Dumb Golf Exercises That Can Ruin Your Game

If great golf is your goal - then you shouldn’t be working out like the muscle heads in the gym. Here are several purported golf exercises that can actually be hurting your game - and your body for sure.

Truth be told - I cringe when I see golfers pumping up on weights and machines in the gym. It’s actually quite silly for the typical golfer to be pumping weights and jamming on the machines to try and improve his golf scores.

The main exercises you need to focus on are stretching and flexibility exercises (first and foremost) - and then core conditioning exercises on top of that foundation of flexibility.

Add some hill-work cardio and vestibular conditioning on soft discs or rolled up towels.

Most of what I just mentioned can be done very effectively with simple body-weight exercises.

Throw in some handy and cheap resistance bands, a nice floor mat, a 55 or 65cm swiss/exercise ball, maybe a light medicine ball, and possibly even some light hand-weights (8’s, 10’s and 12’s) - and you have everything you need for some serious golf conditioning and performance improvement - as well as a smart, all around, well balanced fitness program for all areas of your life - even in the bedroom (because that score counts too you know? - just ask your woman).

With all that being said - I know there are still some golfers out there who are going to still ’hit the gym’ and do what everyone else is doing... If you can identify with what I’m saying - then I’d strongly advise you to nix these six exercises from your routine:

ONE - Lat Pulldowns Behind the Neck/Head

TWO - Shoulder Presses from Behind the Head/Neck

THREE - Stiff Legged Dead-lifts

FOUR - Traditional Bench Presses

FIVE - Wide Dumbbell Flyes or Regular Cable Cross Flyes

SIX - Old-School Sit-Ups

Those are just a handful of potential game and body killers - and there are more - but I don’t want to overwhelm you. I just want you to understand that as a golfer you need to be doing something that takes into account your sport and how the body is used in that sport.

Golf requires and synergistic blend of range of motion, strength and golf specific endurance - that cannot be realized via a typical, general exercise routine.

Employ total-body stretches and flexibility exercises as your golf conditioning base, core training as your next level and then endurance as the last touch for a complete program.

Combine each of these golf conditioning elements consistently and your buddies will want to know "what you’ve been doing".

Whether or not you choose to share your golf secret-weapon with the ’boys’ is up to you, big swinger.