Strength Training For Golf – How To Adjust For You

Adjustments for Different Times of Season

Off Season

The off season is when you should strive to stimulate adaptations. This is the time to turn the hose on full blast. Train hard enough and often enough to actually create change.

You have more time away from competition and rounds of golf, so fatigue isn’t as big a concern. That means you can handle more total work and recover from it. Focus on increasing strength, and the size of your Type II muscle fibers, and setting up your body for the season ahead.

When golfers go through this phase properly, they see the biggest improvements in strength, body composition, and long-term power potential.

This is also a great time to try and move the needle with swing speed training.

In Season

Once the season starts, priorities shift. Scores come first. Fatigue and soreness from the gym has to stay low so you can play and practice effectively.

The goal here is simple: maintain what you’ve built, and if possible, continue improving slightly. The good news is that maintaining strength is really easy.

Even two short sessions per week, with a few heavy sets, is enough to hold onto almost everything you built in the off season. You don’t need a lot of volume, you just need to keep the stimulus present.

This is a key part of how I help the PGA Tour players I work with. Managing all the different stressors and making sure things are in order. Scores are the priority.

The biggest change to in season training is NOT a reduction in weight, it is a reduction in training volume. This is primarily done by reducing the number of sets per session, and potentially the frequency of sessions. Moving from 3 sessions per week to 2 sessions per week is a viable option.

Done appropriately, in-season strength training keeps the body strong, durable, and better able to handle travel, practice, and tournament golf. It’s also critical for maintaining muscle mass and club head speed all through the season.

Many golfers, even at the professional level, skimp on strength training in season. This results in a steady decline in power levels as the season goes on, and means they are back to square one each off season. Ideally you want to at least maintain in season, so you are climbing to a higher level each off season, not just trying to get back to where you were the previous year.

Adjustments for Different Populations

Seniors

Age is less relevant than level of physical conditioning. You could have two seniors of the same age, one training to a high level for 50 years, and another completely out of shape and just beginning strength training. Completely different scenarios, which is why creating programs solely based on age is nonsensical. I do love working with both cases though!

The two examples above are on either end of the spectrum. There’s a wide middle ground that most (not all) seniors fall into. For this demographic, the Seniors Program on the Fit For Golf App is perfect. This program follows the same philosophy I instill in all of my programs, while taking into account the need for a more gentle starting point.

Most people are far too conservative with their training goals. The research shows clearly that older adults can make huge strength gains when they train properly, and it’s NOT dangerous.

Start lighter, focus on technique and control, then increase gradually. Within a few months, you’ll be able to handle far more than you thought possible, and your body will feel the difference both on and off the course.

Females

There are no major differences in strength training for males and females. Both can follow the exact same program.

In general, there is a strength difference between males and females, mostly because males tend to have more total muscle mass. On average, males have about 40–60% more upper body strength and 25–30% more lower body strength. This is mainly due to greater total lean mass, not differences in muscle quality or how muscles respond to training. Females also tend to carry a higher proportion of their total muscle in the lower body compared to the upper body. This reduced upper body strength is a huge training opportunity. Few things help female golfers more than developing upper body strength. (Miller et al., 1993; Janssen et al., 2000).

Women can expect the same relative increases in muscle size and strength from training as men. When training is matched for effort, volume, and frequency, the percentage improvements are very similar. Men often gain more total mass simply because they start with more muscle, but the relative progress is the same. (Roberts et al., 2020; Grgic et al., 2022).

Females can often perform more reps with the same percentage of 1RM compared to men, and tend to recover faster between sets and sessions. This is partly explained by a slightly higher proportion of slow-twitch fibers and greater fatigue resistance. (Hunter, 2016; Fulco et al., 1999).

None of this changes the overall training guidelines. The same principles apply. Train hard, progressively overload, recover, and repeat.
Finally, to clear up one of the biggest myths, you will not get too muscular. Lifting heavy will not make you “bulky.” Gaining large amounts of muscle requires a significant calorie surplus and years of consistent, high-volume training. Strength training will make you stronger, more athletic, and more resilient. The benefits for bone health, tendon strength, and long-term wellbeing are enormous. (Phillips, 2014).

Juniors

Strength training is absolutely beneficial and safe for juniors of all ages. Traditional strength training is not where I would place a lot of attention for juniors, however. This is a time when maximising speed, coordination, and building competency in as many different movement patterns as possible will be hugely beneficial.

Juniors should sprint, jump, throw, and hit all different kinds of balls as hard as they can. Playing different sports is ideal, but even basic activities at home go a long way. On top of these sports activities, general play like climbing, tumbling, wrestling etc is all fantastic.
Through the teenage years, as puberty kicks in, strength increases come quickly. This is when introducing some more structured strength training makes most sense, but it should not come at the expense of what is listed above.

The main priorities are:

• Keep it fun and avoid burnout.

• Build coordination and speed.

• Encourage a wide range of activities, without forcing them.

In terms of “golf specificity”, the younger, the better for developing a swing that prioritises club head speed. Get them a radar, teach them what club head speed and ball speed are, and make it fun to track progress. They’ll figure out the rest on their own.