Getting To The Core Of The Problem With Your Golf Game

Just about everything you do during golf practice and/or a game
involves the core region of your body.

Hitting a long drive off the tee, iron shots, pitch shots and
blasting out of the bunker and even putting. Heck, even picking
up the ball in the cup takes strength in your core region.

So, it would make sense then that many of your struggles in golf
originate in the weaknesses in the core of your body.

How do you fix it? Well, there's no magic core strength pill or
patch. It takes some good, old-fashioned flexibility training
and exercise. Now, I'm not talking about hitting the gym every
day of the week and pumping iron like some of those puffed up
body builders. This is simple stuff you can do right in your
home or office; just minutes a day, maybe 15 to 20 minutes,
that's it.

I already do my sit-ups every day!

Different types of core exercises exist. Many of you are
probably familiar with exercises such as the sit-up, which is an
exercise that can be used to train the core. If you have read
any of our other articles, read our manual Your Body and Your
Swing or watched the DVD, you are well aware of what the word
core means and its relation to the golf swing.

Let us do a quick review for your benefit and introduce the
types of core exercises to perform for a better golf swing.

The core is an anatomical region of the body. It can generally
be defined as the region of your body between the hips and
chest. It encompasses numerous muscle groups on the front, side,
and backside of the body. In general the core consists of the
muscles that make up your abdominals, lower back, obliques, and
hips.

The core region is important to the golf swing for many reasons.
The core is essentially called the "engine" of the body. It is
the area that "drives" the body for most any human movement
including your golf swing. It is primarily responsible for the
capacities of: balance, stability, and power development within
the body. For these capacities to occur efficiently it is
necessary to train the core for improved performance.

Core Training for the Golfer

Many of us correlate core training to only the abdominal section
of the body. In order to develop the core correctly, we must
train all areas of the core equally. This means to address the
obliques, hips, and lower back with the same number of exercises
and repetitions as you do for the commonly trained abdominal
region.

A quick note from experience: More times than not, most golfers
have "imbalances" in the core region. This means that certain
muscles or muscle groups are weaker than others. To improve your
performance on the golf course, you need to have a balanced core
for optimal strength, endurance and power. Keeping this thought
in mind, many times the lower back region is "weaker" than the
abdominals (an imbalanced core). Picture the golfer picking up
his ball from the cup. We've all seen them, creaking as they go
down, maybe a quiet groan as if no one hears it. If this is the
case, additional attention/exercises are needed for the lower
back to bring it "up to speed," so to speak, in level with the
abdominals.

Moving forward, knowing that we must train the entire core and
create balance between all the muscles, it is time to discuss
what type of exercises to utilize in training the core region.
To develop the core region for golf you will want to perform
exercises in the following categories: stability (balance),
strength, endurance, and power. All four of these categories are
necessary for an optimal swing. Leaving one of the categories
listed above out of your training program is like building a
boat with a hole in it. It won't work!

Let us define the differing training categories of a "golf
specific core program" to help you better understand the purpose
behind each category. The categories of core training that are
incorporated in golf training are: 1) stability (balance)
training, 2) strength training, 3) endurance training, and 4)
power training.

Balance and Stability

Stabilization exercises are exercises that give the body the
ability to have better balance. A large portion of your balance
capability is directly related to the core region of the body.
If you are unable to maintain your balance throughout the golf
swing, the efficiency of the swing, contact with the ball, and
club head speed will suffer. For example, when you swing your
driver and are not able to maintain that perfect "finished
position" of swing, the problem may be related to your balance
capacities throughout the entire swing.

Balance training develops the integration of your neural and
muscular systems, your brain and your body. Improvement in the
functioning of these two systems of the body and integration of
these two systems will result in a better swing. Follow the
logic and it will all make sense. If you improve the ability of
your body to balance, then the ability to maintain balance
within your golf swing will become easier.

Strength

The golf swing requires that certain body parts remain in a
stable position while other body parts are moving. To perform a
powerful golf swing, the body must have the strength and
flexibility to perform these actions simultaneously.

In order to perform the above activity it is required to develop
the strength parameters of the core. If you have a weak core
then the ability to maintain a posture, keep a posture, and
perform this over a period of time will be compromised. To
repeat, the core region of the body is involved in the
stabilization process of the body. To improve this capacity, we
must train the body to be more efficient at stabilizing itself
during the golf swing. Strength exercises develop and improve
this capacity within your body for the purpose of improving your
golf swing.

Endurance

The golf swing is a repetitive movement performed by the body.
You are doing the same activity over and over. An efficient golf
swing and good scores require that you perform the same swing on
the 18th hole as you do on the 1st hole. If you are unable to do
this then the mechanics of your swing will suffer, as will your
scores. To eliminate this situation it is necessary to develop
the endurance capacities of the core region. Endurance exercises
allow the body to perform the same activity over and over
without getting fatigued. As a result of the golf swing being a
repetitive athletic movement, endurance training will enhance
the ability to maintain your optimal swing mechanics over an
extended period of time.

Power

Power Exercises are geared towards improving the power outputs
of the body. Training for power gives you the opportunity to hit
the ball farther. The core region of the body is directly
related to torque development in the golf swing. Power can also
be defined as torque (rotational power) when discussing the golf
swing. In order to create high amounts of club head speed, your
body has to create large amounts of torque. If you want to
create greater power in your golf swing you must include power
exercises in your core training program.

If you are really serious about improving your game, start at
the core of the problem!

In this article we have described the core and how to train the
core specifically for the improvement of your golf game. A few
points to keep in mind from this article: 1) the core is a
region of the body that includes all muscles from your hips to
your chest, 2) you must develop the capacities of stability,
strength, endurance, and power within the core for a benefit in
your game, and 3) the development of the core must be balanced
in terms of all muscles involved and in all the training
components (equal amounts of stability, strength, endurance, and
power) within the core