Quick Answer: What Are the Best Physical Exercises for Golf?
The best exercises for golf must target three pillars: mobility (especially thoracic and hip), core stability (planking), and lower body power.
To concretely improve your swing:
For power and stability: Prioritize squats, lunges, and planking.
For swing control: Core strengthening with rotation exercises (e.g., with dumbbells or resistance bands) is essential.
Targeted strength training not only allows you to hit harder but also improves your overall endurance on the course to avoid late-round fatigue.
Introduction
Golf is often perceived as a precision and technique sport, where skill trumps physical effort. However, this vision is misleading. Each swing generates considerable forces that travel through the entire body, intensely demanding the muscles, joints, and nervous system. A powerful drive can produce rotation speeds greater than those observed in many contact sports.
The problem? The majority of amateur golfers completely neglect their physical preparation. They spend hours on the practice range perfecting their technique but ignore that their body may not have the mobility, strength, or endurance necessary to properly execute these movements. Result: limited performance, random consistency, and too often, chronic pain in the back, shoulders, or wrists.
In this comprehensive article, you'll discover the essential physical exercises that will transform your game. You'll learn how to gain driving distance, improve your consistency throughout the course, and most importantly, protect your body to play pain-free for years. Whether you're a beginner or experienced player, these targeted exercises will make you a more complete and higher-performing golfer.
Why Is Physical Preparation Crucial in Golf?
Deconstructing the "Gentle Sport" Myth
Many still consider golf a peaceful leisure activity, far from the intensity of a high-level sport. This perception is not only false but potentially dangerous. The golf swing imposes extreme mechanical constraints on the body. In a fraction of a second, you must generate explosive trunk rotation, transfer this energy to the arms, and transmit it to the ball with millimeter precision. This repeated sequence violently stresses the spine, hips, and shoulders.
Without adequate physical preparation, these repeated constraints create muscular imbalances, postural compensations, and inevitably, injuries. The lower back is particularly vulnerable, but elbows, wrists, and shoulders also pay a heavy price among unprepared golfers.
Concrete Benefits of Targeted Training
Power and Distance Gains
Scientific studies are clear: a specific strength training program can increase driving distance by 10.9% in just eight weeks. This spectacular improvement comes from better use of the kinetic chain, meaning your ability to efficiently transfer force generated by your legs to the clubhead. The stronger your stabilizing muscles, the more you can accelerate without losing precision.
Injury Prevention
Golf ranks among sports with a high rate of chronic injuries, mainly because players underestimate its physical demands. A strength and mobility program protects at-risk areas: the lower back by strengthening deep core muscles, the shoulders by balancing rotator cuff muscles, the cervical chain often underestimated and responsible for migraines or tension in daily life.
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Course Endurance
Playing 18 holes represents approximately 10 kilometers of walking, often on hilly terrain, with bag weight. Add to that over 70 full swings, each intensely demanding the muscular and nervous systems. Without solid physical conditioning, fatigue sets in progressively, generally around the 12th hole. This fatigue insidiously degrades your posture, reduces your swing speed, and compromises your consistency. The final holes become a struggle, both physical and mental. Appropriate cardiovascular and muscular training allows you to maintain your level of play from the first to the last putt.
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The 3 Pillars of Golfer Training
To develop an effective training program, you must understand the three fundamental components that determine the quality of your swing and your longevity in this sport.
Mobility and Flexibility
Mobility is a joint's ability to move through its full range of motion in a controlled manner. For golf, two areas are absolutely critical: the hips and the thoracic spine (mid-back).
Thoracic rotation allows the upper body to pivot widely during the backswing without the hips following excessively. This dissociation between upper and lower body creates the tension necessary to generate power. If your thoracic spine lacks mobility, your body will compensate by over-soliciting the lower back—a perfect recipe for chronic lower back pain.
The hips, meanwhile, must be able to pivot effectively while maintaining stability. Insufficient hip mobility forces the lower back to compensate, creating excessive stress on the intervertebral discs.
Core Stability
The core is much more than just the abdominal area. It encompasses all muscles surrounding your spine and pelvis: deep abdominals, obliques, back muscles, and even the pelvic floor. These muscles form the energy transfer center between the lower and upper body.
During the swing, your core must accomplish two contradictory missions: allow rapid rotation while maintaining perfect stability so that energy generated by your legs is efficiently transmitted to the arms, not dissipated in parasitic movements. A weak core translates to power loss, inconsistent ball trajectory, and increased vulnerability to injuries.
Strength and Power
Contrary to popular belief, it's not the arms that generate most of the power in golf, but the legs. The swing begins with a push against the ground, creating force that travels up through the body. The lower limbs, particularly the quadriceps and glutes, are the true engines of your distance.
A powerful golfer knows how to use the ground as a lever, transferring this ascending force into explosive trunk rotation, then into club speed. Without sufficient strength in the legs and hips, you'll be condemned to using mainly your arms, drastically limiting your distance potential and increasing injury risk to shoulders and elbows.
