News
PGA Pro Tips
For Winter Workouts
Enhance your game during the cold, dank, and gloomy winter months. by Ann E. Butenas, contributing writer
U
nless you are completely fanatical about your golf game, you probably find yourself relaxing a bit when it comes to improving your swing, exercising your body, and enhancing your overall game during the cold, dark, and gloomy winter months. While it may be tempting to just lounge on the couch and watch a few television shows cuddled up under a warm blanket, there are some highly productive ways to improve your game during the offseason — and you don’t even have to leave your home to do them! It does take some discipline and determination, however, but once you commit to the process, you will be on the fast track to keeping your swing — and your body — geared up and ready to go when spring rolls around, and you anticipate that first glorious tee time on a warm and sunny day. Midwest Section PGA member and Mission Hills Country Club teaching professional Matt Murdoch enjoys working with golfers on their overall fitness routines during the winter months. He has developed certain exercises golfers can practice at home that are specific to each individual. “You can’t teach everyone the same, as no two bodies are the same and everyone’s abilities are different,” he said, which is why each player benefits from a unique set of exercises. In the offseason, Murdoch likes to have his students focus on speed training, flexibility, strength, and mobility exercises to help them enhance their game and prepare them for the warmer months of play ahead. 24
February 2021
“I prescribe certain drills they can work on at home to help with any deficiencies they might have, and I can tailor these to players of all ages,” said Murdoch. One particular exercise he promotes involves the use of a simple towel. “You just tie a knot at the end of a long towel and then make it go as fast as you can, using the towel to mimic the golf club, with the knot mimicking the clubhead,” explained Murdoch. “You make that towel do a swoosh out in front as you swing it like a golf club. Wherever the towel is loose, that will enable you to recognize where to speed up. You want to hear the swoosh sounds post-impact on the followthrough side.” Murdoch is less inclined to use heavy weights and prefers resistance bands instead, encouraging students to focus on any areas prone to injury, such as the shoulders, knees, back, and wrist. “My main advice is to work on mobility and also strengthen those areas prone to injury when you golf,” said Murdoch. “It’s no secret flexibility gets worse with age, and you can never work too much on that part of your training.” Murdoch also collaborates with Cody Shaffer, M.S.Ed., personal trainer and owner of Advanced Fitness Consulting – Kansas City, when developing fitness TEE TIMES GOLF GUIDE
routines for his students. Shaffer, who holds multiple fitness certifications, emphasized the number one thing an aspiring or avid golfer can do is work on their mobility and flexibility. “Implementing a static and dynamic flexibility routine would create a huge advantage on the course and in an individual’s activities of daily living,” Murdoch explained. “As little as 15 minutes a day of flexibility and mobility training could dramatically increase overall range of motion in as little as six to eight weeks. Areas of focus should be fullbody in nature, with a large focus in the hip flexors, hamstring complex, lumbar spine, and thoracic spine.” Midwest Section PGA member Evan Scobie, teaching professional at Kansas City Country Club, is certified through the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI). This certification program is designed for teaching professionals, medical practitioners, and fitness trainers to acquire an understanding of how the body functions during a golf swing. To that end, Scobie can effectively assess players’ swings and offer a series of stretches to complement their workouts. “I usually give sets of stretches to students that they can do that will help them manage their health down the road,” said Scobie. Like Murdoch, Scobie prefers using exercise bands for the simple reason they typically provide a level of resistance that allows muscles to become stronger, maintaining constant tension on the muscles during the entire movement of a
