Instruction
Golf fitness essentials for this offseason
For most of the Northeast, golf’s offseason is approximately five months long without much time for outside golfing activities. For that reason, it’s a great time to build on summer golfing achievements and work on reoccurring issues in the golf swing by beginning a golf fitness plan. Most people would like to work out in the offseason, but truthfully most people have no idea where to start.
That’s where this story comes in.
An offseason workout plan should be broken into three separate, four-week phases to help the golfer be fully prepared for opening day come Spring.
Fall Corrective Exercise and Stabilization Program
The Fall is best time to start any fitness program and the best way to get started is to have a complete golf fitness assessment. Since the winter came a little late in the Northeast this year, there is still time to get started on the corrective exercise and stabilization phase. The way to attain any fitness goal is to follow a progression plan of mobility, stability, coordination, strength and power to achieve optimal health and physical development. A certified TPI Golf Fitness Professional can assist in the screening process, program design, goal setting and the program implementation to get you on the right path in the attainment of any goal.
- First, we conduct an in-depth health questionnaire screening to identify family history, exercise history and any past or lingering medical conditions.
- Second, we conduct a 16-point golf-specific movement assessment that will identify any physical limitations that may affect the golf swing.
- Third, we conduct a 3-D technology assessment to identify flaws in your kinematic sequence as well as balance and weight transfer.
- Fourth, we then do a complete flexibility assessment to help us understand your physical limitations and how they relate to the golf swing.
- Last, we develop a corrective exercise program to correct muscle imbalances, address any injuries, build core strength and increase flexibility, which all lead to the optimal athletic performance.
Winter Strength and Conditioning Program
The Winter is our most sedentary season, but it is a great time to work on strength for the upcoming golf season. One of the worst things a person can do is try to develop their own golf fitness routine. Most tend to over lift and expose themselves to injury. A golf fitness professional will develop a strength program to correct any strength imbalances, strengthen golf-specific movement patterns and lay the foundation for spring power training.
According to a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning, here are some good reasons why winter strength training might make sense:
- Club speed increased by 7-10 percent, or the equivalent of 10-15 yards, without any ill-effects on accuracy.
- Strength training was shown to improve muscular strength and muscular endurance, which has a positive impact on golf swing consistency during an 8-hour, 36-hole round of competitive golf.
- Golfers who strength-trained demonstrated better putting distance control performance.
- An increase in strength and flexibility allowed golfers to adopt more optimal swing mechanics.
Early Spring Power Conditioning Program
By early Spring, the golf season will be quickly approaching and then is the time to train the power sequence of the golf fitness program. Remember that golf is an explosive sport; it is not an endurance sport. Many people train their body for golf as if it was an endurance sport. Power conditioning consists of moving weights through a complete range of motion while keeping optimal speed during the exercise.
There are plenty of great exercises that will increase your rotational speed, power and strength. I like using medicine ball exercises for the upper body and plyometric exercises for the lower body, as they improve all components of the golf swing as well as balance. By the time the season is in full swing, you will feel the effects of all three of the phases of golf fitness training and then you will finally be on the road to be the best golfer that you can be.
Get motivated!
You can find qualified fitness professionals near you by visiting “Find an Expert” at mytpi.com. If you have any additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at James@Coregolfperformance.com.
The LPGA Tour is kicking off its 2026 season this week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, and the pros are dealing with something most Florida golfers rarely face: freezing temperatures.
“It’s colder here than in the UK at the minute, which is a first,” said England’s Charley Hull during Wednesday’s media day at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
Even Lydia Ko, who lives at Lake Nona, seemed surprised by the cold snap. “We’re pretty much getting to below zero in celsius here, which maybe in other parts of the country they would be thankful, but when you’re in Florida it is a little bit of a surprise,” she said.
If the world’s best players are adjusting their games for cold weather, recreational golfers should, too. Here’s how to play smart when the mercury drops.
Understand What Cold Does to Your Game
Before you change anything, you need to know what you’re fighting against. Cold air is denser than warm air, which means your ball won’t fly as far. Period.
Hull noticed this immediately during practice rounds at Lake Nona. She mentioned hitting a gap wedge into the 18th hole during a previous win but needing a 4-iron during Tuesday’s practice round. That’s a difference of four or five clubs for the same shot.
Action item: Expect to lose 5-10 yards on every club in your bag when temperatures dip below 50 degrees. Plan accordingly and don’t be stubborn about club selection.