Top Best Physical Exercises for Golf
Now that you understand the theoretical foundations, let's get practical. Here are the most effective exercises to transform your physical condition and, consequently, your golf game. For each movement, you'll discover not only how to execute it but especially why it will directly improve your swing.
Essential Mobility Exercises
1. Thoracic Rotation (on the floor or against a wall)
Lie on your side, knees bent at 90 degrees. Extend your arms in front of you, palms together. Keeping your hips stable and knees on the ground, slowly open the upper arm in rotation, trying to place your shoulder on the floor behind you. Your gaze follows your hand. Hold for a few seconds, then return. Repeat 10 times on each side.
Golf benefit: This exercise directly increases your thoracic rotation amplitude, allowing a fuller backswing without forcing the lower back. You'll naturally gain distance while protecting your lumbar spine.
2. Hip Flexor Stretch (Knee-down lunge)
Place yourself in a lunge position, back knee on the ground, front leg bent at 90 degrees. Keep your torso upright and gently push your hips forward until you feel a stretch at the front of the back hip. To intensify, raise the arm on the same side as the back leg toward the ceiling and lean slightly to the opposite side. Hold for 30 seconds on each side.
Golf benefit: Tight hip flexors limit your hip rotation and force your body to compensate with the back. This stretch improves your posture at address and allows smoother, more powerful rotation.
3. Cat-Cow for the Spine
On all fours, alternate between two positions: round your back toward the ceiling while tucking your chin (cat position), then arch your back by lifting your head and buttocks (cow position). Perform this movement slowly and consciously, synchronizing with your breathing. Complete 15 to 20 cycles.
Golf benefit: This movement mobilizes your entire spine, improves body awareness, and prepares your back for swing rotations. Ideal as a warm-up before a round.
Core Strengthening Exercises
1. Plank (and dynamic variations)
Starting position: supported on forearms and toes, body aligned from head to heels. Contract abs and glutes to maintain a perfect straight line. Avoid letting your hips sag or raising your buttocks too high. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds, repeat 3 times.
Dynamic variations: Once you've mastered the basic position, add movement by alternately lifting one foot off the ground for 2 seconds, or by touching your right elbow with your left hand and vice versa.
Golf benefit: Planking develops deep core stability, essential for maintaining your posture during the swing. A stable core allows efficient energy transfer without leakage, increasing your power and consistency.
2. Pallof Press (anti-rotation exercise)
Use a resistance band or pulley at chest height. Stand perpendicular to the anchor, grasp the band with both hands together in front of your sternum. Extend your arms in front of you while resisting the force trying to make you pivot toward the anchor. Hold for 3 seconds, bring hands back to chest. Repeat 10 times on each side.
Golf benefit: This exercise is exceptional for developing resistance to unwanted rotation. It strengthens the obliques and deep core muscles, allowing you to precisely control your rotation during the swing rather than suffering parasitic movements.
3. Torso Rotations with Resistance Band or Medicine Ball
Standing, feet shoulder-width apart, hold a medicine ball or resistance band at chest height. Pivot your torso from one side to the other, keeping your hips relatively stable. The movement comes from your core, not your arms. Perform 15 rotations on each side, controlling the movement.
Golf benefit: These rotations directly reproduce the swing movement while adding resistance. They strengthen the abs, obliques, and lumbar muscles while improving coordination and control of your rotation. You'll develop better swing feel and more power in the impact zone.
Power Exercises (Lower Body and Overall)
1. Squats (hamstring and glute strengthening)
Standing, feet shoulder-width apart, descend by pushing your buttocks backward as if sitting in a chair. Keep weight on your heels, knees aligned with feet. Descend until your thighs are parallel to the ground (or as low as your mobility allows), then push firmly on your heels to rise. Start with 3 sets of 12 bodyweight repetitions, then progressively add weight.
Golf benefit: Squats develop the strength and stability of your legs, creating a solid base for your swing. Strong legs allow you to better "push against the ground" during the downswing, generating more club speed and therefore more distance. It's also the king exercise for course endurance.
2. Lunges (unilateral work)
Start standing, take a large step forward with one leg and descend until your back knee grazes the floor. Your front knee stays aligned with your ankle. Push on your front heel to return to starting position. Alternate legs. Perform 3 sets of 10 lunges per leg.
Golf benefit: Lunges are particularly relevant for golf because they work each leg independently, as your body must do during the swing (back leg pushing, front leg stabilizing). They improve your balance, lateral stability, and ability to efficiently transfer weight from back foot to front foot during the swing.
3. Jumps and Plyometric Movements (for advanced players)
Once you've mastered squats and lunges, you can add explosive elements: tuck jumps, jump lunges, or explosive step-ups. These exercises develop power—your ability to generate force quickly.
Golf benefit: Explosive leg power directly translates to superior club speed. These exercises train your neuromuscular system to rapidly recruit maximum muscle fibers, exactly what happens during the downswing.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About Golf Physical Preparation
What muscles exactly work in golf?
