Junior Golf Scoreboard - Championship Fitness

Championship Fitness

Susan Hill
Golf Fitness Expert

Welcome to Championship Fitness Training! This is an exciting time for golf and especially for junior golfers. You are now seen as true athletes who, in order to play your best and to keep improving, have to train like athletes as you would for any other sport. Only in the last few years has golf-specific fitness training for the golfer even been a consideration. We now know how important it is.

Take a look at the top players in the world. They are all on exercise programs to improve their games and to give them that extra edge over their opponents. They can never be good enough, and the performance bar keeps rising. In order to be competitive, your body has to be in championship form. Golf is a sport! Treat it like one!

To improve your game with golf-specific strength and flexibility exercises, visit www.fitnessforgolf.com

Swing Faults and Fixes for Your Junior Golfer

Factors to Consider when Disigning a Fitness Program

by Susan Hill

About the Author

I refer to myself as a ‘range trainer’ as much or more than a ‘gym trainer’. A gym trainer is one that meets you only in a gym setting in order to perform exercises and stretches to help you grow stronger, more flexible and improve your performance on the course.

A range trainer is one who talks with everyone associated with your game. For example, your fitness ‘range’ trainer should be talking with your swing instructor, parents and yourself looking for additional input. These days much of my time is spent on the range watching, observing and asking questions. It is these sessions on the range where the most critical information is gathered so we know precisely where to focus when it comes to quick improvement.

Today, parents and students alike all accept and understand the need for a solid exercise program for their junior golfer. There are just too many growth, strength, flexibility and overall conditioning discrepancies in the younger age groups to ignore. But, here are some other important factors to consider when designing a golf fitness program for juniors. Has your son or daughters swing instructor ever said one of the following as a factor or goal in their future improvement?

Need better posture
Your junior golfer is too rounded at the top. (a fitness trainer will seek to correct a weak upper back, tight chest and poor mid back flexibility)
Your junior golfer has a ‘sway’ back. (a fitness trainer will seek exercises for weak abdominals and glutes and tight hip flexors)

Junior Golfer has a lateral sway (a fitness trainer will add exercises for more hip stability and flexibility for right hip)

Junior Golfer ‘spins’ too much in the downswing (a fitness trainer will look to add more strength in the hips and add flexibility exercises to re-enforce upper and lower body separation)

These are just some of the observations and corrective exercises and stretches that could benefit a junior golfer in each of these scenarios. Think in terms of ‘faults and fixes’ or exercises that focus on ‘opportunities’ for improvement. These will give you the quickest improvement results and carryover to your game. As you continue to build out your support team, be sure to look for a fitness trainer who can also meet you on the range or at least talk with the other members of your support team so the recommended exercises and stretches are designed for immediate as well as long term improvement with your game.