Improve Your Golf Game This Winter
Winter is the perfect time to improve your golf game. I know what you might be thinking. How can I get better at golf when I can't play golf? Let me explain.
Winter is the perfect time to improve your golf game. I know what you might be thinking. How can I get better at golf when I can't play golf? Let me explain.
Golf is a simple yet complex sport. We all know the goal is to hit this tiny white ball into a small hole in the ground that is hundreds of yards away in as few strokes as possible. That’s the simple part of the game.
The complexity comes into play when you start to discuss the physics involved. This includes clubhead speed, smash factor, face angle, swing path, wind effect, grip pressure, and more. Every tiny little bit can make a major impact on how far the ball goes and the direction it travels after you hit.
It can be a bit overwhelming if you dive into the minutia of the game. Most people will never take a deep dive and that is probably for the best. If you start overthinking the details you forget the most important part: You need to be an athlete!
What do you think is the most important part of being an athlete?
You must build the mind and body to perform the task at hand. You can do this without ever hitting a golf ball.
To improve your golf game this winter, you should be focusing on a few different things including:
Strength Training
Speed Training
Mental Game
Decision making
Each one of these is a critical component to performing on the golf course. How you improve in these four areas will have an outsized impact on your golf game next spring.
Strength Training
Strength and speed training go hand in hand. If you want to hit the ball further and be able to play golf well into your old age you absolutely need to be doing both of these. You need to strengthen your body and learn to move fast.
There is a lot of science-based literature on different muscle fibers (fast and slow twitch) and how they relate to athletes. I will take a deeper dive into this topic later. For now, you only need to understand this, the body adapts to the stimulus you provide it.
What does this mean and how does it relate to improving at golf?
Let’s say you back squat 135 pounds for 6 repetitions one week. The body is stimulated by this and says “We need to send additional resources to these muscles because we might have to perform this task again.” Now the body is ready to do this task again, but the next week you come in and complete 7 repetitions with 135 pounds.
Every additional repetition or pound added to the bar forces the body to repeat this cycle. This is how you build muscle and strength over time. Now you have larger and stronger muscles capable of producing more force. If can produce more force you will be able to hit the ball further.
Most people will do well by keeping the training simple with compound movements. Focus on lifts like chest presses, shoulder presses, pull-ups, rows, squats, and hip hinges (deadlifts). Complete 2-3 sets for 6-12 repetitions.
Speed Training
Strength training is just one type of stimulus. Another type of stimulus needed for golf is speed training. And just like with strengthening a muscle, if you want to move faster, you need to train faster. This type of training is often referred to as high-velocity training.
High-velocity training is specifically designed to provide stimulus to the body to move faster. The concept is the exact same as discussed above except that instead of focusing on repetitions and weight moved, you are focusing on how fast you can make the weight move.
There are tools today that you can use to measure the speed of the reps. However, you don’t need those if you don’t want to spend the money. Just try to move the weight faster and faster over time. Be explosive!
How can you apply this to golf?
Here is where you can and should grab a golf club or a variety of different speed training tools like The Stack System. If you don’t have the money to purchase a training aid, a golf club works just fine.
All you have to do now is work on swinging the golf club as fast as you possibly can. Do not hold anything back. Do not worry about your form during this as you are training the muscles involved in the golf swing to move as fast as possible.
If you do not have a space to swing a golf club or training aid, you can do things inside your home. Some activities to increase explosiveness and speed include medicine ball slams, box jumps, jump squats, and broad jumps to name a few.
The goal is to gain speed and improve coordination. If you train moving as fast as possible you will be able to increase your baseline clubhead speed.
Mental Game
The game of golf is one of the most mentally challenging sports in the world. Your ability to calm your mind, stay present, and make the correct decision time after time can be exhausting. Thankfully, there are a great number of tools at our disposal to train our minds throughout the winter.
When it comes to the mental game, there are dozens of books and podcasts you can dive into. Each one can offer you something you might not have thought about or maybe a different way to think about it. Two of my favorite books are Golf Beneath the Surface by Raymond Prior and Zen Golf by Joseph Parent.
I was a hothead of a golfer back in high school until I read Zen Golf. This book helped me better understand my emotions and thoughts while on the course. It focused a lot on meditation type of training, but often that’s what is needed.
You need to be able to let go of the negative emotions that come with hitting a bad shot and then refocus on the present task. That doesn’t mean you can’t feel the negative emotions, but you need to learn to deal with them in a way that does not make the next shot more difficult.
Take your time this winter and learn how to better control your emotions. Your golf game (and family, friends, and coworkers) will thank you.
Decision-Making
The best part about mastering (well improving) the mental game is that it makes decision-making easier. When you are able to step up to your ball with a clear and present mind, you will be able to make more appropriate decisions.
For example, perhaps you hit your drive into the trees and are upset. You think you need to hit some sort of miracle shot to give yourself a chance to save par. You try to hit it only to hit a tree and make matters worse.
Now, if you were able to stop, clear your mind, and refocus you would understand that making a bogey is not the end of the world. It certainly won’t mess up your scorecard that bad. However, a double or triple bogey will be much worse.
Learning and understanding proper shot selection to avoid a disaster as we discussed above can also be done without ever touching a golf club. And just like the mental game, there are a variety of books and podcasts that deep dive into these subjects.
Two must-reads this winter are The Four Foundations of Golf by Jon Sherman and Every Shot Counts by Mark Broadie. Both of these books are excellent at helping you better understand what a good golf shot is(Hint: it is not all about sticking it inside 5 feet from 150 yards away). Most importantly, they will teach you how to manage your expectations.
Understanding what a good golf shot is and managing your expectations will help you when golf season starts back up in the spring.
Wrapping it All Up
The winter can be long, especially for us in the northern parts of the United States. Some of you might be lucky enough to travel south and play throughout the winter. However, playing golf is not the only way to get better at golf.
Training the body and mind is critical to improving performance on the course. You can easily do so by focusing on strength training, speed training, mental game, and decision-making. If you improve in all four of these sections this winter, you will make massive strides in the spring when you get back on the course.