Your core is the foundation of your golf swing. It’s where you coordinate the different steps of your golf swing and it’s where you drive your power. Building your core strength will allow you to not only help you gain distance on your shots, but can also help you control your swing better. On top of that, the more control you have over your swing, the less hard you need to swing (giving you more control), but will also allow you to better receive and perform instruction from a teaching professional like myself.
I am not certified in golf fitness even though I keep my body in good shape and health but I do have my golf fitness cores that I focus on to keep my swing and body in tip-top shape. So let’s dive into the areas that I focus on when building up my core strength and overall golf fitness level.
Balance
Having good balance can maximize your power and clubhead speed as it is vital in creating the proper sequence, timing and power created from the hips and lower body. In order to create better balance, we must only first focus on the lower part of our swing. You can start by swinging without a club and see and feel what your hips, legs and footwork react. Without a golf club in your hands you will realize how slower your swing is because you are using your bigger body parts than your hands and arms.
There is a big misconception on how far you can hit a ball from what you think is a slower, less powerful swing. Take a look at the Professional golfers on television… their swings take longer from start to finish time-wise to the average player.
There are two reasons to exercise your balance
- To find your balance
- To strengthen your balance
Mobility
The parts we need to focus on having good mobility is your shoulders, spine and hips. Mobility means how far your joints can rotate in certain angles so we want to make sure we can allow your joints full range when trying to improve your golf swing. The golf swing is a series of motions that is set off by one another so it can promote each other to reach full range during the golf swing.
Your range of mobility can be limited at times depending on your daily routines but you can easily improve them with proper stretching even without any equipment. Many golfers don’t reach full potential with their mobility so we want to focus on them as we would in your golf swing.
Core
A strong core can mean using your midsection to help create power and to help stabilize your lower body and balance. It can be used to strengthen your swing by helping the backswing create more torque so we can generate more of a powerful downswing resulting in a faster clubhead speed and more spin on your golf ball. I personally need to feel that my core is part of my backswing so it can help activate my lower body at transition and the downswing.
Get Golf Fit at Home
Most people have gone their own ways in staying in shape by running more around the neighborhood, working out in their basements or buying a really expensive stationary bike.
For you to get fit for golf, it is really easy and can do it in the comfort of your own home if you please. I would like to go over the reasoning to improve your golf game by being physically prepared. Most Professional golfers these days somewhat stay fit and use every advantage with their body structure by more muscle or being more flexible. We also have full time jobs so time going to a gym takes time away from golf and home life.