Move Better Pro
Increase Your Drive
Has your handicap improved over the years as much as you’d like? Has your distance off the tee increased? Have you considered some ‘training’ regime but been put off by what you’ve seen in the gym? Perhaps it’s time to rethink your strategy, and approach a strength and conditioning professional!
Do you think golf is a sedentary pastime? Sports science has established that the golf drive involves over 70 joints and 400 muscles resulting in 90% of your maximum power in under 1 second. This results in compression, anterior, posterior shearing, torsion and lateral bending forces of 8 times your bodyweight ripping through your lower back every time you tee off – you better be prepared!
Golf Specific Strength & Conditioning by a Sports Scientist
The focus is thus being able to swing through your full range, be as stable as possible throughout for consistency and accuracy, finally of course be able to swing the club as fast as possible to get the most length on your drive. In other words, you need golf specific flexibility, stability, strength & power!
My exclusive and unique approach helps golfers increase performance and reduce injury risk. This increased performance been proven and supported through scientific research and is commonly known as ‘The X Factor’.
Stage 1: The Biomechanical Movement Screening:
This is a screening more comprehensive than the Titleist Performance Institute screening. It is designed to assess your muscle length, flexibility/mobility, balance/stability and any compensation strategies you are currently using to get around any limitations.
Stage 2: FLEXIBILITY & STABILITY
Fundamentally, can you make the postural shapes required? The consequence of not being able to is restriction in your swing speed, accuracy and follow-through resulting in an inconsistent drive. From our first session we will begin build a foundation of flexibility and stability.
Stage 3: FITNESS & STRENGTH
How does your game hold up in the back 9? Does fatigue and lack of concentration set in as you struggle to maintain your starting level?
After establishing a solid foundation we will start to build strength and fitness.
Stage 4: POWER!
On this new base we can get into the really fun stuff – developing maximal power! Your workouts will constantly progress, be fun, challenging and most importantly having a beneficial effect on your golfing game!
So, you can increase muscle mass, decrease body fat, improve flexibility, look and feel better and get extra distance off the tee! What have you got to lose?
What is X-Factor?
What do Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson all have in common? X-factor! The World’s best golfers have been scientifically analysed and all display faster and larger torso-pelvis separation values than those less skilled golfers. In other words they have better biomechanics — more X-factor!
Golf is essentially a counter-rotational sport. X-factor refers to the distance created by the counter-rotation over which the force acts, and the ability of closing this distance faster; it is the differential between the hip and shoulder turn (fig 1).
In other words…
Quite simply, the X-factor is about increasing your ability to separate your hips and shoulders during the backswing and close them together faster during the downswing!
Do you have 8 weeks to improve your X-factor?
Scientific research - including my own - has emphasised that many of these physical characteristics are modifiable through golf specific conditioning programmes.
I have scientifically tested a programme that improved participants X-factor by over 20% and their X-Factor velocity by over 12% in 8 weeks* — without bulking up! Increased X-factor has been scientifically proven to contribute to increased ball distance &mdash only a 5% increase results in 10 – 15 meters additional carry distance off the tee.
* Dynamic Functional Programme Improves Torso-Pelvic Segmental Separation and Velocity Resulting in Improved Driving Performance in Recreational Golfers. By Martin P Watkins MSc. 2009.
Golf is a fun and challenging sport with specific physical and mental challenges from tee off to the 18th hole. If you can get extra distance on your drive and reduce injury risk not to mention improving your overall health and wellbeing by spending some time doing golf specific conditioning &mdash why wouldn’t you?
Many trainers claim to be able to offer golf specific conditioning to improve performance – but how many have supporting scientific evidence? Be sure to train with the best, to be your best!
