls till my hands bled, then I hit some more”. Genius.

I have to admit, this thread is pretty amusing with all the talk of strength training. Core training I can deal with and it supplements golf well (doesn’t it every sport) but oly lifts???.. lol…

Sorry to hijack the thread, but
Why not Oly lifts?

High CNS stimulation
High MU recuirtment
High Training Economy (uses darn near everything), reducing time spent in weight room for time on the course or range

Agreed.

R&R do not assume what I have and haven’t read. You want to discuss golf swing theory …BRING IT ON!

I disagree about Oly lifts for golfers for a few reasons.

  1. The time it takes to actually learn the olympic lifts seems to be underestimated.
  2. The equipment required makes them an inconvenience for most golfers.
  3. Why would high CNS stimulation (or MU recruitment) for that matter be important to golfers? The marginal time benefits of Oly lifts are outweighed by the time it takes to actually learn them. I would consider them unnessary at best. Why overcomplicate things.

John C-S

The program you reccomended in Post #5 of this thread only had 2-3 days of golfing per week. Now you obviously know a thing or two about golf, having shot a 64, so do you honestly believe that 2-3 days a week is enough to yield any sort of improvment? I would think 5-7 days would be neccesary for elite level players.

Alex,
1 The hang version in particluar is realtively easy to learn.
2. I train in my garage :smiley:
3. The golf swing is a dynamic movement and training pure max strength and hypertrophy (bodybuilding) focussed training has no real benefit to the golfer.

Re more than 2-3 days golf? IMHO too many practice for the sake of practice. They hit balls almost everday to make up for poor swing mechanics, they need to practice often due to so much reliance on timing. Also too much time is spent onthe range instead of inside 30 yards. Focus on the short game and the benefits will be visible.

I remember reeading an article from 1980 (I think) about how Nicklaus overcame a poor patch by improving his putting. What was happening was that he wasn’t putting well from inside 6 feet, this put pressure on the rest of his game. He was afraid to miss greens (his poor short gamne is well known) which was putting pressure on his irons.and on it goes. Once he worked on his putting and brought it back up, all the rest fell inot place :smiley:

For those interested here is an interesting thread on golf training and mechanics. I posted there as hyphnz.

I agree with you on most points, especially on the importance of the short game (where I believe aabou 60-70% of practice time should be spent), however I still disagree that 2-3 days is enough. True, practicing just to be practicing is bad, however I still believe that the more I play the better I am, and I think this is true of most golfers. Swing mechanics are an entirely different issue, and if a golfer is serious they should have a good teacher who they go to on a regular basis, to catch any minor breakdowns in the swing before they become serious. When I say golfing, I don’t mean mindlessly beating balls, I mean high quality long game practice, high volumes of high quality short game practice, but perhaps most importantly is just spending a lot of time out on the course playing. You can have all the skills in the world, but to develop a knack for scoring there’s really no substitue for playing the game.

Watch for burn out, that is another concern I have. It is easy to get overgolfed and stale IMHO.

John C-S,

OK, A few questions about the golf swing. Simple questions, nothing technical or scientific.

  1. Who were the top 3 golf ball strikers of all time???..

And, Which position did they all get into and commonly perform over the rest of the other guys on tour at the time of them being in there prime. Easy.

  1. OK, Another easy one. Which movement initiates the start of the downswing to keep the club on plane to the point of impact???..

  2. At which stage of the golf swing is referred to as the “power position”???..

  3. Who is regarded to have the most efficent golf swing on the US PGA tour & Why???..

And no, internet searches don’t count.

And if you don’t know the answers to them questions, you need to go back to sleep and come back when you know something about the game.

Alex, don’t let anyone tell you that throwing a weight above your head will improve/enhance your game. There are by far more ways to specifically enhance your golf game than doing Olys. Just thinking about it makes me laugh.

Which was my question, what are those specific ways Rnr?

RE: I agree with alex, Golf is too damn hard to only have 2-3 days a week practice…and contend that the High Hang in particular (the athlete simply “jumping” to initiate the pull) is extremely easy — in 2 weeks I had my 49 year old father cleaning his body weight for reps (he’s short, so great levers and being a natural athlete helps) from this position.

How about this for an ideal possible golf schedule? (like, a clinic or something)

Mon - driving work, quick weight training
tues - long irons to middle irons
wed - Approaches, quick gpp
thursday - chipping and putting, quick weight training
friday - game situations, maybe 9 holes
saturday - 18 holes, note what you did poorly
sunday -9 holes, focusing on what you did poorly the day before