Golf Question

The last couple of years I really haven’t gotten around to playing as much golf as I would like. I shoot in the mid to upper 80s and would really like to bring my score down. My plan is to practice my short game every morning before I go to work. The problem is I lift before work as well. Will it be detrimental to practice golf in the morning after I lift? My schedule will look like this: lift 5:30-6:30, then golf 7-8 and then play or hit balls after work. If anyone as any experience or insights into this, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Not a good idea my friend. Golf is such a technical sport requiring the anterior oblique system and posterior chain to work in synergy. Fatiguing ANY muscles before practicing your game will do nothing more that cause faulty recruitment patterns as your nervous system attempts to force the less fatigued fibers to come into play.

If you shoot in the 80’s, you have developed quite a bit of skill and any disrupture to the harmony of your swing will only be a step in the wrong direction.

Golf first, weights after.

Tricky situation, esp as you are talking about short game focus rather than full swing. This is definitely a good way to reduce your scores.
A lot of it will depend upon what exercises you are doing. Lower body stuff no probs, arms and shoulders prob will be an issue as you won’t have the same feel as you would sans training. Those days could be more pure technique rather than improving touch. If you haven’t done so I suggest you check out stuff ex Dave Pelz here is a link http://www.pelzgolf.com/NewsInfo/Tips.aspx
the guy is a short game genius.
How many days do you lift? I would still recomend practicing on a non lifting day even for the fact you don’t want to get stale.

I’m nowhere near an 80 golfer, but I have to agree with Marc. Golf first weights second (work third? heheh). I know for myself my game and practices suffer the day after I work out (esp. after shoulders). Your swing mechanics will compensate way too much for the muscle fatigue and when you play a round on your off day it’ll be as though your a beginner again. Not worth the time, effort and money for all that practice to go backwards

Hyphnz, great website thanks.

Its hard for me to believe that pro golfers today don’t lift in season. So if they do, it can’t really be affecting they’re game too much. But it does make sense to me practice first, then lift. The best solution would be to practice in the morning, then hit balls or play golf after work and then lift after that, but then my girlfriend would kill me.

Thanks for the input.

I guess i didn’t really explain my problem and why I can’t golf first. The course by me that has a good chipping area (bunker and everything) doesn’t open unitl 7 am. So I would never make it to work by 9 if I golfed at 7 and then lifted. I guess I’ll just have to start lifting at night. Thanks again.

What is your lifting split?
People are confusing full swing with short game, completely different stresses and technique. I am sure there is a way around this and still maintain a life.

It depends. But usually, and right now, I’m training westside with a little variation to include some of the olympic lifts. So I lift 4 days a week and on my non lifting days I do either sprints, conditioning and/or GPP.

Hyphnz, good point, I missed the part in the original post where he mentioned he would just be working on his short game.

I do still believe that residual fatigue from weight training could change the swing mechanics from anything beyond the fringe, whether it be upper or lower body.

Putting and fringe chipping really wouldn’t be a problem after weights since you will be using entirely different motor units for these tasks.

Marc, I agree re anything outside chipping,putting and depending upon the muscles worked pitching. It is great to see someone realise these are the scoring keys and will have the greatest impact if you shoot in the 80’s.

Ccardill, your workouts look interesting I would be interested in knowing more details.

Any good golfer should realize that focusing on you short game will improve you game tremendously.

My training split looks something like this:

Monday
Power Snatch from blocks 50-60% max (10-15x1)
ME Squat - Goodmorings
Band Pull-throughs 4-6x10
Glute-ham raise 4-6x10
Heavy Ab training

Wednesday
DE Squat
ME Bench
Triceps 6-8x6
Barbell row 6-8x6
Abs

Friday
DE Bench
ME Power Clean
One-Leg Squat 3-4x10-20
Glute-Ham
Triceps
Back
Abs

Saturday
Odd-object lifting
Sandbag carries, sandbag clean and press, tire flips, sledgehammer gpp, farmers walk, kettlebells, etc.

On Tue & Thu. I try to do sprint work.
Throughout the week I do some GPP and some conditioning. I hope this helps.