Fitness Golf Tips

Add exercise to your year-round regimen to increase strength, muscle endurance and enhance your golf game. Aerobic exercise builds cardiovascular stamina and keeps your heart healthy. Weight training targets the muscles to strengthen the entire body, including those muscles used for golf. Focus on working the core muscles of the body. These trunk muscles include the areas around the hips, pelvis, abdomen and lower back. A strong core muscle group helps every element of your golf swing, in particular the balance required to swing and follow through with power.

Make a habit of stretching your entire body every day. The inconvenience far outweighs the benefits to your health and your golf swing. Regular stretching is key to the prevention of injuries, especially repetitive motion injuries. Increased flexibility creates a higher range of motion in your muscles, ligaments and tendons. Increased flexibility can even lengthen the distance of your shots.

Practice regularly to encourage muscle memory but also to evaluate your golf swing for problems. If you're hooking or slicing, take a lesson. Pros will evaluate your swing to determine where you're making mistakes. Often a single lesson can straighten you out. Visit the driving range as often as you can for practice but don't overdo it. Swinging a club at some ranges involves executing your swing on a hard surface covered with artificial turf. Be careful not to make contact and take frequent breaks to stretch.

Replace old shoes with new, supportive golf shoes with shorter cleats. Worn shoes don't provide proper support for your lower back. Even though you may ride a cart on the course, wear the best possible shoes on your feet to support your knees, hips and back as you move through the course.

Warm up before every round with stretches to protect your body. Give yourself 10 minutes before you leave the house and stretch your arms, shoulders, back, hamstrings, quadriceps and calves. Jog in place for five minutes to get your blood moving and muscles warmed up for your golf game. Keep your body flexible between holes with gentle stretching.