When talking about golf fitness, most people refer to mobility and stability. But that's just half the equation. What about strength and speed? If you're looking to hit the ball farther by gaining swing speed, then you need to work on both strength and speed off the golf course. Below is what I call the Golf Fitness Pyramid.
The base or foundation of the pyramid is mobility. Gaining and maintaining more mobility will help you hit the ball farther and help you avoid making mistakes in your golf swing. The swing is a very dynamic movement, and it requires a lot of mobility in very specific parts of the body. Without this mobility, swing flaws will be more common, and trying to get to specific positions in the swing may cause injury.
The second tier up is stability. Having stability in the lower body will help you load into your back leg on your takeaway and transition your weight onto your lead leg in the downswing. Not only does it help with weight transfer, but it also helps with preventing injury. Core stability helps us protect our spine and lower back from the impact that the swing can put on the body. Core stability encompasses muscles from your shoulders to your knees. Without stability here, it's just a matter of time before your body breaks down and you injure yourself.
The third tier of our pyramid is strength. Every golfer can use more strength. Unfortunately, many just focus on mobility and stability. While these first two tiers are crucial to prevent injury and take your game to the next level, strength is a great way to elevate your game. If you play golf and you tell me that you don't want to hit the ball farther, you’re probably misrepresenting your intentions. Strength is essential to hitting the ball farther. Get into the gym, hit the weights and get stronger to gain distance off the tee.
The last tier is speed. If you’re looking to hit the ball farther and you’ve been working on strength in the swing, it's time to start incorporating speed in your training. If you want to swing faster, then you need to move faster. There are a lot of ways to get faster and a lot of tools to help you increase your speed in the golf swing, but the bottom line is train fast to swing fast.
The reason for these four being grouped into a pyramid and not some other graphic is because you need each step before you move onto the next stage. Mobility is an important first step to work on. Building a good foundation with mobility and stability allows you to progress into strength. Lastly, once you have strength, you can incorporate speed into your training. Each stage builds on the last one, that's not to say that you stop working on mobility when you have progressed to speed. It's important to continue working on each stage once you have progressed to the next one. Progressing through these four stages is a great way to improve your golf game and protect your body from the damage that golf can cause.
Kian O’Donnell is a PGA of America Golf Fitness Coach at Seattle Golf Fitness and Mercer Island Golf Club in Mercer Island, Washington.