Correlation Between Working Out and Lower Scores

[CardsChamps11]

I was wondering if there has been any studies that show a correlation between working out and shooting lower scores. Obviously fitness has been a focal point in golf but was wondering if working out actually translates to being able to shoot lower scores. Also curious if certain types of workouts are better than others. For example, does stretching actually have a bigger impact than weight lifting?

[diablocrusher]

I don’t have any actual evidence to back this up but last summer I was working out much more than I am currently and I shot my two personal best scores (77, then a 74). Now keep in mind I’ve shot quite a few scores in the 70s this year too, but I haven’t shot 74 or even 75 again.

When I was working out more I was focusing on core and cardio with some weight workouts too. I think the core and cardio aspects kept me from draining and losing energy towards the end of the round which is those few extra strokes.

[MonteScheinblum]

There is no substitute for better technique in your swing, pitching motion and putting stroke, along with playing more and learning how to score.

 

You won’t get any direct correlation to better scores with fitness. However, better fitness is always going to provide ancillary benefits to any physical activity.

[ddetts]

Fitness, whether strength, cardio, mobility or other forms can allow for better performance in golf. Increased mobility can help make better moves in your swing, increased strength & stability can allow you to swing faster and hit the ball farther, increased stamina can prevent you from tiring during a round or playing long stretches (36 holes in a day, multiple consecutive days).

 

But fitness alone without any changes/improvements to your swing technique and mechanics to take advantage of the benefits derived from fitness will not directly translate to improved golf performance.

[llewol007]

I dont believe so. I think that being fit on the golf course adds more to being able to maintain throughout the round with the same amount of energy. Some one who works out to me seems like he is physically more calm and collected versus someone who is overweight. They are usually more out of breath. The muscle part doesnt add more power. Ask the tall lanky guys out on tour who can bomb it just as far. There is a point where it can be detramental to a swing if you involve too much lifting in my book. Although the pga guys have their health and nutrition people so that answers that. For us everyday amateurs, focus on the muscles that support the golf swing. mainly the lower back and stabilizers as well as the leg muscles. Not sure how big biceps or a big chest does anything to the golf swing either than fill out an extremely tight fitted shirt already. Some of these guys are pretty thankful of whomever made stretchable fabric.

[b.mattay]

Personally, I play great when sore/tight in the mid/upper back from a workout.

[Brennanf]

Core work is a must to playing well

[SirFuego]

Of course, I never tracked anything scientifically and I'm just one person, but...

 

I played to my lowest handicap (unofficially an 8) while I was in college and in the best shape of my life (running and strength training regularly).

 

After graduating college, I was playing/practicing more and actually got worse (to the point that any round in the 80s was considered a "success"). I was also packing on the pounds and not working out nearly as much as I was before. I was also sitting a lot more due to my job, which IMO may have had more of an impact than anything else. I suppose that it's also very possible that I "built" my swing around my "in shape" self and never re-adapted it to my "fat" self, so that could have been a bigger influence than poor fitness.

 

Due to changing hobbies and frustration with golf, I eventually took a few years of from golf (save for a couple rounds a year at most), I got back into it, took some lessons, and came in with a much "better" mental approach to practice and playing. Still couldn't get better.

 

About 1.5 years ago, I started working out regularly again with a focus on strength, mobility, and flexibility. I finally feel like I'm making progress and maybe even hitting the ball better than I did when I was in college. I don't play nearly as much, though, so my touch around the greens holds me back. I also feel much less fatigued after walking 18 and my back no longer hurts.

 

That said, my improvement cannot be attributed JUST to getting in better shape. My technique has improved quite a bit -- however, I think that my improved fitness made it easier to make those technical changes.

 

Bottom line is that it never hurts to get into shape. I also firmly feel that while a combination of flexibility, mobility, and strength exercises is best, most people, especially those who sit behind a desk all day, tend to lack (to some extent) in all three of them. So generally speaking, an improvement in one of those will improve your potential. However, getting to that potential might require some swing changes to adjust to your body's new capabilities, so it's not always going to just magically improve your game.

[Mcgeeno]

On the flip side of this, I got better when I stopped lifting and working out as often...And hit more golf balls and took lessons.

 

Working out is great. Health, flexibility, confidence, stamina.

 

There is no real substitute for hitting lots of balls, working on your weaknesses and getting your impact sorted out. You will never hurt your game getting in better shape, but I think if golf improvement is the main focus there are other options.

[oikos1]

You shoot lower scores as you get better at golf. This seems to be such a hard concept for many to grasp.

[CardsChamps11]

> @oikos1 said:

> You shoot lower scores as you get better at golf. This seems to be such a hard concept for many to grasp.

 

Obviously. The question was does working out aid in that process. Practicing and working out are not mutually exclusive.