Layer Up Without Restricting Your Swing
Hull admitted she wore three pairs of pants during practice. While that might be extreme for most of us, staying warm is critical to playing well in cold conditions.
Your muscles need warmth to function properly. When you’re cold, your body tightens up and your swing gets shorter and faster. Neither of those things help you hit good golf shots.
Action item: Wear multiple thin layers instead of one bulky jacket. Look for golf-specific cold weather gear that stretches with your swing. Keep hand warmers in your pockets between shots. And don’t forget a good hat because you lose significant body heat through your head.
Take More Club Than You Think You Need
This is where ego gets in the way of good scores. When it’s cold, the ball doesn’t compress as well off the clubface. Combined with denser air, you’re looking at serious distance loss.
The pros at Lake Nona are dealing with a course that measures 6,642 yards but plays much longer this week. If they’re adjusting, you should too.
Action item: Take at least one extra club on every approach shot. In temperatures below 40 degrees, consider taking two extra clubs. It’s better to fly the ball to the back of the green than to come up short in a bunker.
Adjust Your Expectations on the Greens
Cold weather affects putting in ways most golfers don’t consider. The ball is harder and doesn’t roll as smoothly. Your hands are cold, making it harder to feel the putter. And if there’s any moisture on the greens, they’ll be slower than normal.
Ko mentioned that she still sometimes reads the greens wrong at Lake Nona despite being a member for years. Cold weather makes that challenge even tougher.
Action item: Hit putts more firmly than usual. The ball needs extra speed to hold its line on cold greens. Take a few extra practice strokes to get a feel for the speed before you putt.
Embrace the Mental Challenge
Hull said something interesting about cold weather golf: “I like the mental toughness of it.”
That’s the right attitude. Everyone on the course is dealing with the same conditions. The player who stays patient and doesn’t get frustrated by the extra difficulty will come out ahead.
Action item: Lower your expectations by a few strokes. If you normally shoot 85, accept that 90 might be a good score in 40-degree weather. Focus on solid contact and smart decisions rather than perfect shots.
Warm Up Longer and Smarter
This might be the most important tip of all. Cold muscles are tight muscles, and tight muscles get injured easily.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul revealed she’s been protecting a wrist injury that bothered her late last season. Cold weather makes those kinds of injuries more likely if you don’t prepare properly.
Action item: Spend at least 20 minutes warming up before your round. Start with stretching, then hit easy wedge shots before working up to your driver. Keep moving between shots on the course to maintain body heat and flexibility.
The pros at Lake Nona this week will adapt and compete at the highest level despite the cold. You can do the same at your local course by following these tips and keeping a positive attitude.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour, and whether you love him or hate him, the guy knows how to win when it matters. After his LIV Golf stint, the five-time major champion returns this week at the Farmers Insurance Open.
What makes Koepka fascinating? He doesn’t fit the mold. His swing isn’t textbook. He doesn’t obsess over mechanics. Yet he’s won three PGA Championships and two U.S. Opens, regularly making it look easier than guys with prettier swings.
So, what can average golfers learn from someone who treats the game so differently? Quite a bit.
Stop Overthinking Every Shot
Koepka describes his approach as “reactionary” rather than mechanical. While most tour pros grind over swing thoughts, Brooks sees the target and hits it. No mental checklist.
This might be the most valuable lesson for weekend golfers who’ve watched too many YouTube swing videos.
How to actually do this:
On the range, hit five balls where you stare at the target for three seconds prior to addressing the ball. Don’t think about grip or stance. Just burn that target into your brain. You’ll be shocked at how pure you hit it when your brain focuses on where the ball is going instead of how you’re swinging.
Next time you play, give yourself a rule: Once you pull the club, you’ve got 15 seconds to hit. Koepka is one of the fastest players on tour because he doesn’t give his brain time to sabotage him.
If you feel tension in your hands at address, you’re trying to control too much. Koepka’s grip pressure is famously light. Loosen up until the club almost feels like it might slip, then add just enough pressure to hold on. That’s your swing thought: soft hands, see the target.
This approach works better under pressure. When you’re standing over that shot with water left and OB right, the last thing you need is a mental checklist. See it, feel it, hit it.
Play to Your Strengths (Even If They’re Not Pretty)
Koepka uses a strong grip that wouldn’t pass muster in some teaching circles. But he’s built his game around what works for him, elite driving distance and recovery skills. He doesn’t try to be someone he’s not.