Golf is a complete sport that demands the entire body in a coordinated manner. The main muscles involved are the core muscles, which include the abdominals, obliques, and lumbars, essential for the explosive rotation of the swing. The upper body intensely recruits the shoulder adductor muscles, supraspinatus, pectorals, forearm flexors, and intrinsic hand muscles to control the club. Finally, the glutes play a fundamental role in ensuring lower limb stability during all swing phases, from address to finish.
This overall muscular activation explains why an unprepared golfer may feel soreness in unexpected areas after an intensive day on the course.
Is golf physical enough to build muscle?
The answer is nuanced. Golf does combine moderate physical activity with rest periods between each shot. The swing itself intensely engages deep core muscles, particularly the abdominals, obliques, and lumbars, in a way few other exercises reproduce. Explosive rotation and stabilization demand considerable muscular work.
However, to observe true muscle mass gain or significant power increase, playing golf alone isn't enough. The workload remains insufficient to trigger significant muscle hypertrophy. Complementary targeted training, with progressive resistance exercises, is necessary to truly develop your strength and power—qualities that will then improve your performance on the course.
Is golf physically exhausting?
Absolutely, and much more than most non-golfers think. It's very common to feel significant fatigue mid-round, generally around the 10th or 12th hole. This fatigue comes from several cumulative factors.
First, swing repetition constantly solicits the same muscle chains, creating localized fatigue in the core and shoulders. Then, covering approximately 10 kilometers walking, often on hilly terrain while carrying or pulling a bag, represents non-negligible cardiovascular effort. This accumulated fatigue directly impacts your posture, reduces your swing speed, and degrades your consistency, particularly during the final holes where concentration is also severely tested.
It's precisely for this reason that physical preparation including strength training and cardiovascular work makes all the difference between maintaining your level through the 18th hole or finishing in distress.
How many days per week should a golfer train physically?
For optimal results without overtraining risk, the ideal is between three and four days per week, with sessions lasting 60 to 90 minutes. This frequency allows sufficient stimulus to progress while leaving necessary time for muscle recovery.
A balanced schedule could include: two strength training sessions (mobility, core, and lower body), one cardiovascular work session, and one combined or active recovery session with deep stretching.
Many golfers fear that strength training during competitive season will harm their swing or create debilitating soreness. This concern is unfounded if training is well managed. Simply adapt intensity and training volume on days preceding an important competition, prioritizing maintenance rather than progression. Tour professionals maintain their physical preparation year-round, proof that athletic performance and golf are perfectly compatible.
How to prepare your body before an intensive golf trip?
A golf trip, where you'll play daily for several consecutive days, represents a considerable physical challenge, even for a regular golfer. To prepare your body to withstand long hours standing, repeated walking, and intensive swing demands, anticipation is crucial.
Start your preparation at least three to four weeks before departure. Integrate 30 to 45 minutes of gentle cardiovascular activity, three to four times per week. Brisk walking is ideal as it reproduces course constraints, but cycling, swimming, or rowing are also excellent. The goal is to progressively increase your cardiovascular endurance.
Simultaneously, slightly intensify your mobility and core strengthening routine. You want your body conditioned to repeated efforts, not discovering the load during the trip. The last two days before departure, reduce intensity to arrive fresh and rested. During the trip itself, don't neglect daily stretching, particularly in the evening, to facilitate recovery between rounds.
Conclusion: Consistency, Key to Transformation
You now have a complete arsenal of exercises specifically designed to improve your golf. But let's remember a fundamental principle: physical transformation, and consequently swing improvement, doesn't come from heroic one-time training, but from the consistency of a well-structured practice.
No need to try to do everything at once. Start modestly by integrating two or three exercises into your weekly routine. The essential thing is to create a sustainable habit rather than exhausting yourself in short-lived enthusiasm. Your body needs time to adapt, develop new neuromuscular connections, and build the functional strength that will translate on the course.
Never forget that the goal isn't to become a bodybuilder, but to develop an athletic, mobile, and powerful body specifically adapted to golf's demands. Some exercises may seem simple at first, but it's precisely their regular and progressive execution that forges champions.
Take Action Right Now
This week, choose three exercises from those presented: one mobility exercise, one core strengthening exercise, and one lower body exercise. Integrate them into your routine twice a week, ideally on days when you don't play. Note your sensations and observe your swing's evolution over the weeks. You'll be surprised to see how apparently minor physical adjustments can radically transform your ball striking.
If you want to go even further and benefit from a truly personalized program, consider consulting with a TPI-certified coach (Titleist Performance Institute). These professionals specialize in golfer biomechanical assessment and can precisely identify your physical limitations to offer you a custom action plan.
The path to better golf inevitably passes through a stronger, more mobile, and more enduring body. Take care of your working tool, and it will reward you on the course, year after year.
All Our Specific Packs & Programs
Whether you're looking to gain 20 yards off the tee, heal your back, prepare your competitive season, or maintain your fitness after 50, there's a PrepaGOLF program for you.
Discover PrepaGOLF Packs