I work with all levels of golfers at FireRock Country Club and engage with clients who have an array of physical abilities and limitations. In today’s game, many people are working out, and there’s usually a minimal amount of effort that they’re willing to put forth to attain their goals and objectives. As an expert in the field of golf fitness and health and wellness, I can easily state to them a list of things they could and should be doing to progress physically, and ultimately in golf, but more often than not, my directives, guidance and advice will fall on deaf ears.
So, when you look at fitness, the most important idea to convey is awareness. In my experience, people want to know what they can and cannot do. They’re concerned about what their swing will look like based on who they are.
The second concept to heed is injury prevention. What can I do with this student to get them more mobile and balanced…to get them moving better with less chance of an injury?
Next, we look at conditioning. Anyone at this level is now in a serious fitness program that is focused on balance, symmetry and getting the body to function the way it’s supposed to. There are small levels of sport-specific training to prescribe, but it’s mainly doing everything we can to get the machine (the body) working correctly.
Finally, we take our most serious and dedicated clients through sport-specific training. This is when we start movement patterns relative to the game of golf. At this level, we assume the individual has basic function to do these things correctly. Most people are not at this level. We must start them at the first two levels and help them work their way up to the latter. Unfortunately, over my 50 years of doing this, I’ve seen many in the fitness industry starting their clients in the upper two levels - conditioning and sport-specific training. However, people don’t often have a base awareness or function.
Fitness is like a golf swing. There are basic skills and movement patterns that you have to learn before you can start implementing the big global movement patterns. If the basic skills aren’t there, you have a swing that looks like it could work, but there is no consistency, and sustainability is not possible.
In my teaching, I’d say that 80-90 percent of people are out of balance front to back. In other words, if they’ve done any working out, it’s likely abdominal work, sit-ups, curls, quads, frontal parts of their body. But some muscles go neglected. Muscles that work in pairs are not addressed equally, creating this imbalance. If you overwork one muscle, it gets stronger, but it overrides its partner in the muscle pair.
To rectify this tendency to spend too much time on the front of their body and not enough time on the back, I prescribe activities like walking backward on a treadmill to offset the kyphosis that arises as a result of this extended imbalance of attention to one’s body in my 45+ demographic. Walking backward is probably the best exercise people can do because if you turn someone around on a treadmill, you can see the effects on their posture almost immediately. When they start walking backward their glutes engage, as does their lower lumbar spine. They stand up straighter. This engages the back part of their body and balances out who they are.
Relating this to the golf swing, there are three basic circles - the clubhead, the hands and the center of the body. The most important aspect relative to speed, producing 84 percent of the swing’s speed, is the radius of the arc of the swing and the lever system in your wrists. The rest of the speed comes from the rotation of your body and ground forces. I believe the hands, arms and wrists are more important to speed than the ground forces that many professionals in the industry place so much weight into.
Everyone is different of course. So, I’ll have them do a squat with their hands above their heads. As soon as they go down, they usually twist to one side and lean forward. You can tell what their body is going to favor in the golf swing. I also have clients swing a baseball bat and throw a golf ball down the range to gauge how their body moves. This lets me see the sequence of motion between their shoulders and their hips. I make them aware of how their body works. They are sometimes surprised that they’re unable to do some of the desired movements of the golf swing.
We discuss how much they work out and what they do. I ask if they have a trainer to see how serious they are in these efforts. I guide them on the right path, rather than create extensive fitness programs. I make them aware of who they are and will even talk to their regular trainers to share my findings and compare that data with their point of view. Most of the time, they are willing to work collaboratively with the best interest of our mutual student in mind.
We’re trying to get the body to do more without injury. Address the weaknesses to fortify the strengths. Help them understand what they can and can’t do for best results on the course and prevention of injury. Without this engagement, their golf performance often gets worse and they are more prone to injury. Small mobility exercises at first lead into next-level movement patterns. After all, the swing changes with the body. However, it’s important to understand where your client is on day one to set the right plan in motion that addresses his or her specific needs.
Mike Malaska, the 2011 PGA of America Teacher & Coach of The Year, is the PGA of America Director of Instruction at FireRock Country Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona.