[SNIPERBBB]

Having more speed will help bring down your scores slightly and working out will help your stamina to prevent the late round fade. If you really want to lower scores you have to practice/ get instruction and get your body in shape.

 

I get enough exercise at work and everything else I'm involved with so I focus more on the practice.

[BBE12]

I have been a strong weight lifting advocated for 12 years now, since I was around 17. This was when football and baseball took precedence over golf. I have always leaned towards classic strength lifting, especially through my college baseball days. After baseball, I gravitated back towards golf, but continued to strength lift. I will say, being physically strong is a great benefit when doing anything physical, and definitely has it's advantages on the golf course, but I don't believe it helps you shoot lower scores. As many have said, technique is the key, as well as a strong mental makeup. I love hitting the ball far with less than max effort, and it's nice to be able to play 18 and still have plenty of energy, but there's times where I feel like my strength hinders my touch around the greens. I'd like to pull the reins back on lifting, and I have to an extent, but it has become more mental therapy than physical at this point.

[DShepley]

> @CardsChamps11 said:

> > @oikos1 said:

> > You shoot lower scores as you get better at golf. This seems to be such a hard concept for many to grasp.

>

> Obviously. The question was does working out aid in that process. Practicing and working out are not mutually exclusive.

 

Yes! Being in better physical / aerobic condition will help aid a process improvement in ANY activity that has a physical component. I would go as far as to say even without practice. If you are a crappy golfer now and out of shape, being in better shape WILL make it easier for you to be less crappy. In general, you will have more mental focus, tire less easily and be less likely to make sloppy mistakes because you have better stamina. Will it make you a scratch golfer all of a sudden....NO...but it will make it easier to spend more time practicing.

[dpb5031]

> @BBE12 said:

> I have been a strong weight lifting advocated for 12 years now, since I was around 17. This was when football and baseball took precedence over golf. I have always leaned towards classic strength lifting, especially through my college baseball days. After baseball, I gravitated back towards golf, but continued to strength lift. I will say, being physically strong is a great benefit when doing anything physical, and definitely has it's advantages on the golf course, but I don't believe it helps you shoot lower scores. As many have said, technique is the key, as well as a strong mental makeup. I love hitting the ball far with less than max effort, and it's nice to be able to play 18 and still have plenty of energy, but there's times where I feel like my strength hinders my touch around the greens. I'd like to pull the reins back on lifting, and I have to an extent, but it has become more mental therapy than physical at this point.

 

Good post except for the part about your strength hindering your touch. That's a myth unless you're dealing with soreness from your previous workout. There's literally no reason you cant be strong as an ox and still have excellent touch around the greens.

[BBE12]

 

> Good post except for the part about your strength hindering your touch. That's a myth unless you're dealing with soreness from your previous workout. There's literally no reason you cant be strong as an ox and still have excellent touch around the greens.

 

True. It's probably more of a technique issue than anything, it just seems harder to make a smooth transition on certain chips and pitches, and also tougher to judge how hard to swing on 50, 60, and 70 yard shots. Much easier to give it a full, aggressive swing. Obviously you see guys like Koepka who are strong and also have elite touch. It could have zero correlation to strength, but it just feels that way to me. Gotta blame it on something, right?

 

 

[SNIPERBBB]

> @BBE12 said:

>

> > Good post except for the part about your strength hindering your touch. That's a myth unless you're dealing with soreness from your previous workout. There's literally no reason you cant be strong as an ox and still have excellent touch around the greens.

>

> True. It's probably more of a technique issue than anything, it just seems harder to make a smooth transition on certain chips and pitches, and also tougher to judge how hard to swing on 50, 60, and 70 yard shots. Much easier to give it a full, aggressive swing. Obviously you see guys like Koepka who are strong and also have elite touch. It could have zero correlation to strength, but it just feels that way to me. Gotta blame it on something, right?

>

>

 

I blame light wedges...

[lookylookitzadam]

I don't think that working out directly leads to lower scores, however there are ancillary benefits.

* increased stamina and cardiovascular health = less fatigue while golfing

* increased flexibility

Stating the obvious but if you take two equal handicapped golfers and let one practice for 30 minutes a day while the other works out for 30 minutes a day, the dude who spends more time learning golf is going to do better. Now I think there is a huge benefit to increasing strength once you have a very sound golf swing as you can use your gains to create more speed.

[GoGoErky]

Fitness can play a role but it’s technique and the ability to get the ball in the hole. All shapes and sizes can go low

[gioguy21]

i haven't lifted or worked out since winter -- my cap hasn't changed either way, maybe went down a touch.

[SirFuego]

I was talking to a level 3 TPI instructor a few months ago and the topic of guys like Tim Herron, John Daly, Craig Stadler, etc was discussed. Despite them not being the epitome of health, he said they likely would still perform much better in a TPI screen than your average weekend golfer (he said that an assessment of Lumpy was made a few years ago and he did very well).

