Golf Cart GPS: How Fitness Can Improve Your Game And Prevent Injuries
While golf cart GPS and smart golf technology are revolutionizing how we play golf, fitness remains a fundamental component of maximizing your game. For many, golf may seem like a leisurely game, played by the inactive looking to do something that requires minimal physicality. On the contrary, though, golf can be physically demanding and does require a significant degree of athleticism not only to play, but to play well on a competitive level. If you’re serious about improving your game, it’s worth considering incorporating a fitness plan into your training routine.
Golf fitness has become such an integral part of the game that most tour professionals have a fitness coach of some kind, helping them to stay in peak physical condition in order to play better. And the results speak for themselves: we have never seen the ball being hit as far and as accurately as we do now. Even for amateurs, a well-balanced fitness plan can enhance your endurance, strength, flexibility, and even mental focus, all potentially leading to improved scores, greater stamina, injury prevention, and an all-around healthier lifestyle.
In this article, we’ll dive into the importance of fitness in golf for improvement and preventing injuries, as well as how Tagmarshal’s golf cart GPS ensures pace of play is optimized.
Golf Cart GPS & Fitness: The Importance Of Fitness And Flexibility In Golf
The importance of fitness and flexibility in golf, especially at higher playing levels, cannot be understated. But even at an amateur or casual level, being in a good physical condition can have a range of benefits that play a crucial role in becoming a better golfer. If lowering your handicap is on your golf to-do list, it will definitely not hurt to look at improving yourself physically. Some modern tech, such as golf cart GPS, can also be used to work on improving fitness, but the first steps are to get the fundamentals right.
The fitter, stronger, and more flexible you are, the more clubhead speed you’ll be able to generate. An increase in clubhead speed results in greater distances off the tee as well as in iron shots, meaning that lower-lofted clubs can be used in approach shots. These shots are generally easier to hit and control, and should ultimately lead to better performance on the golf course.
Therefore, it’s evident that your fitness level has a massive impact on your game. The unique combination of physical attributes required for golf can be broken down into a few groups. Focusing on these groups specifically can lead to better fitness, better health, and better golf. Let’s take a look at what they are:
Endurance: There is a certain physical stamina required to not only complete a round of golf, but to complete it while maintaining the same focus, consistency, and swing mechanics throughout the round as you started with. And whether you walk the eighteen holes or use a cart GPS, it’s easy to become fatigued if your endurance is not up to scratch. Improving your endurance through cardio, strength, and flexibility training can all contribute to playing your best, from the first tee to the last putt.
Strength: As simple as the golf swing may look, it’s a complex movement that requires a comprehensive range of strength throughout the whole body. Strength in the legs, hips, back, and shoulders is essential in generating more clubhead speed to get greater distances in shots. Core strength is vital for energy transferring from the legs through the body to the club and, ultimately, striking the ball consistently.
Flexibility: Flexibility contributes to a more powerful, though fluid, golf swing. More power means increased clubhead speed and greater distances. Still, flexibility also leads to proper posture and balance, resulting in better ball striking and, consequently, improved scores on the course. Most importantly, however, is that increased flexibility will lead to longevity as it prevents the most common injuries like lower back pain, “golfer’s elbow”, and wrist, shoulder, and knee injuries.
Golf Cart GPS & Fitness: Key Muscle Groups In The Golf Swing
As we’ve mentioned, the golf swing is a complex movement that requires a combination of several different muscle groups working together to complete. These key muscles can be broken down into a few groups.
In the lower body, it’s the glutes, quads, and hamstrings that play the most important role, while in the core, the obliques and spine are essential. In the upper body, it’s your pecs, rotator cuff, and traps that play the most pivotal roles. Let’s take a look at what each muscle group’s role in the swing is.
Lower body
In the golf swing, the lower body is where the most power is generated. The gluteus maximus, or glutes, is responsible for external and internal hip rotation during the entire swing, including the backswing, downswing and the follow-through. The quads are essential for proper knee extension, which provides the stability needed for a good swing. The hamstrings work in tandem with the quadriceps to aid in stability for good posture and a balanced finish.
Core
The core is essential for adequate torso rotation and can be seen as the conduit that transfers energy and power from the lower body to the upper body, while at the same time playing a key role in the swing itself. The obliques, particularly, play a crucial part in generating rotational power by transferring energy from the hips to the torso, throughout the swing.
Upper body
In the upper body, the rotator cuff muscles play one of the most important roles throughout the swing. It is activated from the takeaway and utilized right throughout. They are naturally crucial for rotation, stability, and controlling the arms. The pectoral area, or chest, is actively engaged in the acceleration phase of the swing, which drives clubhead speed. The lats, short for latissimus dorsi, and shoulders also play vital roles in rotation, while the forearms are essential for controlling the clubface for a consistent swing.
Golf Cart GPS & Fitness: Strength And Conditioning Exercises
Increasing your fitness levels in the aforementioned muscle groups will almost undoubtedly lead to improved golf performance. It’s not only important to target these areas specifically in your training routine, but also to do so in a golf-specific manner, when and where possible. For example, lifting weights to obtain a better physique will be much different from lifting weights to improve your clubhead speed.
There are a number of areas that should be the primary focus to improve on, with each area having different exercises to improve the overall condition of that muscle area. These are flexibility and mobility, strength in the core, lower, and upper body, balance and stability, as well as cardiovascular fitness.
