Fitness

I believe fitness is an essential part of golf at all levels of play and especially at a professional level. We are all built differently and have different strength and flexibility, that is why we all swing the golf club differently. Take Tiger and Stricker for example, they have completely different swings but they both are at the top of the game. You have to find a swing that works for you and your build.

To be more efficient with the club and to change my swing I would try to start with changing my body first. I have been through many different strength trainers and they all believe their way is the best way. I have gotten sucked into their ways and often overdone it, so instead of helping me it has created a problem and I have gotten imbalanced in muscle strength and flexibility.

Over the last 7 years I have worked with many trainers who work with pro athletes. I have come to understand that every sport is different and needs a different sets of strengths. NFL guys are certainly different from dancers and golfers are different from sprinters and so on. My observations and experiments have been with my own body and I have tended to create my power from whatever muscle group has been the stronger at any given time. If I had very strong arms and shoulders I would swing with my arms. The swing is also hard to change because even if I did exercises that were meant for my back there could still be another muscle group that would be stronger. That new muscle group tended to do most of the work so in the end I was still working with my stronger parts and that made me more imbalanced. Accordingly, it is very important that you focus on the muscle group you want to use – throughout the exercise and all the time.??

I have now found a new way of training that I have gotten sucked into lol. It is called Pilates Plus and it makes me more balanced and flexible for golf. The goal is to make my stomach and mid section the absolute strongest part of my body. I want to create the speed with my core and let my arms just come along for the ride in my golf swing. It is very intense and we do around 50 one-minute-long exercises in an hour and they are all core based. I have become so much more stable and relaxed in my golf game since I started this program.

Mikaela