Golf clubs: Champions have to keep physically fit

Keeping fit and healthy is essential if you want to become a golf champion

Physical fitness has not always been a priority for many professional golfers, but it should be. Even though golf isn't regarded as a particularly physical sport, you have to be able to walk a few miles around the course and you also need to build muscle and keep supple, so as not to incur any muscle injury. Increasingly, therefore, golfers are realizing the importance of being physically fit. Indeed, in order to be a golf champion, keeping fit and eating properly is an integral part of the regime.

Building core strength

Before the season begins, many golf champions will spend a great deal of their time in the gym working on 'core' strength. You need some muscles if you're going to whack the ball 250 yards! The golf swing requires you to perform various rotational and bending movements with an upright torso. This means a lot of twisting and turning! So it's vital to strengthen all the muscles in your mid-section that allow you to transfer movement and power from the upper body to the lower body and vice versa.

The muscles in question

A good coach will analyze the muscles needed during each stage of the golf swing, then you can set about strengthening them in the gym with weights. The swing can be broken down showing which muscles need to be worked on:

• Backswing - Shoulder, chest, forearm and wrist (flexes and cocks wrist), stomach, hip and buttocks, thighs (pulled as hip rotates) and the lower leg muscles
• Start of downswing - Shoulder, chest (when pulling down), upper back (lats), obliques and abs (when trunk turns), posterior hip muscles, thighs (pulled and weight shifted from one leg to other) and lower leg muscles (rolls and left foot inward)
• Nearing impact - Shoulder, chest (pecs), upper back, forearm and wrists (uncocks, rolls and extends)
• Impact - Obliques and abs, trunk, buttocks (hip turn), thighs (weight transfer), lower leg muscles
• Followthrough - Chest, upper back, obliques, trunk, bottom and lower leg - movement complete

Maintenance

Most intensive physical training should take place out of season, so that when it comes to playing tournaments it is just a case of fine tuning the body. Spend time doing stretching exercises each day in order to increase flexibility and reduce stiffness. This will help to keep your swing smooth and reduce the risk of injury. Stretch bands are especially good for this, particularly the �horizontal pull� exercise as it allows for deep, gradual stretching of major muscle groups.

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