You don’t need to take Lee Westwood’s word for it when he says he has made a real commitment to fitness and living healthier.

For nearly seven years, he says he has been eating better and exercising more often under the guidance of British fitness expert Stephen McGregor, a Ph.D., in exercise physiology. Here’s more of what Lee had to say:

WHAT WAS THE CATALYST FOR YOUR TRANSFORMATION?
When I hit 30 [he’s 39 now] I thought maybe I should start doing something. I saw some of the guys getting stronger, hitting it farther. So I wanted to hit it farther, too. Plus I wanted to play this game for a while. It helps when you’re fit.

WHAT’S THE MOST YOU’VE EVER WEIGHED?
I’ve changed my body–replacing fat with muscle. I probably dropped about 12 to 15 percent of my body fat. The heaviest I ever was was about 110 kilos (243 pounds) and I got down to 89 kilos (196). I weigh 93 kilos (205) now.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU WORK OUT?
On an off week, I’ll work out five times. On a tournament week, two or three. When I do work out, it’s usually for about two hours a session.

WHAT IS YOUR FOCUS?
Shoulders and legs. You get lots of shoulder problems in golf and I’ve also had a leg injury in the past. I think it’s important to strengthen as much as possible in the areas you use the most. We work on everything, though.

DO YOU DO CARDIO?
I do a lot. I do seven miles, five times a week … on the golf course. I don’t tend to do any cardio other than that. I mainly stick to weights, although I might do a 10-minute warm-up of cardio.

DO YOU USE SUPPLEMENTS?
My trainer tries to keep me on a pretty good diet so I get all I need from food. I have a milk shake or smoothie after I work out to try and get some protein in my body–mainly fruit, ice cream or milk, but low fat.

WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND TO BE THE BIGGEST BENEFIT OF WORKING OUT IN TERMS OF YOUR GOLF GAME?
I can change my swing a little easier if I need to. My swing also is a little tighter through working out in the gym. I also use my legs to power my swing and strengthening them has helped a lot. I feel I’m very strong in the shoulders, legs and core and that helps provide stability when I swing.

ANY INJURIES OR ISSUES RIGHT NOW?
Nothing.

WHAT DO YOU EAT/DRINK ON THE GOLF COURSE?
I eat nutrition bars, drink water and Gatorade.

Source Golf Digest-Fitness

The players who get it done in the wind are the ones who don’t try to fight it. They don’t swing harder or moan about bad luck. They focus on hitting the ball solidly, because a solid shot will fly true in a pretty stiff breeze, but a weak shot is hopeless.

Let’s focus on playing into the wind, because that’s the shot that gets most golfers. Obviously, you want to keep the ball low to neutralize the conditions. Best advice? Take a couple extra clubs, and swing at 75 percent. Fast swings create more backspin and send the ball higher, so resist the urge to smash it.

Play the ball an inch farther back than normal in your stance, and squat a little at address for stability. Then make a three-quarter swing, and try to stay more “on top of” the ball. Feel like your nose is ahead of the ball at impact, and your right hip and shoulder stay high through the strike. You’re hitting down on it, trapping it against the turf.

Last point: Wind in your face will exaggerate any curve. If you play a draw or fade, give the ball more room to turn. But don’t forget my big key: Take more club, and go easier.

Source Butch Harmon Golf Digest

Good Function

The Deep stabilising muscles of the trunk form a muscular cylinder surrounding the lumbar spine and pelvis. The deep stabilisers help control the position and movement of the trunk. The mover muscles are more superficial, they are the muscles you use to move your body.

The Deep Stabiliser muscles:

• Work at low intensity for long periods of time
• Generate tension to support and stabilise rather than move the body
• Contract before you move to support the body’s position
• Turn on in a similar way no matter what way you are moving
• Keep the spine and pelvis optimally aligned to maintain a neutral spine or ‘good posture’ position

The Mover muscles:

• Work at high intensity for short periods of time
• Generate force to move the body and change its position
• Contract at the time of movement to cause the movement
• Move the trunk and limbs
• Work differently depending on what movement you are doing

The deep stabiliser muscles only work at about 5% of their maximal contraction, but stay on for long periods of time. As they contract, the stabilisers don’t move your body much, if at all. They tend to apply tension and support structures rather than move your body.

When you think of moving, the deep stabilisers contract before any of the muscles that actually cause the movement. This pre-contraction prepares your body for the movement by supporting and stabilising the trunk to provide a stable base for movement.