Here’s how to build your game like Brooks:
Look at your last five rounds and figure out where you’re actually gaining strokes. Bombing it off the tee, but can’t hit greens? Lean into it. Play courses where distance matters more than precision. On tight holes, grip down on your 3-wood instead of trying to thread a driver through a keyhole you’ll miss seven times out of ten.
Koepka knows he can scramble, so he’s not afraid to miss greens. If you’re deadly from 50 to 75 yards, start leaving yourself those distances on the par 5’s instead of going for them in two every time.
Know when to take your medicine. Koepka in the trees at the PGA? He’s punching out to 100 yards, not trying to bend a 6-iron around three oaks. You’re in the rough with a flyer lie and water short? Hit your 8-iron to the middle and move on. That’s not playing scared, that’s playing smart.
Save Your Best for When It Counts
Here’s a wild stat: Koepka’s putting average in majors is often more than a full stroke better per round than in regular events. He elevates when pressure is highest.
How does an amateur tap into that gear? It’s not about trying harder, it’s about caring differently.
Here’s what actually works:
Decide which rounds matter to you. Club championship? Member-guest? That annual trip with college buddies? Circle those dates and treat them differently. Koepka doesn’t care much about regular tour events, but majors? That’s when he locks in.
Two weeks before your big round, change your practice. Stop beating balls mindlessly. Play nine holes in which every shot has consequences. Miss the fairway? Hit from the rough on the next hole too. Three-putt? Twenty push-ups. Koepka’s practice intensity ramps up before majors because he’s rehearsing pressure, not just swings.
Develop a between-shot routine that resets your brain. Koepka is famous for his blank expression after bad shots. Try this: After any shot, take three deep breaths while walking, then find something specific to notice, a tree, a cloud, someone’s shirt. That’s your reset button. By the time you reach your ball, the last shot is gone.
The Bottom Line
Brooks Koepka’s return reminds us there’s no single path to success in golf. His “substance over style” approach proves that results matter more than looking good.
You don’t need a perfect swing; you need a reliable one that holds up under pressure. You don’t need to hit every shot in the book; you need the shots you can count on. And you don’t need to play great every time; you need to play great when it matters.
Welcome back, Brooks. Thanks for the reminder that golf is ultimately about getting the ball in the hole, not winning style points.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Blades Brown made a big impression last week in the California desert, and not just because he’s only 18. He put up numbers that would catch any weekend golfer’s attention. Most of us won’t hit 317-yard drives or find 86% of our greens in regulation, but there’s a lot to learn from how Brown managed his game at The American Express.
Here are three practical lessons from his performance that you can use on your own course this weekend.
Step 1: Give Priority to Accuracy Over Distance Off The Tee
Brown’s driving stats are impressive. He averaged almost 318 yards off the tee, ranking 12th in the field. More importantly, he hit 76.79% of his fairways, tying for fourth place in the tournament.
Think about that ratio for a second. Brown could have swung harder, chased more distance and tried to overpower the course. Instead, he played smart golf and kept his ball in play.
Your Action Item: Next time you’re on the tee box, ask yourself a simple question before pulling the driver. Do you need maximum distance here, or do you need to be in the fairway? If there’s trouble lurking or the hole doesn’t demand every yard you can muster, take something off your swing. Grip down an inch. Make a three-quarter swing. Do whatever it takes to find the short grass. Brown’s approach illustrates that fairways lead to greens, and greens lead to birdies. He made 22 of them last week, along with an eagle.
The math is simple. When you’re hitting three out of every four fairways like Brown did, you’re giving yourself legitimate looks at the green with your approach shots. That’s when scoring happens.
Step 2: Commit To Hitting More Greens
This is where Brown really separated himself. He hit 62 of 72 greens in regulation, an 86.11% clip that tied for first in the entire field. Read that again. An 18-year-old kid tied for the lead in one of the most important ball-striking statistics in professional golf.
How did he do it? By keeping his ball in the fairway (see Step 1) and giving himself clean looks with mid-irons and wedges.
Your Action Item: Start tracking your greens in regulation. You don’t need a fancy app or a statistics degree. Just mark down whether you hit the green in the regulation number of strokes. Par 3s in one shot. Par 4s in two shots. Par 5s in three shots.
Once you know your baseline, set a goal to improve it by 10%. If you’re currently hitting five greens per round, aim for six. The beauty of this approach is that it forces you to think strategically about club selection and shot shape. Brown’s strokes gained approach number was positive (0.179), meaning he was better than the field average. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be on the dance floor more often.
