For many, the game of golf is a fun and enjoyable past time to get out and indulge in some friendly competition with themselves or with their friends. However, the game of golf can also be the most challenging and frustrating sport to exist.  No matter if the game is your favorite in the world, or if it has been the bane of your existence, one thing that is universal amongst golfers of all levels, the pursuit to improve our overall golf game. But what if we cannot always make it to the course to practice our game, how can we improve away from the course? We are going to review 4 aspects to our game that we can focus on to improve our overall performance, and ultimately shoot lower scores. Those parts being mobility, strength, sleep, nutrition and hydration.

Improving Your Golf Game in Fremont CA

The first step in our quest to improve our game without heading to the course is to dive into our mobility.  Before we can do this, we must define mobility. Often, mobility and flexibility are interchangeable concepts. However, regarding our golf game, we are going to look at them differently. Mobility is our active ability to take our joints through their end range of motion, were as flexibility is the passive ability to lengthen a muscle. Why is this important? Due to golf being an active game, meaning you yourself are performing the function to play, we must look a little harder at our personal mobility. If we lack adequate and necessary movement in certain parts of our body, such as our hips, spine, and shoulders, we can never expect to have a fluid, efficient golf swing. Additionally, a lack of adequate motion not only effects our swing, but it also increases the injury potential while out on the course. We can see that not only is working on our mobility important to maximize our golf swing, it is also necessary to help limit the injury factor.

Our next step that we will look at is strength. Long gone are the days of golf being populated with players such as John Daly. Enter now players such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and Tiger Woods. What is one key difference between these players old vs new? The amount of time that they spend in the weight room. Some examples of this including Tiger Woods participating in 3-hour workouts and Bryson Dechambeau taking the strength portion into consideration and becoming one of the longest drivers on the Tour. How does strength training truly impact our golf game? The first aspect is that strength training improves power. Without progressively training our bodies, we can not sustain the powerful golf swings that we see on tv every weekend. By focusing on our strength away from the course, not only is it possible for us to generate more power in our swing, but it also helps us to sustain a powerful swing for longer. The second reason to focus on strength is to help reduce asymmetries. With the golf swing being very one sided, we run the risk of over utilizing and building up one side of our body. As we pay attention to our strength training, we can work on building the off side of our body to further balance not only our swing, but also decrease the injury risk over time.

Sleep is one of the most underappreciated aspects to health and performance. Now a lot of people will say that they get 8 hours of sleep, but we are wanting 8 hours of quality sleep. The question remains, why is 8 hours of quality sleep essential? Several things occur when we do not get enough sleep. The first is an increase in inflammation. Lack of quality sleep can result in chronic, low-grade inflammation, which inhibits our bodies overall ability to repair our muscles and tissues. Our second issue resulting from lack of sleep, is accelerated intellectual decline. This will affect our problem-solving ability which can wreak havoc on us when we are between clubs or faced with a difficult lie. The third action that lack of sleep plays is in an increased risk of injury. With a lack of sleep, our motor response is slow, often resulting in improper form and inefficient neuromuscular patterns, significantly increasing our risk of injury.

Our final aspect to focus on is nutrition and hydration. Nutrition and hydration are the foundational building blocks for us to build our golf game upon. Without obtaining the proper nutrients, we are not putting our bodies in the best spot for success. What impact does proper nutrition have on our game? By gaining the necessary nutrients, we can effectively increase our energy levels and improve our concentration and focus. A body lacking in these proper nutrients becomes more apparent at the end of rounds. Imaging being on the 18th hole with an up-and-down opportunity to save par, but your body is too tired to make the shot. Additionally, a lack of adequate nutrition slows down and limits the rate and effectiveness that our bodies can recover and heal following a full round of golf.

As we have seen, there are several ways to improve our golf game without stepping foot on the course or practice facility. By taking care of our bodies, we will be better prepared for a day out on the links. By focusing on our mobility, strength, sleep, and nutrition, we can truly set ourselves up for success.

Call our team at Core Performance Chiropractic in Fremont today to schedule an appointment!