Ah, the good old days of golf. Remember back in the day when you didn’t have to work so hard at the game? I’m talking about the decades of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s with a little bit of the 90’s tossed in for good measure.
You showed up at the course, stuck a tee in the ground, hit your drive and then went to find your ball. If you wanted to lower your handicap then you got lessons from the pro and worked on things at the driving range. Then there was the fitness aspect of the game. What??? You need to be fit to play better? What kind of crazy talk is that? Fitness back then in the world of golf was closer to being a cult thing than something a golfer would even dare mention.
The only time most golfers went near a gym was if one was on the way to the course and you drove past wondering what people were doing in there. There was a better chance of finding a unicorn than tracking down a golfer at a gym.
My how things have changed. We have no shortage of fitness programs out there, specifically designed for golf. Brooke Einarson-Schaab, an instructor at 360 Fitness in Red Deer (and a pretty good golfer as well) is pushing a style of workout which she says will take strokes off your game (and maybe even prevent a stroke of a different kind).
Some people will do kettle ball exercises, others turn to yoga. Both are very good for your strength and flexibility but many of those golfers are just doing those exercises alone. She says you need to broaden your horizon.
“The biggest thing with this is it’s taking every aspect of flexibility, balance, posture, so all of these different style of programs you see out there and putting it into one,” she said. “We truly believe that people need to be as balanced as they can and that has to do with their diet, what they’re doing in the gym, that they have lots of variety and they’re not just sticking to one thing in the gym.”
Brooke used a long distance runner as an example. They have great cardio but if you get them pushing some weights most will struggle as their posture is bad because they do the same motion each time they run.
“With this, it would take someone like a runner, still give them the strength of running but it would put flexibility and strength conditioning in there as well which would actually improve their long distance running.”
She says in order for this to benefit the individual they have to trust in this outside the box approach. Sure it’s a catch but it’s an important catch.
“It’s no magic pill but it gives people that all around approach versus a very I’m only going to take one road and one road only approach.”
The program will improve your strength along with two very important aspects of the golf swing-your weight shift and your posture.
A 90 minute self-assessment will get you up and running with a package which includes some basic building blocks of fitness but brings them all together for you. But you need to be honest about yourself.
“If it says can you touch your toes and you say yes I can and you’re lying you are not hurting anybody but yourself,” she said.
She says she loves the fact the program is very functional in that while it’s good for the golf game a person will also notice a difference in every other part of their life as well.
“It can really improve your overall health and it’s set up as something you can do forever.”
So if you are looking to get into the swing of things for the better you can get more information from Brooke at 360 Fitness in Red Deer.
What have you got to lose? Maybe a few strokes.
