Winter Tips to Keep Your Golf Game in Shape

Unless you live in a warmer climate that allows you to practice your golf game throughout the winter months, it can be difficult to keep your game in shape for spring.  Here are some thoughts:         

1. Maintain Golf Fitness and Conditioning - Stretching is imperative to maintaining your golf physique. Areas to focus on include the arms, wrists, back, quads and calves. Stretching will aid in your flexibility as well as your endurance. You might also check with your local gym to see if they offer golf fitness classes, and/or if they have stretching and flexibility equipment such as the back extension, torso twist or wrist strengthening machine.                                                  
2. Strengthen Your Core - Work on the core is one of the most critical physical areas to maintain in the off season. The faster you turn your core in the golf swing, the more club head speed you will generate. If the core is out of shape then the tendency will be to use only the arms to generate power. Try taking a golf club and looping it behind your back and under your arms. Assume your set up position. Stretch to your backswing and stretch to your follow thru. Focus on stretching the core while resisting hip turn. Turning from the core and resisting the hip turn creates torque, and torque creates power. 
3. Work with Your Hands - There is a variety of hand strengthening devices for sale. Using a rubber ball to squeeze will work just fine. Keep the device of your choosing close by when you relax in the evening. 
4. Set up a Putting Station - There are plenty of inexpensive putting devices out there. Find a device that helps to build a correct putting path. Focus on putting accuracy, not necessarily distance. It’s difficult to find an artificial putting surface that provides the same speed as the greens you will be playing on in the summer. 
5. Practice Putting - Draw a line around the ball. Set the line parallel to your target. See if the line falls to the right or left of center as your ball rolls after impact. If it does, then your putter has either changed paths or is open or closed at impact.  
6. Spend Time in Front of Your Mirror - Use a full length mirror to check your set up, posture and positions. You can apply masking tape in a square in a position so that your head is reflected in the mirror inside the box. Face the mirror and watch as you take your backswing. Make certain the image does not move too far outside the box. It’s okay if your head moves slightly back on the backswing as long as your head does not rise on the backswing. If your head rises on the backswing, outside the box, then you have changed your spine angle. Keep the spine angle the same thru the backswing to develop greater consistency.
7. Concentrate on the Coil - With the same mirror, you can run another piece of tape from the top of the mirror to the bottom. As you start your backswing (facing the mirror), try to coil your shoulders such that the left shoulder moves past the tape. This coil will allow you to strengthen the core and develop more power in the golf swing.
8. Swing Indoors - Carefully! You may be fortunate enough to have room to practice indoor full swings either at home or at an indoor practice facility. This is fine, just be careful to make only small swing changes, unless you have a swing monitor indicating club head path, club head position or speed.  

 Following these few simple steps will launch you into a fun start on your golf this year! Think spring!!

Chad Seymour is the head PGA golf professional at Westfield Group Country Club and has been a golf professional since 1979.