Perform Better Golf Blog

If you’re a golfer looking to quickly and effectively improve your golf swing speed, power and distance, you’ll want to take a look at our Power Golf Swing Weight Trainer.

I am always on the lookout for golf swing trainers that will help golfers add more power and distance, and this one “fits the bill” completely!

It is now part of my power training routine, and I can already feel a difference in my flexibility and power.

It’s ONLY a fraction of the cost of a weighted club, and it’s the most portable of all of them!

I have come to the conclusion that the wrists play a critical role in power golf, increasing clubhead speed, and distance. It’s not a very glamorous bodypart, but I do feel this is one of the KEYS to hitting longer golf drives.

Earlier we discussed power golf wrist hinge, and the correct way to do it, and now I want to give you a SIMPLE golf exercise to quickly strengthen your wrists for a powerful impact into that poor golf ball.

Stand erect with your arm at your side hanging long. Hold an 8 iron (I use my weighted golf club) in your hand with the clubhead on the ground. This puts your wrist in the uncocked (unhinged) position. Now, without moving your arm at all, raise the clubhead upward as high as you can, using only your wrist and forearm.

Slowly lower it back down and repeat 15 times. Switch arms and sides, and do 15 with the other arm. If you’re feeling spunky, do a couple of sets each arm. You’ll get a good burn in your forearm muscles.

This movement is identical to the movement of your wrist cock in your golf swing. Doing this simple golf exercise 2-3 times a week, will make a huge difference in your power, with strong wrists through impact.

Learning how to be better at golf is a lifelong mission for most of us. Peaks and valleys is commonplace. We all are addicted to the challenge of hitting a good shot, and once in a while hitting one that keeps us “coming back”.

Below is a list of golf improvement approaches that you can use independently or in combination to learn how to play better golf:

Golf Instruction

The golf swing requires certain movements that are not very natural, so golf swing instruction should be at the top of your list, especially if you’re a beginning golfer. Learning the fundamentals of golf is something every golfer needs and struggles with even as you improve.

Golf instruction can be through private one-on-one golf lessons. Group lessons (which are less expensive). Online instruction is becoming more and more popular. Golf instruction books. And golf instruction DVDs is another great alternative, that is much less costlier than private lessons.

Golf-Specific Fitness

I’m making this number 2 on the list, but easily could be a tie with number one, as many golfers, especially senior golfers have physical limitations that will not enable them to apply what they learn in their golf lessons, making improvement nearly impossible.

I am a firm believer that you are only capable of what your body can do in golf. In simpler terms, your body is keeping you from a better game. How many times have you told yourself you need a bigger backswing? Come on…be honest! What you are indirectly telling yourself, is your body can’t make a bigger backswing, and I’m telling you the ONLY way to improve it is with golf-specific stretching exercises specific to your backswing.

If you’re looking for longer drives, you need to improve your core strength and flexibility. This is the engine to your golf swing. When I talk about fitness, I’m not talking about going to a gym, and spending 2 grueling hours a day. I’m talking about doing, easy, fun and effective exercises right in your home with minimal equipment.

All you need is an exercise ball, exercise tubing (w/handles) and hand weights. That’s your entire golf fitness “in-home” gym. For under $50 you can have your own golf fitness gym, and start seeing results quickly.

If you need guidance on your golf fitness program, take a look at my Effortless Golf Swing Training System.

Golf Swing Training Aids

Another great option that can be very effective for specific swing faults is a golf swing training aid. There is a lot of garbage out there, and a few good pieces. The goal of any training aid is to ultimately make your swing better, but more specifically to help you correct YOUR personal swing fault.

This swing fault may be any number of them, such as a slice, top, thin, chunk, hook, pop up or any other ugly mishit that we all hate. There is only ONE training aid I think so highly of that I offer it on my site. The hinged golf club is an absolute gem of a training aid.

This club gives you INSTANT feedback as to the mistake you’re making in your golf swing. Whether it be a jerky takeaway, or an off plane swing, the hinge will break to show you it’s incorrect. Whether your tempo is off, or your swing plane, this training aid will get you corrected making a near perfect golf swing in no time!

I’ll be back later today, to finish this post, so stay tuned!

It is no longer a surprise to hear about all the touring pros who incorporate golf strength training into their improvement program. They know how important it is to maintain their strength and endurance all the way through Sunday.

With millions or at least hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line every week, it becomes a neccessity to get the edge any way they can.  So should you…if you want to beat your playing partners or win your club championship.

Read more golf strength training articles.

The never-ending goal to play better golf. Strength training is an approach that can not only improve your power and distance, but also prevent those nagging golf injuries that affect your swing…and even keep you from playing.

I am always surprised when golfers tell me they would never participate in a golf strength training program.