A stable base makes for mechanically efficient movement or static postures. Imagine a crane being positioned on a solid concrete slab versus a sandy beach. The crane on the concrete slab is much more easily controlled by the driver who can be more accurate as the crane picks up and sets down objects. The crane on the beach will be much less accurate and take more effort getting the objects placed exactly where it wants them. The deep stabilising muscles of the body provide the stable base for the mover muscles to move the trunk and limbs.

The mover muscles are the ones which move your body. The mover muscles generate a lot of force and fatigue quickly. They turn on and off rather than staying on like the stabiliser muscles. You can easily work your mover muscles by moving your body against resistance such as the quads, hamstrings or biceps. In the trunk the mover muscles include the rectus abdominis (the six pack) and the obliques. These are the muscles you work with exercises such as sit ups or crunches.

Poor Function

The Deep Stabiliser muscles:

• Begin to turn off and on rather than staying on
• Contract after you move and so can’t support the body’s position as effectively
• Are less able to keep the spine and pelvis optimally aligned to maintain a neutral spine or ‘good posture’ position

The Mover muscles:

• Work at high intensity for longer periods of time to compensate for poor deep stabiliser muscles

The deep stabilisers change the way they work when pain is present. They no longer contract before you move to prepare or stabilise the trunk, they react to the movement. This can lead to injury. The movement muscles try and compensate. As mover muscles, they contract strongly and start to move the body, other muscles then pull on to counteract this movement. The body is working much harder to stabilise and using much more muscle activity than it needs to. This results in tight areas of the body which feel great when massaged out, but the tightness returns again. If your back pain behaves this way chances are you have trouble controlling your deep stabilisers and the pain arises from the compensatory strategies of the mover muscles.

Screening

A number of screening tests can indicate poor control of the core. There are a couple of quick tests you can do at home. If any of these tests give you pain, do not continue any further testing and see an appropriate health professional.

The active straight leg raise

Lie on your back and lift one heel about 10cm off the ground with your knee straight. Compare how difficult this feels compared with the other side. If one side is harder than the other, or both sides are difficult, you could have some issues with control of your core.

Source High Performance Golf

A golf conditioning program should always be accompanied by a solid golf nutrition plan. In essence, what you eat determines how you play. So, which foods produce champions and which foods hinder play?

It goes without saying that proper nutrition is important for all of us. But, if you are serious about shaving valuable strokes off your scorecard, you need to make some tough decisions on seeing your diet through. If you travel for golf, or play in frequent tournaments, it is important not Continue Reading→

As the downswing begins an amazing sequence of events takes place.  The energy accumulated in your torso muscles gradually release, your upper body follow the lead established by your lower body unwinding as your weight continues to shift from your right side to your left.

Impact must be allowed to happen in a free, flowing movement.  Letting it happen without interruption or compensations.  Rotating forward allowing your body and arms to swing through to the finish will deliver the club face square to the path without manipulation.  As you follow through getting the rights side of the body out of the way your weight should be now more in your front foot with great balance.

With the mechanics comes tempo and timing.  These two aspects introduce coordination, flow and consistency into every swing.  Good timing refers to the order in which the mechanics occur and tempo is the speed at which the swing occurs.  Building the proper sequence throughout the swing allows the entire movement to flow together.  Controlling the tempo allows time to prepare for impact, deliver the club, and then disperse the energy of the swing during the follow-through.

Knowing the information is not the secret, committing to change and developing your skills using a variety of drills and exercises is the key.   Not only will make it enjoyable to train and practice you will start to see improvements more quickly when you are practicing with purpose.  Training aspects of your swing will develop those skills more quickly and you will retain them for longer periods.  Not find it lose it. Skill acquisition and training environments are essential in the development of every player.

In every aspect of your golf swing it is vital for the body to rotate forward toward the target rather than back and away.

To encourage better forward rotation move into your set up  set up position lift your heel of back foot so that only the toe of you shoe is lightly touching the ground. With the same leg, turn your knee so that the knee cap is pointing more towards the target.  You should now be set up almost in your finish position with your lower body.  Swing normally.  During the swing the heel of your back foot should not touch the ground at any point, especially in the finish position.  This will help create the sensation of the weight staying in the more centred in the backswing and allow you to rotate forward without thinking too much as you are already half way there.

Hit 5-7 shots in this set up and then test your rotation forward and balance by hitting a shot in your standard set up.  You are trying to recreate the awareness of rotating forward and keeping your weight more centred and eliminating any back and away weight shift.