Flexibility and mobility
Increasing flexibility and mobility mainly involves good stretching exercises. For golf, these would include a combination of static and dynamic exercises. They range from straightforward to technical and can be done before playing a round, as well as being incorporated regularly in your weekly training routines:
● Leg swings: Stand tall, holding a wall or post for balance. Swing one leg forward and back in a controlled motion to loosen hips and hamstrings.
● Arm circles: Extend arms to the sides and draw small, then larger circles forward and backward to warm up the shoulders.
● Cat-cow stretch: On the hands and knees, alternate arching your back up (cat) and dropping your belly down (cow) to mobilize the spine.
● Thoracic spine rotations: Kneel or sit and gently rotate your upper back side to side, keeping your hips stable, to improve mid-back mobility.
● Hip flexor stretches: From a half-kneeling lunge, shift hips forward to stretch the front of the hip and thigh.
● Adductor reaches: In a wide squat stance, reach toward one foot, then the other to stretch the inner thighs.
● A-frame rotations: Hinge at the hips into an inverted “A” position, then rotate one arm upward at a time to open shoulders and spine.
● Walk reaches: Step forward while reaching arms overhead or across the body to combine a gentle lunge with a torso stretch.
Strength
We’ve already covered the importance of the role that strength in various muscle groups plays in the swing. Exercises in increasing your overall golf strength include:
● Pallof press: With a band or cable at chest height, press straight out from the torso and hold, resisting the pull to challenge core stability.
● Cable/resistance band rotations: Using a band or cable, rotate the torso under control to strengthen obliques and rotational power.
● Russian twists (with weights or medicine balls): Sit with knees bent, lean back slightly, and rotate the torso side to side, tapping the weight on the floor.
● Squats (with goblets or barbells): Lower hips back, and down, keeping chest tall and knees tracking over toes, then drive back to standing.
● Lunges: Step forward or backwards, lowering the rear knee toward the floor while keeping the front knee over the ankle.
● Split squats: With one foot forward and the other back (stationary), bend both knees to lower and raise the hips.
● Hip thrusts: Rest upper back on a bench, knees bent, feet planted. Drive hips upward by squeezing glutes, then lower with control.
● Planks: Support body on forearms and toes, keeping a straight line from head to heels and core braced.
● Single arm dumbbell rows: From a staggered stance or bench, pull a dumbbell toward the ribs, keeping the back flat.
● Overhead dumbbell or landmine press: Press a dumbbell or landmine bar overhead while bracing the core and keeping ribs down.
Endurance
Endurance is an important aspect of good golf. By this, we mean that when you’re fatigued, it’s easy to make silly mistakes on the golf course, which usually occur towards the latter part of a round. Improving endurance can eliminate this and can lead to better shots when they are needed most. Here are some low-impact cardiovascular exercises that will build up your golf stamina:
- Brisk walking
- Jogging
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Rowing
- Stair climbs
All of the above are simple exercises that lead to massive benefits for your fitness, and particularly, your stamina.
How Tagmarshal’s Golf Cart GPS Technology Can Help With Golf Fitness
For golf course operators and managers, there are several benefits to incorporating golf cart GPS systems at your golf club. From line of sight via live course maps to geofencing, analytics, and advanced reporting. Pace of play management can even help golfers get fitter and, thereby, better at golf.
If you broaden the idea of golf fitness being attainable outside of the gym and gym work, in numerous instances, Tagmarshal and our Golf Cart technology can aid in improving the fitness and golf games of golfers. At the heart of the tech, Tagmarshal prioritizes pace of play at the courses that partner with us, but it supports a healthier and more active golf experience.
When the pace of play is maintained, it means that the course is flowing the way it should. This, in turn, means that golfers spend less time waiting around for the golfers in front of them and stay on the move throughout their rounds. This can improve fitness for walkers, as there is less time for distractions and rest, turning the round into a solid workout in terms of step count and cardiovascular exercise.
Inactivity on the course can be the bane of any golfer’s round. Continuous flow keeps the heart rate up as well as muscles warm all throughout the round, which is beneficial for swing mechanics. It also prevents stiffness from occurring and helps prevent injuries. Further, when the possible frustration that is caused by slow play is eliminated, golfers can focus on their game entirely and with a clear mind, which can lead to fewer mistakes being made and better golf overall.
With Tagmarshal’s golf cart GPS, there is better course flow, fewer bottlenecks, and much less inactivity. In short, Tagmarshal leads to quicker and more enjoyable rounds, which leads to more rounds being played. The more rounds that golfers play, the fitter they get.
Tagmarshal’s Golf Cart GPS: Get In Touch Today
Tagmarshal’s golf cart GPS and pace of play management ensure that golf rounds finish within a reasonable time, freeing golfers up to practice more, train more, play more golf, or all of the above. This naturally leads to improved fitness as well as, and more importantly for most players, improved golf/handicaps.
For course operators and golf club managers looking to improve the playing experience while optimizing course flow, get in touch or book your demo today!
ABOUT TAGMARSHAL
Tagmarshal, the market leader in on-course optimization technology, provides courses with full, real-time operational oversight and reporting, giving golf operators the tools to manage pace and flow of play effectively, resulting in enhanced player experiences, increased efficiency through automation, and additional revenue generation.
Tagmarshal’s technology has collected over 10 billion data points from more than 75 million rounds of golf and has relationships with in excess of 700 partners, including Hazeltine, Whistling Straits, Baltusrol, Fieldstone, Bandon Dunes, Serenoa and Erin Hills.
Tagmarshal partners with several golf management groups, private, daily fee, public and resort courses, including 40 of the Top 100 US courses, as well as many $40-$60 green fee courses, which are seeing excellent results using the system.
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