Strength exercises for golfers? Golf-specific strength exercises?
Those terms are slight misnomers. While strength is extremely valuable for golfers, there isn’t actually such a thing as “golf strength.”
A common misunderstanding is that for strength training to be effective for golf, the exercises need to resemble the golf swing, or be somehow different from “normal” strength training. That isn’t true.
The reality is that the exact exercises aren’t that important. There are many you could choose and still get very similar benefits. The real goal is stimulating adaptations in the nervous system and muscles that improve your ability to produce force. That improved force production will be present when you swing a golf club.
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A great way to frame your training is to think, “What adaptations am I trying to stimulate?” rather than “What exercises are best?” You could pick the right exercises but train with insufficient intensity and not stimulate meaningful change. Conversely, almost any exercise performed with enough intensity that targets the major muscles used in the golf swing will create highly transferable benefits.
We just need to make sure we target the muscles responsible for producing force in the swing. The golf swing is a full-body movement, using the same big, powerful muscles relied on in most hitting and throwing sports.
Golfers benefit immensely from developing stronger legs, trunks, and upper bodies — the quads, glutes, abs, chest, shoulders, and lats. Strengthening these areas is key for performance and longevity.
In general, I recommend focusing on basic compound exercises that can be progressed over long periods of time: squats, hinges, upper-body pushes and pulls, and some weighted rotary work.
There’s some room for more “golf-specific” training, but it shouldn’t be the main focus. The priority should be movements that move the needle in total-body strength and power. A big part of this is simply building and maintaining muscle mass, a key driver of both strength and club head speed.
Learn more about why this matters in Why Muscle Mass Matters for Golfers.
The key to applying this strength effectively in your swing is good mechanics and some swing speed training. That’s where true golf specificity kicks in.
I know everyone likes simple takeaways and a routine they can start right away, so here are 5 great strength exercises for golfers.
1. Squat
Main muscles: Quads, glutes, hamstrings, adductors
Or in this case “split squat”
I like split squats as when training at home people are often limited with the weight they have to make squats challenging
Split squats put the majority of the load on one leg
2. Hinge
Main muscles: Hamstrings, glutes, back
While squats (or split squats) are “knee dominant”, these are “hip dominant”
If we can get good at squatting and hinging, our lower body strength and mobility will be in good shape
3. Rotate
Main muscles: Obliques
Obviously the golf swing involves a lot of rotation.
Having an exercise that has us twisting our body instead of just working in a straight line up and down is a good idea.
Bands are cheap and work great.
4. Push
Main muscles: chest, shoulders, triceps
In this video I am showing a “horizontal push”, which is pushing straight out in front of you.
Another common push is an overhead / vertical push, or incline push, which are also great.
Push ups a fine choice too!
5. Pull
Main muscles: Lats, upper back, biceps, forearms.
This is a vertical pull, a horizontal pull, like rows are also excellent 👍.
Get a pull up bar you can use at home (loads of options on Amazon), and get some bands for assistance if needed.
Sets, reps, frequency?
Sets: 1 – 3 of each exercise.
Reps: I like sets of 5 to 8 reps most of the time, but it can require a lot of weight to make this challenging. The main thing is you do enough reps so that each set is hard.
Ideally you can change weight based on the exercise.
Frequency: 1 to 3 times per week if doing all the exercises in each session.
There is lots of room for tweaking with this though. You could just do one of these exercises each day for example, and have a mini workout 5 days or the week!
Lastly…it’s really impossible to pick “the best 5”, but if these 5 were the only ones you ever did it would be 👍.
Bringing It All Together
Strength training is one of the most powerful tools golfers have for improving performance and longevity. The key is consistency, effort, and progressive overload, not chasing “golf-specific” gimmicks. When you build stronger legs, hips, and upper body muscles, you’re building the engine that powers your swing.
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It includes full strength, mobility, and speed programs designed specifically for golfers, all based on the same principles discussed here.
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- Over 650 workouts logged
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