Today, I’m going to give you 5 simple things that could change your game next year, but NONE of these involve hitting a golf ball this off-season. We believe that your body is the greatest piece of golf equipment you own, and (perfect timing with the PGA show coming up) this is the time when every golf gadget and piece of technology is running rampant with claims that they will be the “one stop shop shortcut” to helping your golf game.
Haven’t we all tried (myself included) some of these shortcut gadgets that promise us amazing results with the least amount of effort? How well has this worked in the past? What is it that you really want when it comes to golf? What I’ve gathered speaking with some of the best coaches in the world, it’s primarily about eliminating the bad shots so each time you go out your playing your best game, and in order to do that, you have to take the time tuning and maintaining your best equipment: yourself.
Highlights of this episode
- Fix Your Stuff – You’ve probably had some aches, pains, or ailments towards the end of this past season. Those lower back aches that just aren’t going away, or that rotator cuff sting at the end of your drive for example. These are the fine tunings that we need to nurse and care for on the off-season so we can hit the ground running when things warm up. Otherwise, you’ll be right back here next year with a WORSE injury. Find yourself a TPI practitioner, physical therapist, or trusted chiropractor that can help you get into the right shape for the new season.
- Move Every Single Day – It’s really easy to get cooped up inside at your house or office without that weekly reminder to get up and move. Without that usual movement schedule, you can forget how uncomfortable it is to swing a club, how long it takes you to warm up, proper swing rotation that can really set you back mentally and physically come the next golf game. This doesn’t even have to be crazy intricate or long yoga sessions, this can be short, targeted, specific workouts and drills targeting bigger problem areas. Our Golf Body Blueprints give you just that: daily targeted drills that not only keep you proactive about daily motion but keep you vigilant about your bodies health and limber through the off-season.
- Joint Circles/Motion
- Neck
- Shoulders/Trunk
- Back
- Hips
- Ankles
- Big Movements
- Squat/Lunge
- Row
- Push (Pushups/Presses)
- Hinge/Bridge
- Core/Abs/Rotation
- Joint Circles/Motion
- Leg work – You can’t skip leg day! It is such a prevalent issue with gym patrons that it has become a running joke. Start thinking about doing more with the lower body through lower body strength exercises. This is going to give you biggest bang for your buck regarding strength, power, cardiovascular endurance, and fat loss. You’re going to notice, if you haven’t worked out your legs, that once you incorporate some of these lower body exercises (split squats, lunges, hinging exercises,) you’ll not only feel fresher out on the course but even in everyday movement and motion.
- Grip Strength – Now, when I say grip I’m talking about the resiliency of the forearms, wrists, and hands. We put so much force through these extremities, both in our golf swings and in daily life, building up and maintaining strength and grip fortitude is something we should all be included into our exercises in the off-season. From heavy carries, heavy dumbbells, and changing your hand positions in your exercises (palms up, down, hammer grip, etc.) there are a ton of ways to stay cognizant of your grip. One of our favorite ways is to incorporate the Fat Gripz into your everyday lifts. You can see The video we did on Fat Grips Here!
- Superspeed Golf – The Superspeed Golf Overspeed System is one of the simplest, most effective things you can do when it’s cold out, practically anywhere, 2-3 times a week to make the largest difference in your off-season fitness. These things will not only keep you swinging throughout the winter which will keep up, if not improve, your swing speed but also will build up different styles of motion because these have you swing both right and left-handed, working on acceleration and deceleration and rotation. If you have any questions or want to find out more about Superspeed golf, check out our episode with Matt & Kyle from Superspeed.