Email
Print
del.icio.us
digg
yahoo!
Comments
FeedThe Spring Flex
When Gary Player won his first major tournament in 1961, it was widely predicted he’d have to quit golf. The prevailing wisdom was that no one — not even a professional athlete — could withstand Player’s constant workouts and fitness routines.
The sport has changed considerably in the 50 years since Player became the first golfer known for a commitment to fitness. Many of today’s top golfers have off-course workout routines that keep them fresh and in-shape for the grueling PGA schedule.
But what’s the best way for a Rocky Mountain golfer to get ready for the coming season? Unlike Florida or Arizona, golf in the Rocky Mountains is seasonal. Golf muscles can disappear in place of skiing or snowshoeing muscles, and flexibility can freeze up in wintertime.
Even those committed to a year-round fitness schedule (or privy to year-round golf) may head to the range on a crisp, spring morning and find their back in knots, their hamstrings in a jumble, and their flexibility gone.
“You can take the average guy out on the course that first time out, for example, and ask him to touch his toes, and that’s something that 95 percent of men will fail,” says Ken Everett, director of golf at the Snowmass Club in Snowmass, Colorado.
Being brittle is no good for golf, Everett adds, and other experts agree. To cite an example that strength and conditioning can keep a player at the top of his game, Everett points to Tiger Woods, who has added 30 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot, 2-inch frame since 2000.
When Woods revealed his workout schedule to Men’s Fitness magazine in 2007, some were amazed to find the golf superstar spends up to 40 minutes stretching before each session. He then launches into “core-building” exercises, endurance runs of seven miles and speed runs of three miles. On top of all this, he lifts weights, preferring high repetitions to big barbells.
For Player, he has long promoted a five-day-a-week workout program of an hour-and-a-half each day. Combined with healthy eating, this program has helped Player stay youthful on and off the course since he became a pro in 1953.
Sounds great, but can normal humans keep up with this?
We may not have to, say experts in fitness and golf. “I’m not sure the time is there for a normal person to go through the exercises that the tour guys go through,” comments Keystone Ranch Course pro Philip Tobias. “At the same time, if you really want to be better at this game you have to be in better physical shape.”
As a teacher, Tobias stresses the fundamentals of grip, stance and set-up. Getting in shape is critical to holding on to fundamentals even as the day, and the season, take their toll on the body.
Early season golfers may find themselves scraping frost off their windshield the morning of their tee time. Cold in more ways than one, many stroll out to the range and immediately try and knock a ball over the nearest mountaintop.
Do that, says Tobias, and you could shatter like an icicle. “Everybody wants to try out their new driver they got for Christmas, or a winter birthday, and that’s the first club they grab — but that should be the last club.”
It sounds fundamental — and it is — but each of the experts who contributed to this story mouthed the same words sometime during their interview: “Start slow.”
OK, but how slow? Can we put off our workouts until later? What about John Daly, the infamously out-of-shape PGA tour player who seems to beat the odds?
“He’s at the point where he can’t compete anymore,” points out Jeff Hanson, director of golf at Red Sky Ranch in Wolcott, Colorado. “Even at my level, most of the guys I hang out with in the Colorado area have exercise programs that they follow religiously. To keep up with the young guys you’ve got to keep up your strength and stay fit.”
What about getting by on form and function, forgetting the fitness?
Not a good plan, Hanson says. “What I find with our guests and members is that they come to me and ask, ‘How can we get better.’ We’ll do some lessons, and we’ll work on technique, but then we talk about how we can get stronger and more flexible.”
Wait a minute. Can’t we ease into this? Can’t we hold off until later in the season? When does this fitness program need to start?
“It starts now,” Jeff Hanson says.
Tom Boyd is a freelance writer who splits his time between Vail and Denver. In 2006 he circumnavigated the globe with his wife, covering the 2006 Turin Olympics and writing travel and outdoors stories along the way. His still plays most of his golf at high altitude, where he grew up golfing in Vail’s junior program. His stories of life and living in the mountains appear in the Rocky Mountain News, 5280 Magazine, and Vail-Beaver Creek Magazine, among other publications. He also is the co-founder of realvail.com.
ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS
A few suggestions from golf pros and personal trainers around the Rocky Mountain region to help get and stay in shape during the season.
Ken Everett, Director of Golf, Snowmass Club, Snowmass, Colorado
Everett used to suffer from chronic back pain during his golfing season. Now that pain is gone. It’s not stretching his back, he says, which made the difference; it was loosening up his hamstrings. He likens the body to the spokes of a wheel. “if some are too tight, and some are too loose, you’re simply not going to roll right,” he says. “With golf, the more range of motion you have in your turn, the farther, the straighter you’re going to hit the ball.”
Fitness tip: Tighter hamstrings put pressure on the back, and a good ol’ fashioned touching of the toes is important. Everett recommends four or five 30-second stretches each night, followed by further stretching — even yoga — for the rest of the body before bedtime.
Jeff Hanson, Director of Golf, Red Sky Ranch, Wolcott, Colorado
For year-round mountain dwellers, Hanson recommends a stop by Red Sky’s indoor teaching facility. A V1 digital camera system captures the dynamics of a swing, so even while it’s raining (or snowing), outside a player can improve his or her swing and get in gear for the next tee time.
Fitness tip: Swinging a weighted club is Hanson’s no-nonsense recommendation for players who might feel a littl tight after some time off. He recommends starting with a gentle, short-game swing and plenty of warm up before letting loose with the club. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it will get the mind and body ready for the real thing.
Angie Brown, Director of the Cordillera Spa, Edwards, Colorado, and personal trainer
Brown recommends a complete fitness plan, but core exercises should be at the heart of any golfer’s strength and conditioning repertoire. “We give golfers a good fitness base, range of motion, core strength and stability,” she explains. “Then we hand them over to our pros.”
Fitness tip: Time can be a factor for golfers with desk jobs who don’t have the time to commit hours a day to working out. For desk jockeys, sit on a workout ball rather than a desk chair for part of the day. Don’t overdo it; form is more important than longevity.
Phil Tobias, Keystone Ranch Course pro, Keystone Resort, Colorado
Fundamentals are the key to good golf, says Tobias, and being in shape is what keeps the body capable of consistently adhering to the fundamentals. After a season away from the course, Tobias says the key is to work slowly into the game – only fools rush in.
Fitness tip: In the early season head to the range and place two clubs on the ground. Point one toward the target, then another one parallel to that on the toe line. Pick up a wedge and gently work toward swinging that big driver Santa brought for Christmas. Early season, people just aren’t aligned yet; this exercise helps get the mind and body back on track.