 

There are a number of resources online that would help one to do the assessment with the help of a friend. That might be a good starting point and then focus on supplementing exercises to address any limitations identified.

[dpb5031]

> @SirFuego said:

> I was talking to a level 3 TPI instructor a few months ago and the topic of guys like Tim Herron, John Daly, Craig Stadler, etc was discussed. Despite them not being the epitome of health, he said they likely would still perform much better in a TPI screen than your average weekend golfer (he said that an assessment of Lumpy was made a few years ago and he did very well).

>

> There are a number of resources online that would help one to do the assessment with the help of a friend. That might be a good starting point and then focus on supplementing exercises to address any limitations identified.

 

A fat out-of-shape athlete is still an athlete under the blubber...lol! Proprioception, balance, hand-eye coordination, rhythm, timing, and even speed are still there.

Likewise, any uncoordinated klutz can whip himself into decent physical condition with diet and exercise. Still, it's not going to make him a great athlete.

 

Back to topic. All things being equal (though they rarely are), being in good physical condition definitely has tangible benefits. The trade-off for Tour players is that there are only so many hours in the day, especially when traveling, and they can't afford to have post workout muscle soreness interfering with their play and even practice.

[bluedot]

I can't imagine any possible way to quantify this; there is no way to provide a control group. If a fit golfer shoots a particular score on one day, is there any way of knowing what he would have shot were he less fit? Of course not; we can't even shoot the same score two days in row under the same conditions on the same golf course!

 

That said, being fit and strong and flexible is better than not being those things. And we've seen this on Tour; Tiger changed everybody's approach to what is considered "fit" for golfers, and it'll never go back to the old days of fat guys in baggy clothes. What assistance a particular golfer gets from being stronger varies; could be endurance late in a round, could be getting the ball out of the rough, could be fewer injuries and better recovery time. But there is just NO way that being fit and strong and flexible isn't better for golfers.

 

Either golf is like EVERY other sport, or golf is completely different than ANY other sport. It's better to be fit and strong and flexible, even if there is no way to quantify the scoring improvement.

[Soloman1]

Don't mention TPI to some tour players... Fastest way to drop from number 1 in the world is to get involved with TPI.

[JohnnyMIke]

I think you could test this if you could find a few dozen sets of identical twins who wanted to take up golf, or who were already golfers and had similar handicaps (which would seem likely for twins). I seem to recall an article from a few years ago that described an experiment where female am golfers were either give lessons or put on a strength training program and the ones doing strength training progressed faster. I would assume they were advanced beginner or intermediate types who had the basic set up, etc, but I don't know.

As for myself, I can say that being in proper shape for golf means strengthening my weak bits (some hip stabilization and shoulder blade retraction) much more than getting my squat from 350 to 450 or whatever. I didn't play super well when I was training for a bodybuilding comp, and I believe there were several reasons: 1. at times I was exhausted, and I couldn't just eat some extra trail mix on the course to sugar up 2. My body was changing: I went from fit to huge (for me 192, ha ha), to cut, to ripped, to shredded. This caused significant changes in how my body moved. As one might expect, I played my best when I was in the middle range of weights for me. 3. I was sometimes too sore in particular muscle groups to swing normally, I play best when my legs are sore, but if my shoulders are really sore it can be a problem.

All of which is to say that an extreme fitness regime aimed at some fitness goal other than golf might not be great for your game, but strength, mobility, power, and speed training certainly is. I will say that there is a very high correlation, in my experience, between explosive power (cleans, box jumps, medicine ball throws) and club head speed. Also, having a super strong core, etc will keep you from getting hurt, and allow you to get full power from a shorter, less effortful swing.

 

 

[Z1ggy16]

All else equal (and that's quite a lot of things such as overall skill, flexibility, swing mechanics, course IQ, etc) being stronger should help one hit the ball further. My assumption is that for example, if you can squat more than the all-else-equal guy, you could probably produce a little more ground force than him. How much more, and what that equates to in distance and then overall score... who knows.

 

I'd focus way more of my time practicing and playing golf. I follow Lexi Thompson on IG and she seems to go out to play 18 or practice, then hits the gym. Probably spends 4-5 hours a day on golf, 1-2hrs at gym.

[LeftDaddy]

To the OP, check out the Drive 400 program. It is a combined mobility and strength program designed specifically for golf and improving swing speed. I can’t say it has translated to lower scores yet, but I am definitely longer now after going through it and felt like I was improving fitness a little bit.

 

Length definitely translates to lower scores over time, so I’m still “on the plan” to keep improving but I’m not chasing extra length specifically...just wanted to do some fitness stuff that would help with my golf game too.