When you hit more greens, you eliminate the need for heroic short game shots. Brown only had to scramble 10 times all week, and he got up and down 70% of the time. That’s solid, but the real story is that he rarely put himself in scrambling situations to begin with.
Step 3: Minimize Mistakes And Stay Patient
Here’s the stat that jumps off the page: Brown made only three bogeys all week. Three. In four rounds of professional golf against the best players in the world.
He also made just one double bogey. That kind of clean card doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you play within yourself, avoid the big miss and trust that pars are never bad scores.
Your Action Item: Before your next round, decide that you’re going to play boring golf. No hero shots over water. No driver on tight holes just because you can. No aggressive pins when there’s a safe side of the green.
Brown’s performance shows us that consistency beats flash every single time. He didn’t lead the field in any single strokes gained category, but he was solid across the board. That’s how you post numbers and cash checks.
Give these three steps a try. Your scorecard will thank you.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
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Pingback: Revolutionize Your Golf Game with Mental Fitness! – linkedgreens
Ryan
Feb 8, 2016 at 3:33 am
I definitely know that fitness is integral in being successful at golf, just wish there was an actual exercise regimen to follow in this article and not just an explanation why lol.
Dr Troy
Feb 4, 2016 at 6:40 pm
I cannot tell you how important the modern day golfer and fitness are intertwined together. There are a few older guys at our club that can barely make it through 18 holes this time of year and they REFUSE to lift, walk on a treadmill, stretch, etc. It baffles me when they complain about “being old” to do too much or “not getting any easier”. There IS something you can do about it! Anyways, enough of my soapbox….Hopefully this article will motivate someone not already with an exercise regimen to get going…
John vickers
Feb 4, 2016 at 5:14 pm
Golf fitness is overrated! The best golfer in modern day era whom also ushered in golf fitness in today’s era is no longer able to play post seven surgeries (knee, back). Most would say he was in great shape, yet it did not prevent injury just like it didn’t prevent Rory’s back injury a few years a ago. Being in shape is great, but it won’t necessarily make you an elite or better golfer as evidenced by the thousands of examples out there who did not improve with golf fitness. Ask me how you really improve your golf swing!
Ted Frick
Feb 4, 2016 at 6:14 pm
How do you really improve your golf swing?
Cam
Feb 4, 2016 at 6:42 pm
Wrong John.
The reason why Tiger is injured all the time is because his body cannot handle the intense amount of torque it creates on his swing. Happy medium is where you need to be.
T
Feb 4, 2016 at 9:43 pm
So you say it is overrated citing Tiger and Rory…
You’re right, what a waste of time.
Arnold
Feb 4, 2016 at 11:03 pm
And golfers wonder why other people say golf isn’t a sport…
Café
Feb 5, 2016 at 9:08 am
In the case of Tiger, I think he’s been doing too much fitness for a long time, add to that tall the time he spends on the range hitting balls using a very straining swing, it would’ve been unlikely to see him go through his career uninjured You cant blame being fit for not preventing someone who has excessive behaviour such as Tiger. Rory’ swing is very straining on his lower back too and his injury happened before he started working with a professional physical trainer. When you swing the club without really thinking about fitness or how your body is affected, chances are you will introduce unbalance, and in Rory’s case it lead to his back injury. Now that he’s working seriously in the gym, he has a healthy programme to strengthen his lower back and protect himself from injuries.
If you have a smart gym routine and train reasonably, it can only make you a better golfer. Everyone benefits from a lil extra strength, as it usually results in better hand eye coordination and better control of the club in your swing.
prime21
Feb 5, 2016 at 6:06 pm
Tiger’s injuries have little to do with golf fitness, so much as the other crazy programs he decided to mix in. You can’t tell if someone is in great shape by looking at them, as the article states, one has to be assessed in order to figure that out. If someone had diesel biceps but poor glute strength, which one do you “look” at to tell if they are in great shape? The golf swing, when made properly, is a dynamic move that puts stress on the body. Proper fitness allows for stabilization and mobility throughout this process, but it does not mean that being in great shape completely removes injury from the equation. It only means that the chances of it occurring are much lower because the players body is strong and flexible enough to withstand the forces at work. Mixed with proper nutrition and rest, ANY player would see positive results. Where you are completely mistaken is in your assumption that fitness alone would make one an “elite or better golfer”. That comes from swinging the club on plane, sequencing, club face and path control, etc. ALL of these things are easier to attain, and just as important, repeat, when the proper range of motion and stability are present.
If you have a shitty swing and you get in great shape, you simply become a person in great shape with the same shitty swing.