Wake Up Your Game

THERE ARE NOW days where you can actually hit balls outside. However, rather than just jumping in with the ball-zilla sized bucket and pounding them till your hands bleed, perhaps a bit of strategic preparation will improve the long-term results.

Some factors of how your body works now, compared to your 20s, will help you adjust your physical routine, so your practices are more effective and reduce the chance of injury. If you have been staying physically active at five hours per week with formal training, then a simple train- ing modification/addition will yield results. If you have not been active, then the next 60 days are really your last chance to amp it up so that by the time you’re playing in the late spring, the physical changes are working well enough to allow you play better.

What’s different about hitting balls from just general exercise, especially if you are over 50? The first factor is posture. Not having a physical job that requires you move into different positions all the time, especially with your torso, means you might not be able to hold the proper golf stance. Spine angle and shoulder position are not normal, they require muscular stabilization.

The core muscles are organized as small, very precise movers, somewhat like the small thruster rockets on a satellite. Although some of the large ones, such as the erector spinae, the major muscle in the back, do have that function, core muscles are more aligned for stabilization, balance and setting a position. Many of the muscle groups in the core have a righting function— get slightly out of balance, and they want to fire to right the ship.

It’s easy to work on the core on a fitball, as the unstable surface forces more muscles to engage—as opposed to training on something stable, like a sit-up board. The key with using the fitball is to perform short bursts of exercise, such as eight or ten repetitions in different directions, interspersed with rest periods. Your own body weight is actually best, as heavy medicine balls are a bit counter-productive to firing the fine and small muscles to maintain a posture. A mix of different directions of movement performed this way for five minutes per day is surprisingly effective.

Because the golf swing has a bit of tilt for- ward with the spine and hips, that can benefit from training—but with a twist. In golf, this is as much about awareness as it is muscular ability. Gravity is the prime means for determining if you are in the right golf position. So, it makes sense that exercises like “good morning” stretches, or anything else that has a back-extension compo- nent would help with both muscular conditioning and awareness.