Golf Training-what Part Of Your Game Are You Working On?

There are Several Elemants to having a complete golf game, and there are several factors you must include in your preperation, practice and training. Within the golf and indeed fitness industries there are many tips, "secrets", fads, programs, training aids or gadgets that come by, promising you longer drives and or a thinner waist line, bigger muscles, lower scores and so on. However the S.A.I.D principle is one of a few principles that follow science and not marketing structure

If you want to play the best golf possible, generally speaking you must;

Develop your course management skills
Develop proper swing mechanics
Practice every aspect of the game (putting, short game, chipping, pitching, short irons, long irons, fairway woods, and driver)
Play practice rounds
Develop confidence
Follow good nutrition habits
Develop your body

That list is not in order, and attention must be applied to every area to really improve your golf game and be the best player you can. No one area can be eliminated from this list without having an effect on your overall improvement. For example, if I were rarely practice my bunker shots, would I most likely be let down due to my inability to drop it close out of the traps causing regular dropped shots? Also if I were to ignore putting practice, I may play great from tee to green, but when it comes to on the green needing those putts to drop, look for my scores to go through the roof.

The last discipline mentioned was your body. Quite often this is the forgotten aspect of improving your golf game, but it is equally important. Let me ask you a question. What swings your driver? Your body swings the club.

Developing your body in relation to the swing allows for a foundation to be created. This foundation is where you are able to develop the proper mechanics of the swing. If your physique does not have the required flexibility, balance, coordination, or power to the achieve the desired efficient swing, how well are you going to swing a driver at the speed needed to generate long crisp strikes? Not all that well. If your body is weak and inflexible developing an optimal swing will be next to impossible no matter how many lessons you may have from your local golf coach.

What is S.A.I.D. How will it help my golf game?

S.A.I.D. refers to the principle of specific adaptation to imposed demands. The development of the body in relation to the swing is where S.A.I.D. comes into play. This translates to the body will adapt to the demands of the training stimulus but will not adapt beyond the scope of that training stimulus (NSCA Strength and Conditioning Journal, pg. 18, August, 2005).

This principle relates to developing the level of fitness in relation to any sport or activity.
For example, if I were to perform a Barbell Bench Press with 100 lbs 10-12 times the exercise could be difficult in the beginning, but the body will adapt and eventually this weight becomes easy. This is a result of my body adapting (neurological) to the resistance placed on my body by the exercise.

Once the body adapts to a resistance, the body plateaus and does not get stronger.

We also gauge progress and can illicit strength and performance gains by improving our ability to train with intensity. The external measures such as the lbs on the bar are not as vital as your ability to exert as much effort and intensity into every exercise.
The holy grail of golf for many is greater distance off the tee. The ability to hit the ball 20 or 10 yards farther is a constant goal. Golfers will buy new drivers, new golf balls, new anything! Now if an amateur players clubhead speed is somewhere around 80-85 mph, how is that clubhead speed going to increase with a new driver or new ball?
It will not.

Let us assume you have fairly efficient swing mechanics. How are you going to increase your clubhead speed?
Improving the efficiency of swing will help, but the efficiency with which you swing a club has an end point, meaning; bio -mechanics, swing angles and practice can only do so much. What is the other way by which you can increase your clubhead speed? Implementing a golf fitness program into your routine can certainly help.

A golf fitness program will develop the foundation to improve your swing mechanics by developing and improving your;

functional strength
flexibility
balance
mobility
co-ordination
hip rotation speed
club head speed.

If you have never developed a decent level of golf fitness, your body is limited to the power-generating and movement capabilities it can achieve. Until you enable the physique to increase its power-generating capabilities through the S.A.I.D. principle, your club head speed will stay the same. A golf fitness program will place resistance on your body forcing it to adapt and improve its power capabilities. The result will be greater clubhead speed and the all important hip rotation speed, that can equate to longer drives.