How strong do you need to be to play golf at a high level?
Not very strong if you are young and have super fast hips. Tiger Woods at 21 probably only weighed 155 pounds soaking wet, but he was obviously super long off the tee.
Justin Thomas is another golfer who is not very big, but can hit the ball pretty far. Early in his career, he was in the top ten in driving distance on tour.
The issue is that as we age, a couple things happen…
First, we start to lose that ability to generate club head speed with fast body speed starting in our 30s.
Second, we start losing muscle mass due to a process known as sarcopenia starting around age 40, give or take a few years.
Therefore, it becomes more and more necessary to start training for strength.
Consider this formula… Power = Force x Velocity.
Bryson DeChambeau pushed this idea pretty far by gaining 40 pounds of muscle, and training for increased swing speed.
This enabled him to reach the final in the World Long Drive Championships in 2022, a significant achievement for a tour player.
You can certainly do some over speed training with the SuperSpeed Training System, or something similar, but you better be in pretty good condition, as speed training can result in some wear and tear.
So, this brings me back to the question… how strong do you need to be to play golf at a high level?
Strength standards for golfers
These numbers change over time, but as you get older, you’ll want to get stronger.
The two exercises that contribute most to the strength needed to play golf are the barbell squat and the deadlift.
These lifts are more important than upper body exercises since power in the golf swing is generated from the ground up.
Furthermore, if you have a look at the long drive competitors, they all have strong legs and a strong core. Both of these exercises contribute to that strength.
If you are over 50, you should be able to squat your body weight for a set of five reps, and you should be able to deadlift 1.5 times your bodyweight.
So, if you are a 200 pound man, you should be able to squat 200 pounds for five reps, and deadlift 300 pounds for a single rep.
This goes for you too ladies! A 150 pound woman should be able to squat 150 pounds for five reps and deadlift 225 for a single rep.
Naturally, as you get to a more advanced age, these strength standards will come down. However, you should still train!
Watch this 86 year old woman deadlift 135 pounds.
Having this strength will help to offset your declining ability to generate velocity. Speed training will also help with that, as will mobility training to maintain the length of your swing.
However, the fact of the matter is you need strength to stand on two feet and to swing a golf club with enough speed to get the ball in the air.
The great thing is that, even if you are completely untrained, it won’t take you long to get to that level of strength, assuming you are healthy.
Also, if you are over 70, you should still be able to maintain that level of strength easily. Yes, easily.
Now, of course, you will also want to train the upper body for the sake of balancing out your fitness.
Your upper body, ie, shoulders, lats, arms, and to an extent, your chest muscles, also need to be strong to transmit the force being generated by your lower body out to the club head.
Overhead press in my garage
The best way to improve your strength for golf
The best way to improve your strength to help with your golf game is with barbell training.
Many golfers are afraid to do this for fear of injury.
Well, the golf swing is HARD on the body, so to make it more resilient to injury, you need to train it.
Barbell training is the easiest and fastest way to make you strong, because you make use of natural human movements.
Yes, you need to learn how to perform these exercises with good form to avoid injury.
However, when you learn them, and train with them with proper programming, you will increase your strength significantly in a matter of a few months.
With that in mind, I encourage you to check out my Golf Performance Newsletter.
Now, get to work!
