Spending a day on a 36-hole golf course requires a great deal of physical fitness and endurance.
After all, you will be on your feet for many hours, carrying heavy clubs, and swinging different putts, drivers, irons, and wedges. If you lack stamina and strength, your performance will pay the price.
For this reason, you need to ensure you are physically fit to lower your handicap. Find out how exercise can improve your golf performance.
Avoid Injury
While golf is a relatively safe sport to play, injuries can happen on the green. For example, you could overuse your muscles, or you could use the incorrect form or technique. This is why it’s important to learn the golf swing basics! Injuries can be life-changing so it’s vital that you perfect your technique.
Many golf-related injuries can often affect the lower back, wrists, elbows, and shoulders, as you might not swing a club correctly or you could develop an injury from carrying a heavy golf bag.
To avoid injury, you should:
- Warm up (Loosen up any tight, unprepared muscles)
- Swing correctly (Maintain good posture, stabilize your back and develop a slow, relaxed swing)
- Exercise regularly to condition your muscles for the strains of golf
You also must regularly stretch to prevent a golf injury, as this will allow you to maintain flexibility on the course and could avoid all sorts of aches and pains the next day.
Ensure you’re limber by stretching out your hamstrings, abdominals, back, arms, and shoulders.
Improved Stamina
Burning out a few hours into a game of golf can impact your swing and passion for the sport.
Cardiovascular activity can, however, boost both your stamina and physical fitness. You should, therefore, devise a solid workout plan, so you can lower your handicap.
The best cardiovascular exercises to choose from can include:
- Running
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Walking
Try to embark on your workout routine for 20 minutes per day, three days a week, at a minimum. It will make a 36-hole golf course seem like a breeze.
A Better Swing
There are many things that you can do to perfect your golf swing. Many players, for instance, will invest in a golf monitor that helps them to track their swing and see where they can make improvements in their game. Others have realized the correlation between a great swing and physical strength.
Take a look at the likes of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods as an example. All seemingly have great physical strength, because they are aware that it makes them a better player.
If you want to improve your swing, you need to develop greater strength and muscle tone, which can help you take control of every size club in your hand, from a mini gunboat putter to a PXG 0341 x Gen2 Fairway Woods.
To build up your strength prior to the golf season, you should incorporate the following exercises into a workout routine:
- Bicep and leg curls
- Abdominal crunches
- Chest and leg presses
- Triceps exercises
- Lat pull-downs
By improving your muscle strength, you’ll be able to successfully lower your handicap.
Conclusion
Golf and exercise should go hand-in-hand. If you fail to warm up, stretch, and work out away from the golf course, your performance will suffer as a result.
If you’re serious about lowering your handicap and want to become a better golfer, incorporate more cardiovascular exercises and weight training into your daily routine.
You’ll soon develop the perfect swing and will have the stamina to spend the day on a lengthy golf course.