Scottie Scheffler’s Golf Workout Routine – A Critique

With this post, since he is clearly the best golfer on the planet, I wanted to take a look at Scottie Scheffler’s golf workout routine.

It’s known that Scottie is a very hard worker, both on and off the golf course.

Naturally, us mere mortals want to know all about how he trains so we can copy and improve our own results.

Unfortunately, it appears that Scottie has bought into the “functional training” nonsense that is highly prevalent in the sports world now.

Before I get into what I’ve seen in Scottie Scheffler’s golf workout program through Youtube and social media, let me discuss the General Fitness Attributes that everyone should aspire to.

For our purposes, we define these attributes as Strength (the ability to produce force), Power (the ability to display strength quickly), Endurance (stamina), Balance, Mobility, and Body Composition.

I included Body Composition because it’s simply healthier to have more muscle and less fat.  Any type of training should have that as a goal.

Ok, so let’s have a look at some of the exercises in Scottie Scheffler’s golf workout.

First, it should be noted that Scottie is not a small man.  He’s 6’3″ and likely about 200 pounds.

While he does not have the build of Tiger Woods, he still looks reasonably strong.

In the videos I’ve seen of him training, I’ve only seen him training a couple legit strength training exercises (Romanian Deadlift, Trap Bar Deadlift), and those are both regarded as “assistance” exercises.

In other words, they are generally trained to help you perform better on one of the four primary strength training lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press).

I’ve also seen him doing some sled work, which is primarily a conditioning exercise.

The photos below show him performing some exercises for who knows what reason…

In this photo, Scottie is performing a single arm landmine press from a kneeling position.  The goal is to engage the core with a little bit of rotation.  This is a classic functional training exercise that won’t do much for overall strength.

In this photo, Scottie is performing a landmine row and reach.  As he pulls upward with the right hand, he reaches down with the left.  Again, the idea is to include some rotation in the exercise.

In this photo, Scottie is performing a medicine ball slam into the floor.  This is a classic exercise to help develop more power.  I am perfectly ok with this type of exercise for people who are already generally strong.

The next two photos demonstrate further some of the ridiculousness I see in the world of golf fitness.

In this photo, Scottie is performing a Sliding lunge.  As he leans into his right foot, the left foot, with a band attached to it, slides outward.  This is a clear example of a personal trainer creating a BS exercise to keep his client interested.  That’s all it is.

And last, but not least, the plate scoop.  Scottie starts this exercise with the plate down by his left knee, and then raises it to the right as you can see in the photo.  The idea is to mimic the golf swing and work on the core.  This is a classic golf fitness type of exercise designed to keep the client from getting bored.

Let’s have a look at a video I pulled from Youtube and we can discuss below.

This video is long because the two gentleman are discussing the exercises.

In the video Scottie is doing some exercises with the training tool provided by Golf Forever.

It appears that all of these exercises are intended to work on mobility, but it is not uncommon for golf fitness trainers to also attach the “strength training” term to them.  They are far from that.

Here is what I see from Scottie’s training… he does a ton of exercises, and most are done with little weight and many are done with some rotation in them.

This is classic golf fitness training, and functional fitness training.

For the average golfer, and I would suggest that for the tour golfer, most of these are a waste of time.

Scottie has bought into the idea that mobility and flexibility are the key to a continued high performance level.

He can get away with that at his age because he is not losing muscle mass yet.

While the trend in golf is that the average age of people who actually play golf is trending slightly lower, it is still 43.5 years old, according to the National Golf Foundation.

It’s around the age of 40 where age related muscle loss begins (sarcopenia).

Therefore, legitimate strength training should play a greater role in the fitness program for the average golfer and older.

For the average golfer, the Two Factor Approach to golf training is more important.

Train in the gym to get stronger and then work on your golf game at the golf course.

Performing exercises that mimic the golf swing will be a waste of your time.

Unlike Scottie, you likely have a job outside of golf, so you don’t have time on your side to get involved in the functional fitness nonsense.

If you need more mobility and flexibility, a general stretching routine can be performed 2 to 3 times per week.  You can substitute that with a Vinyasa Flow Yoga routine.

Ok, those are my thoughts on Scottie Scheffler’s golf workout routine.

If you are serious about improving your overall strength and fitness, check out my Strength and Fitness program.

Thanks for reading!