Golf With Birdies

Finish Your Round of Golf with Birdies


All the major tournaments, especially the U.S. Open and the PGA, are a true test of
endurance. They are usually located in a part of the country where it is hot, humid and
muggy. A real physical and mental drain on any golfer.

Look who has been winning the Majors in the last couple of years: Phil Mickelson, Tiger
Woods and Vijay Singh. They have incredible endurance. It doesn't come by accident.
They work at it.

Endurance is a word that is commonly associated with athletes such as marathon runners,
tri-athletes, swimmers, and cyclists.

Granted, the majority of amateurs use a cart to play. This takes the walking part of the
game out of the equation. Bit when most golfers break down, it has more to do with the
endurance of the swing muscles than the walking part.

Think of endurance as the ability to perform the same activity over and over for an
extended amount of time at max effort and peak performance. Relating this definition to,
say, a marathon runner becomes pretty easy. A marathon runner, for example, has to have
the cardiovascular (blood and oxygen) endurance to run 26 miles at a steady pace. In
addition to having the cardiovascular endurance to run 26 miles, a marathoner needs to
also have the endurance in their muscular system to again run 26 miles. If they do not, the
body begins to give up and this is seen in the form of cramping, muscles not responding,
and the body hitting the wall as many marathoners call it.

Endurance as it applies to the golf swing and the ability to perform the swing correctly is
different than the intensity of running a marathon. But the underlying theme when it comes
to endurance is the same. Swinging a golf club is a repetitive, explosive movement
performed by the body. The muscles are active from address, back swing, transition,
contact, and follow through in the same motor pattern every time you swing a club (or at
least they should be; for some of us amateurs the swing path changes from time to time,
but that is a subject for another article). Anyways, to perform the golf swing efficiently
and effectively for an extended period of time (like 4 rounds of tournament golf) the
muscles involved in the golf swing are required to have a certain level of endurance
developed within them to sustain the swing.

Do you have enough gas in the tank?

It is essentially having enough gas in your tank to swing a club a given number of times.
Now I referred to a four-day tournament, which is the average number of days a PGA
tour event lasts, but when it comes to endurance and golf swing the number of swings in
a tournament is only the beginning. Remember the definition of endurance is the ability of
the body to perform a certain movement over and over for a given period of time. In
relation to the golf swing and endurance we must also include a time frame. Let us first
begin with looking at a typical four-day tournament. At the very least, we need enough
endurance in the muscles that swing a club to hit all the shots from tee to green in 72
holes of golf. On top of just the tournament play you must add the additional practice
time before or after the round. This could comprise anywhere from 2-3 hours of
additional time swinging a club. Now, at this point we are just talking about a single
tournament for a tour player.

Let us expand this time period to 7 days. A 7-day time frame for a tour player would
consist of a 4-day tournament (Thursday through Sunday) in addition to 3 additional days
in the week. Realize that those three other days during week are not rest days, but rather
filled with work. First off, you have Wednesday, which, at most tournaments, is when the
Pro-am is scheduled. If you are unaware of what a Pro-am is on tour, it is a round of golf
usually held on Wednesday where each pro in the upcoming tournament is paired with
three amateurs for a round of golf. So we can chalk this up to another round of golf. This
again would comprise all the golf swing made during the round and any practice before
and after.

We are up to Wednesday through Sunday of a tour week. Now what about Monday and
Tuesday of a tour week? I would guess that it would be safe to say that probably most
players take Monday off, not always, but most of the time. Tuesday is a whole different
story. Tuesday is a practice day where a pro could spend 4 to 6 hours at the range,
putting and chipping. The number of swings taken on Tuesday can be huge!

So there you have it, a full week on tour with an idea of the number of swings taken by a
tour player over a 7-day time frame. Now take this number of swings and multiply it out
over an entire season where an average player will participate in 25 tournaments. The
numbers get really big looking at it from this perspective. I imagine at this point the
connection between endurance and the golf swing has been made. It essentially comes
down to this: to swing the club effectively on the correct path over an extended period of
time, you need to develop endurance in your muscular system specific to golf. The next
question to present is how do you do that?

Developing Endurance Specific to the Golf Swing

So how do you develop endurance in the muscles that are used in the golf swing? You
can not really do it by running or doing the Stair Master at your local health club. The
reason why? These types of exercises are great for developing cardiovascular endurance
and developing some musculature endurance in the legs, but they do not work all the
muscles involved in the golf swing. And they certainly do not create endurance in these
muscles in relation to how they are used to swing a club.

The methodology that is required to develop endurance in the golf swing requires you to
perform what I call cross specificity exercises specific to the movements and positions
in which the body placed during the swing. The result of this type of training is what we
term a transfer-of-training effect. A transfer-of-training effect is where the exercises
performed in your training program improve the performances on the field of
competition. Field of competition, when it comes to golf, pertains to the golf course and
your swing. So invariably we need to develop what I term golf endurance through
exercises that are cross specific to the golf swing with the outcome of a transfer-of-
training effect to golf swing.

To learn more about golf endurance training and what it entails take a look at our
website www.bioforcegolf.com.

About the author

Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today.
He travels the PGA Tour regularly with 2005 PGA & 2004 Masters Champion Phil
Mickelson. He has made many of his golf tips, golf instruction and golf swing
improvement techniques available to amateur golfers on the website
www.bioforcegolf.com. To contact Sean, you can email him at
support@bioforcegolf.com.

About the author
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today.
He travels the PGA Tour regularly with 2005 PGA & 2004 Masters Champion Phil
Mickelson. He has made many of his golf tips, golf instruction and golf swing
improvement techniques available to amateur golfers on the website
www.bioforcegolf.com. To contact Sean, you can email him at
support@bioforcegolf.com.