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When it comes to fitness training for your golf game which is most important: flexibility, strength, or power? Flexibility advocates stress the importance of being able to swing a club through a full range of motion completely uninhibited of physical restrictions. Strength training advocates claim that building muscle will enable you to hit your drive farther. Power training supporters assert that developing and utilizing power based exercises can benefit drives and fairway shots. Who should you believe? Does flexibility play a greater role in your golf game? Or should you make strength training the base of your exercise program?

The answer is that you should focus on all three aspects when training for golf. Exercises and stretches for each area can be personalized for any golfer. The key is to incorporate flexibility, strength, and power into your golf fitness program. By employing a variety of exercises and stretches you can train your body and your game through a well-rounded fitness regimen.

Flexibility, strength, and power are not isolated in nature when you hit the golf ball. With fitness training under your belt, these three areas work together to sail your drive towards the green. Each golfer has different needs when it comes to a fitness program. For example, do you have interrupted rhythm or a broken swing pattern? This is common and can be a result of hitting the shot with just your arms and not moving your hips. This fault can be fixed by exercises that use a medicine ball. Flexibility in your hips and strength in your core muscles need to be addressed.

There are exercises involving flexibility, strength, and power that can fix nearly every fault in your golf game. By focusing on fitness for golf, you can use exercises and stretches that can be done from your own home with or without fitness equipment and in a gym. Exercises and stretches need to target specific areas for improvement. Your golf game will profit from a fitness plan that is golf specific, but at the same time integrates flexibility, strength, and power.

Susan Hill

Susan Hill is the President of Fitness for Golf, a website dedicated to helping golfers improve through golf specific programs.

Susan has earned national certifications as a fitness trainer with several organizations including the National Academy of Sports Medicine, the International Sports Science Association, and the American Council on Exercise. She currently trains golfers of all levels at the Sunriver Resort, a top U.S. golf destination resort in Sunriver, Oregon.

As a Chek certified Golf Biomechanic and Sports Performance Nutritionist, she is now among an elite group of golf fitness experts nationwide. Susan has worked with hundreds of golfers ranging in skills from beginners just taking up the game of golf to collegiate, amateur and tour players looking for a more competitive edge.

She is a contributing writer to Golf Illustrated, a guest speaker at private and public golf clubs, and a published writer on topics of health, fitness and golf. She was selected as one of the top three trainers as the Trainer of the Year 2003, having been chosen among over 85,000 trainers across the country.

Her work has also been featured in SELF magazine and on ESPN radio.