The four best strength exercises for golf

Do you want to hit longer drives?  Of course you do!

I’ve put together a complete program to help you do just that!

Many golfers are now turning to fitness training in an effort to increase clubhead speed, which then translates into longer drives.

However, most trainers ignore traditional strength training exercises for golfers and instead focus on “functional” exercises that appear to be more suited to golf.

This is misguided and here’s why…

Former world long drive champion Martin Borgmeier

Have a look at the men and women who compete in world long drive competitions.

These are not small and weak people.  Some are actually built like an NFL safety and they are quite strong.

Check out the physique of former world long drive champion Martin Borgmeier to the right.

Yes, they do some functional training, but you do not build physiques like they have through functional training.

In the strength training world, these functional exercises are termed “accessory” or “assistance” exercises.

In other words, they are not core strength training exercises.

If you want to improve your golf swing speed and hit longer drives, it makes sense to significantly increase your strength, particularly if you have never done any legitimate strength training.

Consider the following formula…

Power = Force x Velocity

Strength is the ability to produce force against resistance.

Thus, the stronger you are, the greater your potential to produce force.

This is particularly important as we age.  As we age, not only do we get weaker, but we actually slow down more quickly.

This is why we never see a 40 year old win the 100 meter dash in the Olympics.

You can train for speed, but speed training produces more wear and tear on the body due to the unnatural movement pattern of the golf swing.

Therefore, it can’t be done all the time, whereas you can train for strength every week for the rest of your life.  You just have to be smart about it!

With all that out of the way, let’s move on to the four best strength exercises for golf.

Golf strength exercise #1

A proper low bar squat

The first exercise you should consider is the low bar version of the squat.

The squat trains more muscle mass than any other exercise, including the calves, quads, hamstrings, glutes, low back and abdominal core muscles.

If you look at the competitors in long drive, they all have strong legs.

Over time, we are seeing more tour pros adopt legitimate leg training into their fitness programs.

Look at the legs of Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy now.  You don’t get strong legs like that by doing dumbbell lunges with 10 pound dumbbells.

While they are not likely doing the low bar version of the squat, that is due mainly to lack of knowledge of the exercise.

Golf strength exercise #2

Me deadlifting 355 pounds

Next up is the deadlift.  While the squat trains the most muscle mass, the deadlift trains the most muscle groups.

This exercise hits the body from the feet all the way up to the traps and then out into the forearms.

It is a critical exercise for increasing the strength of your entire body.

In fact, you should ultimately be able to lift more weight with the deadlift than any other exercise.

I can’t stress how important this exercise is for building overall strength that will not only carry over to golf, but to all other everyday activities.

Golf strength exercise #3

Overhead press

The next exercise you should incorporate into your training is the overhead press.

To really improve your overall strength, I prefer the standing overhead press because of how long the kinetic chain is in this exercise.

While it is the barbell exercise in which has the lowest potential for putting weight on the bar, it trains the body from the floor and up through shoulders and arms.

This exercise is included due to the importance of the shoulders in the golf swing.

However, you can definitely train the shoulders well with the seated dumbbell press, so I won’t hold it against you if you choose that exercise (as long as you are squatting and deadlifting!).

Golf strength exercise #4

The last of the best four strength exercises for golf is the chin up.

The chin up not only trains the lats, biceps and forearms, it also trains the rear shoulder muscles and traps.

Also, the core muscles are engaged in order to stabilize the body through the movement.

However, most people can’t perform a chin up, and therefore it should be replaced with the reverse grip (palms facing toward the body) lat pulldown.

While the core muscles are not engaged as much in this exercise as the chin up, it hits all the other muscles mentioned, which are all engaged in the golf swing.

Final thoughts – the four best strength exercises for golf

And there you have it, the four best strength exercises for golf.

These exercises will help you build a much stronger body, which will then translate into a greater ability to produce force.

Once you get stronger, you can then implement more functional exercises into your training, but it makes no sense to put the cart before the horse.

I mentioned Martin Borgmeier earlier.  What does he do in his own training?  Squats, deadlifts, presses, pull ups and accessory exercises.

As I indicated, I’ve put together a complete training program to help you significantly increase your swing speed.

The program gives you the knowledge you need to make improvements to your golf swing, get stronger, more flexible and faster.

Keep in mind I don’t just tell you what exercises to do, but how many sets and reps, and how to progress with each exercise.

This is training you can’t find anywhere else, so check it out here.

Now get to work!