‘Golf Fitness’ – The Fountain Of Youth For Golfers Over 40

For the longest time golf was seen as a ‘past-time’ rather than a sport.

A way for old and out of shape white men to spend hours out of the house talking about how they were masters of the universe.

For the onlooker, the fact that many of yester-years top players could earn fortunes, despite barely being able to walk up the stairs without getting out of breath, was a testament to the undeniable truth that golfers were NOT athletes.

And if golfers aren’t athletes, surely there was no need to train as if they were?

‘Golf Fitness’ was born out of the players of the past only seeing the inside of a gym from a rehab context, a place to do some stretches, pull on some elastic resistance bands, hold different styles of plank and sit on a big blow-up ball.

Golf Fitness

For many, this still continues to be the belief. Fuelled by countless videos on social media of the ‘best stretches for a bigger backswing’ or ‘5 core exercises for more power’, amateur golfers are continuing to be taught to waste their (already limited) time focusing on the wrong things.

And if there is one thing I hate seeing people do, it’s wasting such a valuable commodity as time.

Why did I decide to write this blog for ordinary guys in middle age?

As a trainer of approaching 10 years, and a lover of golf for more than 20, I was amazed that clients I’d worked with were surprised at the enormous impact strength training had on their golf games.

Why wasn’t it more obvious that being able to produce more force would have them hitting the ball 20–50 yards further?!

Alongside that they were suffering with less joint pain, fitting in their golf clothes better, and finishing rounds fresher.

The combination of this usually led to better scores and a lower handicap.

As better players began coming to me for support I decided to dive into the research and support for older amateur golfers…

What did I find?

Pretty much nothing!

Anything that was related to golfers improving their fitness was geared towards the younger generation, the college golfer, or the elite professional.

Training programs took too long for a normal bloke juggling a family and 9–5, required too much proficiency for those new to training, or were full of high impact exercises that didn’t cater for joints that had already suffered some wear and tear.

Anything that was for the older golfer was basically just a bunch of stretches, a mobility workout that wouldn’t look out of place being taught in a yoga class.

But when you’re a golfer who has dreams of swinging 100+ mph it’s not really going to move the needle to just get a little closer to touching your toes when you put your socks on.

The Benefits Of Increased Distance To Your Scoring

‘Drive for show and putt for dough’ is a well known golf phrase, one that has been repeated so often that it’s almost recognised as a fact by this stage.

We all know that when you’re putting well you can make up for a shortfall in the rest of your game, but we also all know how much pressure it puts on putting when you’re driving the ball poorly and struggling to reach par 4’s in 2 shots!

The benefits of increased power are now unquestionable, the longest players on both the regular and senior tours are more often than not the biggest hitters. It makes sense, more power equals longer drives and shorter approach shots.

But it’s not all just about huge drives, it also means you can play safe with irons yet still be close enough to the green to hit your approach shot close.

Picture this, you step onto a tight 400 yard par 4 at your local club, knowing full well that you can thread a long iron into the fairway and still leave yourself a mid to short iron approach into the green.

It would be pretty awesome to feel that kind of confidence in what your body is able to do.

However, if you’re still not sold on the impact of getting closer to the green with your tee-shots, take a look at the statistics carried out by Data Golf below.