A perfect example is the picture that is accompanying this post. I am on a stability utilizing my core strength and stabilization, and I am doing a single arm fly with a dumbell.

This exercise has two benefits for golfers. First, you will strengthen your shoulder/chest strength to protect this area from injuries such as rotator cuff, and secondly you are improving the range of motion which will give you greater width on both your backswing and follow through, giving you maximum power.

For more information on golf specific strength training, check out our golf strength training section of our main site.

I have golfers from all over the world who join my golf training membership site and never get started on their golf strengthening exercises. I continually send out emails of motivation…getting started and not delaying, and every once in a while it works. I got an email from a golfer who started, sticked with it and saw amazing results.

Here’s what they had to say:

“I’ve been exercising with your golf strength training program for about 4 weeks and I made some tremendous improvement in my game. I really like the First Tee Warm-Up routine… because the golf warm up exercises took away my bogeys off the first 2 or three holes.

Now, I’m expecting to make par with more confidence than before. My goal is to hit under 80 by the end of the year. So, far I made it to 85 a couple of times, which is a great improvement for me.

Many of the mistakes I made are course management errors. So, I’m working on improving this phase of my game too. If you have any recommendation on what I should read, please let me know.

On a different note, my fade has gone away. I took the tips you gave me and made some slight adjustment on my grip. Now, I draw the ball about 90% of the time. The new issue that I’m having right now is that I tend to pull the ball every now and then.” — Reggie Roberts

We all want a better golf swing. But are going at it with the right approach? I hear horror stories of desperate golfers spending a thousand dollars on lessons, only to get worse!

How could this happen?

This is not a knock on golf instructors, but every instructor has his/her own agenda in regards to teaching. This is not right or wrong, but does not alway warrant the best results for the student (golfer).

The agenda may include a total “redo” of their golf swing. Ouch! This will make that golf instructor a lot of money! Most golfers just want to hit it a little better and see some respectable distance with all their clubs.

I don’t think many golfers are expecting to turn pro or become a scratch golfer.

With that being said, you’ve got to look at your swing faults that keep creeping up into your game and look at the source of the cause. It could be a physical limitation that will never allow you to correct it until you address and fix the limitation.

Novel idea! Maybe it’s your BODY that’s not allowing you to achieve a better golf swing.

Golf stretching and golf strength exercises for that particular swing fault will most likely eliminate that swing fault forever.

Exercises for golf strength improvement are not done with machines you see in most of the gyms. In fact, exercises for golf can be done to improve your strength without any machines at all! What that means is a golf strength training program can be done with minimal golf training equipment and in the convenience of your home…saving you time and money!

The types of exercises you should focus on are golf swing oriented. What I mean is they break up the swing into phases, and you apply resistance via tubing, medicine balls or even dumbbells to improve golf specific strength.

Secondly, most of these exercises for golf strength should be rotational in nature, just like your golf swing. Why would you do a regular crunch (straight up and straight down) when the golf swing is rotational? You wouldn’t. You want to do as many exercises for golf that incorporate also your golf posture body position.

This post could be many pages long, but I’ll keep it at this for now. The bottom line is “get going right now!”

I always hear senior golfers talk about their golf flexibility, and how much range of motion they’ve lost throughout the years. While playing with them it is quite obvious they are correct, but I need to also add most of them have very weak golf muscles as well.

So many times a senior golfer thinks a few golf stretches a couple times a weak will do the trick. I’m a firm believer in “anything is better than nothing”, but the reality is… you need to do it more often and incorporate golf strength training to see improvement in your power, distance and overall game.

Let me give you an example.

A senior golfer does a few golf stretches, but no golf weight training. The result is the muscle range of motion is not permanent. The senior golfer did not strengthen the muscle in this newfound range of motion and it wasn’t able to maintain it.

Now another scenario is strengthening those golf muscles with resistance in the same range of motion that you are doing with your golf stretching. The muscle gets stronger and is able to keep this new range.

The end result is a BIGGER backswing… more POWER… AND LONGER tee shots conistently!

Every golfer is looking for the “secret” to improving golf swing speed and ultimately distance! I hear this one the most from all the golfers I work with through my online golf training program and customers of my golf fitness products.

There is no “secret!” It’s not your clubs. It’s not pounding more balls. It’s your core golf strength!

Your core dictates everything!

If your core is strong AND flexible from a rotational standpoint…you’ll be killing it off the tee! If you are not satisfied with your driving distance then focus on core golf strength with rotation incorporated.

A simple example is the seated twist with tubing.

Attach the tubing to a door and move away from the door to create tension in the tubing. Turn sideways to the door and hold tubing chest high with arms extended. Now rotate away from the door creating even more tension. Repeat it 15 times then switch and go the other way.

This is just one golf exercise of dozens that are in my golf training manual that will quickly and dramatically improve your golf swing speed and distance with ALL your clubs!